Why millennials and Gen Z are helping lead the zero-proof drink surge
The non-alcoholic beer, wine and cocktail market has grown in Canada but is it sustainable?
Lee-Anne Richardson says she's hearing from many young Canadians about reducing their alcohol intake, drinking non-alcoholic beverages, or choosing full-blown sobriety.
The Dartmouth, N.S., resident is the founder of Sober City, a peer-support group for people struggling with addiction.
Richardson feels that millennials and Gen Z are making more informed choices around the negative effects of alcohol compared to previous generations, and are more open to having comprehensive conversations surrounding their mental health.
I think that younger people see alcohol as a way to make anxiety worse, to make mental health issues worse.- Lee-Anne Richardson, Sober City founder
"They're like, I don't want to go down that road, so I'm going to completely abstain or cut back or things like that," she said. "I think that younger people see alcohol as a way to make anxiety worse, to make mental health issues worse."
According to the World Health Organization's May 2022 report on alcohol, harmful use can cause death and disability "relatively early in life" in people aged 20-39, with 13.5% of total deaths attributable to alcohol.
Non-alcoholic drinks are helpful for some people who are sober or monitor their alcohol use, but not for everyone, Richardson says.
"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."
Gail Lynch, CEO of Zero Cocktail Bar in Toronto, says millennials and Gen Z aren't consuming alcohol the way those of her generation from the '60s and '70s did, because there's less stigma around people choosing not to drink.
She also says the zero-proof market has grown to include a wide array of options.
"When I started doing this, I maybe found three products in the market," she said. "Now there are over 200 in the Canadian market."
When asked by Day 6 host Brent Bambury about what surprises customers the most when they sip a non-alcoholic cocktail for the first time, Lynch said people are surprised by how good it tastes.
"I wanted to satisfy my own need, and that is, can I make a drink for myself? And so I started to do some research and realized, I can probably do this. I just started to experiment and research. Then I invited some friends over to try those zero-proof cocktails and they loved them. I knew that I had something that I needed to take to the market," Lynch said.
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Mitch Cobb is the CEO of Upstreet Craft Brewing in P.E.I, which now has its own non-alcoholic label of craft beers called Libra.
Cobb says after a couple of years of being in the beer business, he noticed it had taken a toll on his health and he decided to cut back his consumption.
That's when, he said, he realized there weren't a lot of zero-proof beverage options on the market. His brewery launched its first non-alcoholic product in 2020, and their non-alcoholic products are especially popular with younger customers.
"We really sort of saw demand for it within our staff and within our customer base — seeing a lot of trends, talking about millennials and Gen Z," said Cobb. "How they're drinking less and really focusing more on their health and wellness. We really saw that we were on to something and that there was a lot of potential there."
Cobb believes people of all ages are more informed about their health and wellness these days, but the difference with Gen Z and millennials is that they still want to go out and do the same things they used to do — minus the booze.
They still want the same social experiences, but they don't want to wake up the next day and feel lousy.- Mitch Cobb, CEO, Upstreet Craft Brewing
"They want to be able to go out and meet their friends. They want to be able to go out for dinner, but they don't want to wake up the next day and feel lousy."
Cobb calls it a "big shift from previous generations" and says people used to either drink or not. If you didn't drink, it was usually because of health reasons, issues with alcohol, or because you were pregnant.
"That has really sort of shifted. There's not that hard line in the sand," he said.
It's a movement, not a trend
With hundreds of products now on the market, Lynch says non-alcoholic drinks are "absolutely" here to stay and there's no longer a stigma attached to sobriety or support programs like Alcoholics Anonymous.
"Suddenly, you're hearing words like 'sober' and 'zero-proof.' And maybe those words are helping to change people's mindsets," Lynch said.
She says some people are now coming through the pandemic feeling they have been drinking too much and are looking for alternatives and supports.
"A person doesn't have to be in a state of madness in terms of being an alcoholic. But a person could also be saying the pressures of life are a bit much for me right now and maybe I'm consuming a bit too much alcohol. Let me cut back and maybe there's a healthier replacement."
Richardson doesn't believe the non-alcoholic drink market will fizzle out because of what she calls the esthetics of "Instagram-worthy" and "on point" branding.
"I really do believe that it is here to stay because of how I've been watching it grow over the past three years. It's been a steady growth," she said.
She feels that restaurants and bars will have more zero-proof options on their menus each year, and that the younger generation will want zero-proof beverages long-term which will prevent it from being a fad.
"With the rise of non-alcoholic products and more spaces that are sober-friendly, it's helping, honestly, everybody. It's even helping children who are not of legal drinking age yet because they're starting to pay attention to older generations' drinking habits," Richardson said.
Cobb says he's heard from many people in the past few years calling it a trend but he believes it's becoming more of a movement, stemming from the craft beer industry and a lot of the same consumers.
"People, especially Gen Z and millennials, have grown up with this really interesting packaging around craft beer, these really innovative flavours. The non-alcoholic beer market is sort of building on that and coming out of it."
It helps to reduce the stigma around not consuming alcohol, Cobb says, and it helps people feel confident when they go out and share cans and flavours they've discovered with friends, he adds.
"Once people realize they can go out and they can still socialize, and do the things that they want to do and not necessarily consume alcohol, then they're not going to go back to consuming alcohol the way that they used to previously, especially with new generations."
Radio segment produced by Mickie Edwards.
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