ADULT DRINKING
Couple this with our change in attitude towards sugar, now considered the number one food concern among UK adults, and you’re looking at something of a sea change. A night out or, for that matter, a night in, is not what it once was. Non-drinkers are no longer accepting a sugary fruit juice as their only option (‘that’ll do’ is no longer good enough), and among those of us that do partake, it can no longer be assumed or expected that we are going to pick up a glass of wine or beer as 5:00pm ticks past. The landscape looks very different indeed.
“Non-alcoholic drinks have always existed, but Ben Branson was a real trailblazer, educating the trade and consumer that non-alcoholic drinks could be sophisticated, complex and worth spending the extra money on.”
We’re seeing the emergence of what, at REAL, we call the modern drinker. He or she is not teetotal but has a positive relationship with alcohol, dipping in and out as the fancy takes them. Friday night might mean a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, but it will start and finish with a quality non-alcoholic option – certainly not a sugary soft drink laden with calories and packed with additives. For the modern drinker, Saturday nights may occasionally be a big night out, but being conscious ahead of time that Sunday is going to be a write off. During the week, alcohol is very unlikely to be on the menu at all. That shouldn’t and doesn’t mean abstaining from socialising; for example, drinks after work, a mid-week dinner out, catching up with friends after the gym or a game of squash, stopping off at the pub on the way back from a Sunday walk or bike ride. Whereas, in the past, the non-drinker might have avoided these situations as they would have felt under pressure to partake, it is now seen as much more acceptable, and even potentially more modern and forward-thinking, to take the non-alcoholic option. There was a time when the vegetarian menu was an afterthought. These days, vegan dishes are often considered cutting-edge and exploratory. We see real similarities for the modern drinker.
But all of this presupposes that options are available at the bar or restaurant that fill this gap. Alcoholic drinks are naturally sophisticated: slowly and carefully fermented from exquisite ingredients, beautifully packaged as a clearly adult option, served with ceremony into specific and sophisticated glassware. You take the aroma and you sip slowly. It’s a mindful moment in our day where we take time to appreciate and wind down, and it’s a social moment where we share a special brew with good friends. A soft drink out of a gun over ice into a scratched glass is never going to engage us in the same way.
Our journey
When we first launched REAL at the end of 2017, Seedlip was almost the only horse in town. Non- alcoholic drinks have always existed, but Ben Branson was a real trailblazer, educating the trade and consumer that non-alcoholic drinks could be sophisticated, complex and worth spending the extra money on.
We had approached tea fermentation from an entirely different direction to the majority of kombucha brands. My first introduction to the drink was over a fantastic meal with a teetotal friend who home-brewed. With its fermented complexity and relatively high acidity, it immediately sat as an
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