Food & beverage
experience as a full-strength product. They will know on mouthfeel – but we do want to deliver the right flavour and a tipsy feeling.” Radhakrishnan’s company, Quarter, focuses on crafting low-alcohol alternatives that still offer complexity and depth of flavour, even when diluted as part of a cocktail or mixed drink. His team spent eight months breaking down traditionally enjoyed spirits into discrete ingredients and flavours and then tested how these flavours performed at higher dilutions. The goal was to ensure they could achieve the right balance in their newly reformed low-booze products. “Light doesn’t have to mean less flavour,” he insists. “Even in traditional cocktails, with low alcohol alternatives, you can get the recognisable sweet bitterness of a Negroni.”
Could Yopa perform well at the hotel bar?
where the beer is brewed in the usual way – using water, yeast, malt and hops – but the ethanol is removed by boiling or vacuum distillation. However, these methods are not without their downsides. As Professor Sotirios Kampranis, a University of Copenhagen researcher and founder of the biotechnology firm EvodiaBio, points out, “This process is a tremendous problem for the brewers. Even when you attempt to put the aromas from hops back in because there is no ethanol, the aroma struggles to come out, so brewers put more and more in, which becomes extremely costly.”
Kampranis believes that yeast could be the answer to these flavour, cost and sustainability challenges. His company’s signature product, Yops, is an augmented baker’s yeast that, through a fermentation process, secretes aromas that can be captured and then inserted into the brewing process at different stages, enhancing the desired tasting notes. “With such flavouring technologies,” Kampranis emphasises, “you decrease the environmental impact.” Given that traditional methods of flavouring beer, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, are extremely water- intensive, use significant land resources, and often involve heavy air-mile consumption, these innovations could offer a more sustainable solution for hotels looking to offer guests something new and environmentally friendly.
Curating the right experience for guests
For hotels, understanding these developments in the non-alcoholic market can be key to curating the right experience for guests. Successfully offering non- alcoholic drinks is not just about having them on the menu – it’s about providing options that taste great, look appealing, and align with the hotel’s brand values. As Radhakrishnan emphasises, “We’re not trying to cheat people into thinking our drink is the same
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The future of non-alcoholic beverages in hotels
Looking ahead, the future of non-alcoholic beverages in hotels will depend heavily on transparency and truthful marketing. “It’s fairly simple,” Radhakrishnan says. “It’s a gin and tonic or a Negroni – just a lighter version.” He believes managing expectations will be crucial for hotels that want to successfully offer these drinks. At the same time, Radhakrishnan is exploring where the drinks market will head next. Quarter, for its part, is preparing to introduce another low-alcohol alternative, with the firm’s London-based founder suggesting that as replication of full-strength flavour profiles improves, mood enhancers and adaptogens will take centre stage. As Radhakrishnan puts it: “Who knows what will become possible in the next few years?”
Kampranis shares this sense of curiosity about the future of the non-alcoholic beverage market, especially as the effects of climate change become more apparent. He suggests that hop harvests may become less reliable, increasing interest in alternative brewing methods. “We’re moving towards looking at this [the yeast] solution for non-alcoholic wine, which you can imagine is a big flavour challenge,” he says. “In principle, this technology can do all the flavours and fragrances of beer – and even cosmetics and household products – that currently use chemicals, but we can replace them with natural aromas to make them more sustainable.” For hotels, embracing these new trends could mean more than just offering a few mocktails; it could involve a rethinking of the beverage experience altogether, with a focus on sustainability, health and innovative flavours. As consumer preferences evolve and the market for non-alcoholic options continues to grow, hotels that stay ahead of these trends will be well-positioned to enhance their guest experience in a fresh, contemporary way. So, whether guests are toasting with a traditional cocktail or a cutting-edge alcohol-free alternative, hotels can ensure they have something for everyone. ●
Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
EvodiaBio
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