A short rant about the alcohol-free drinks revolution
or how hospitality can better engage with a rising tide
I’m going to caveat this piece from the outset and say that there are people in this space doing great things. My issue isn’t with the producers of non-alcoholic drinks more that there’s a disconnect for many of the people selling drinks as to the purpose and potential of a great alcohol-free selection.
I’ve written over the years about the landscape of non-alcoholic drinks, and what some coined the sober-curious movement. I’ve had breaks from the sauce that total several months at a time, and I’ve become less and less enamored with putting a label on these things, especially one that polarizes sobriety and imprints some degree of morality or higher ground in knocking booze on the head.
For some people sobriety is a life saver and for others it’s a lifestyle. Whatever their angle or route to it, I don’t want to downplay their personal journey, as it’s just that, personal. But I do find some of the rhetoric around it grating.
My thought is that interesting and complex alcohol-free drinks (and to some extent low alcohol drinks) bring with them a degree of choice for those who have decided that being permanently tee-total is their new-norm, for those that want to take a break, or just have a night off the booze because they’ve got a big week, are driving, working, under doctors orders, or want to mix and match as they go between non, low and higher alcohol drinks. To me, this choice should be something that restaurants, bars and bottle shops are fully engaged in - it serves their customers and perhaps their bottom line.
Several years ago, there was much to say on the subject, and I wrote about it often. I still, years later, have people talk to me about not drinking, whether I’m tee-total, and my motivations. Many because they read this piece that I wrote for The Guardian in 2020, or a followup that I wrote here. Since then, the breadth of that alcohol free segment has grown but I’m not sure the attitudes in hospitality have grown at the same pace.
I’ve recently been off the booze. I’m in review season for the WA Good Food Guide and some weeks I’ll cover ten to fifteen venues. A drink or two in each one, as I’ve done in the past, adds up, both physically and mentally. I questioned whether I could do the job justice without booze. I’ll take drinks savvy friends along and let them loose, I’ll ask about wine lists myself and then drink something else, and I’ll listen to what’s happening around me (a tip to hospitality: seasoned reviewers are always watching and listening to what’s happening around their table not just at it).
I asked myself that question because I think booze is integral to the hospitality experience for so many people. But then looking at it another way, not drinking is also an integral part of the experience for people as well. Are they being served?
Here in Western Australia, and I’m surprised to say this, the outlook hasn’t been great. It’s something I’ve seen well beyond review season. If I were a teacher scrawling my feedback in the margins it would be “shows ability, must try harder.”
A high-end restaurant where a meal for two, with one glass of wine, ran to $360 presents a wine list that’s deep and well considered, as is their spirits offering. Their alcohol-free pitch is juice, soft drinks, coffee, one mass market non-alcoholic beer and some mocktails. Juice for me is a morning drink, coffee perhaps after but not during a meal. A mocktail, so often sugar laden for weight, may work as an aperitif but not as an accompaniment to a meal. “Do you have any wine adjacent non-alcoholic options?” A question that’s greeted with confusion. So, after my dining companion had worked his way through pages and pages of choice, asked questions, tasted and given the customary “lovely,” my answer is, “I’ll just stick with the water, sparkling. thanks” A disappointment for me and a missed opportunity for the restaurant to nudge that bill a little bit further upward.
At a craft beer bar where there’s a sign declaring “non-alcoholic beers available” they have only the ubiquitous Heaps Normal, a beer that I’ll happily drink over many alcoholic beers but so often the only choice. Asking what else they can do for me – the sign reads beers - it’s soft drinks or a lemon, lime and bitters. It’s a pattern that’s repeated again and again. It’s great to see Australian owned, and often smaller businesses, like Heaps Normal and Lightening Minds, kicking goals but there’s so much choice in that non-alc beer space that’s not getting any airtime.
Over dinner a few weeks ago with Rachael Niall, a friend who opened Tomorrow on Tap, we discussed attitudes to non-alcoholic drinks and by association the drinkers of them. A wine and hospo professional, Rach took a punt on an alcohol-free retail venture that’s no longer open. My (perhaps unhelpful) thought or consolation to her was that it’s the risk takers and early adopters that give things momentum.
When asked, Rach’s view was that too many venues still see non-alcoholic drinks as a hindrance or a small box to tick, rather than looking at it as “an opportunity to serve and delight.” I’d say that perhaps some hospitality diehards put non-drinkers in the same basket as chefs put those with dietaries (or am I being unfair?).
There’s often in hospo circles, she feels, a (misguided) belief that the majority of people ordering non-alcoholic options are a) sober, b) don't like the taste of alcohol, c) won't spend much. I’m unsure what the figures are in Australia but in the US, research carried out by NielsenIQ reported that 82% of people who buy non-alcoholic drinks also buy drinks that contain alcohol. It kind of blows the A to C assumptions out of the (sparkling) water.
I went back to Rach this week and asked what advice she’d give to people in hospitality around non-alcoholic drinks. Her advice: “Treat your customer with respect. Give them a selection of interesting 'adult' drinks that you won't find in a supermarket and stop making mocktails the feature. Look at wine alternatives, bitters and interesting 0%abv offerings instead.”
I’d add to this in saying be both creative and curious, about what’s out there in the market, peoples motivations for not drinking alcohol, and what works for the palate of those lovers of alcohol-free drinks. Opportunity if not a revolution awaits.
Preach. I barely drink at all because my body just doesn't like it, and while I'm thrilled about the options available in market, I'm regularly disappointed by the options available in venues. I'm not a toddler, I also don't want juice or coke with my fine dining meal. I'll pay whatever has to be paid for them, I just want to be respected as a consumer.
I loved this article. I’ve written about this last week and in a banter with fellow writer Albert Molins Renters that responded today.
I’m adamant that these choices - especially in fine dining - should be better explored. Sadly there’s a huge slice of sommeliers that refuse to tune in with anything that’s not alcoholic.