Non-alcoholic drinks and mocktails are booming in popularity all over the world

The movement for drinking less or more mindfully is really taking the world by storm.

Non-alcoholic drinks and mocktails are booming in popularity all over the world
Source: Pexels/Toni Cuenca

A couple of weeks ago, we published the low-down on Dry January. The movement for drinking less or more mindfully is really taking the world by storm.

When you go to a bar, but you don't want to drink alcohol, there are usually limited options: Coke, water, orange juice, cranberry. It can feel a little juvenile to drink an OJ while glasses of wine, bottles of beer and glamorous cocktails are flowing around you. But now, the mocktail revolution is really gaining speed.

Over the past year, "more than 70 new items have been launched in [the non-alcoholic beverage] space as consumers seek out health and wellness alternatives in their drinking routines," says Kaleigh Theriault, a representative from NielsenIQ, a data analytics company. The market for non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits grew by more than 120% over the past three years. The market gets almost US$400 million in annual sales at this point. Plus, it's estimated that the global non-alcoholic spirits market alone will generate US$642.4 million annually by 2031.

The pandemic had something to do with this boom. It prompted a lot of people to take stock of their health, and many are switching to healthier habits – drinking less being one. It's also worth noting that millennials and Gen Z could be drinking less than other generations. The founder of Sober City, a peer-support group for those who struggle with addiction, Lee-Anne Richardson, says, "I think that younger people see alcohol as a way to make anxiety worse, to make mental health issues worse."

And non-alcoholic drinks are being made all over the world. For example, Seedlip is a non-alcoholic liquor distillery based in Hong Kong. Its founder, Ben Branson, created a six-week maceration, distillation, filtration and blending process, producing a spirit without alcohol and sugar. The spirit can then be mixed into a cocktail or drank neat. Or you can peruse the shelves (or search bar) of Hong Kong's The Bottle Shop for a selection of just about every kind of non-alcoholic drink your heart desires.

When it comes to non-alcoholic drinks, Richardson explains, "It can be triggering because it tastes and smells and looks like the real thing, but overall, I think they're a really, really good idea and they're helping, especially young people, to stick to reduced drinking or complete sobriety." Cheers.