NO AND LOW ALCOHOL
Seedlip initiated a new era of innovation in the non-alcoholic beverage market: innovation in form, formulation and flavour, serve, and the way in which consumers perceived non-alcoholic options at the bar or table. We are now faced with a plethora of high-quality options in the supermarket or on-trade. Many are excellent, but not all deliver on the premium promise. But how does the consumer perceive premium non-alcoholics, what are they looking for when purchasing, and how will non-alcoholic brands need to respond in order to build confidence and long-standing consumer loyalty? The market is much broader than teetotallers. What we call ‘odern Drinkers’ tend to be consumers of both alcoholic and adult non- alcoholic beverages. They have a healthy relationship with alcohol, deciding when to partake and when not to. A Friday evening followed by a busy sporting Saturday morning may involve a couple of glasses. A weekday may be completely dry, but a Saturday night may turn into a binge from time to time, being fully aware that Sunday will be a write-off. These Modern Drinkers, however, are as demanding of their non-alcoholic drinks as they are of their alcoholic counterparts. The drink in their hand is so closely connected to their social experience that it doesn’t cut it to move from a pint of craft beer or glass of fine burgundy to a lime and soda or sparkling water. Cutting the alcohol consumption early on can firmly prolong the enjoyment and longevity of the evening, but not if the only option at the bar is an orange juice and lemonade. The Modern Drinker wants to be fully engaged in their drinking experience, including with their non-alcoholic beverages. They expect these drinks to have as much depth and complexity of flavour as their alcoholic tipples, to have the same theatre and sophistication of serve, and to have a really engaging backstory. Today, this means understanding the quality and origin of
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ingredients, the methods of production, and the sustainability of sourcing and manufacture. Modern Drinkers also expect their non-alcoholic options to be much healthier than the alcohol- and sugar-laden options of before. The non-alcoholic beer market has seen strong
innovation in liquid development over the last 10 years. The technology has been particularly driven by German producers, leading to significant improvements in flavour and quality. According to the German Brewers’ Association (DBB), non-alcoholic beer now makes up over 7% of the total German beer market, and counts for more than 11% of new product launches. In the UK, smaller beer makers have led the way in quality, with brands such as Lucky Saint, Big Drop and Nirvana Brewery producing beers that can properly compete at the bar. Following Seedlip’s lead, the number of spirits
brands on the market has exploded, now making up several hundred different labels. Seedlip were the first to make non-alcoholic drinks premium and sophisticated. Coming on to the market at a mouthwatering £28 in supermarkets, and up to £10 at the bar for a Seedlip and tonic, these drinks started being taken seriously by consumers. But it seems that in this first phase of development, those drinks that most closely mimic alcoholic spirits are getting the broadest traction as consumers can easily get their heads around the one-to-one replacement. The non-alcoholic wine market is, however, not
experiencing the same growth. The first and still the largest part of the non-alcoholic beverage market, non-alcoholic wines have struggled to compete on quality. The dealcoholisation process can be particularly harsh on the delicate volatiles in wines compared with the more robust flavour compounds in beers. But significant R&D investment is going into improving the dealcoholisation process by companies such as BevZero. But what of the next phase of development of the non-alcoholic market? To get consumers to switch from their traditional tipple, brands have had to mimic them as closely as possible. However, we are seeing both buyers and consumers becoming both more demanding as well as more experimental. At REAL we produce a non-alcoholic alternative to sparkling wine. Early on, we started working with many of the top chefs
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