(Courtesy Heineken 0.0)

Once an outlier Dry January has become mainstream, with more consumers taking a break from alcohol. But that doesn’t mean they’re not enjoying serious buzz-free beer, wine and spirits, a trend that shows no signs of slowing.

Embracing a more healthful and clear-headed lifestyle, millennials and younger are abandoning alcohol products in droves. And this migration away from alcohol hasn’t gone unnoticed by a beer industry that is now taking the non-alcohol segment seriously.

Non-alcoholic pioneers like O’Doul’s were so tasteless as to broadcast that the brewer’s hearts weren’t really into it. But as more and more consumers move to forgo alcohol, brewers are getting more deliberative about crafting non-alcoholic beers that not only drink authentically but taste great as well.

In 2018 Anheuser-Busch InBev announced the creation of a new chief of non-alcoholic beverages officer as a means of boosting its footprint in the non-alcohol sector. More than 10% of its total business is already dedicated to non-alcohol brands like Beck’s Blue and Budweiser Zero, and the company is projecting that 20% of the world’s beer production volume will move to non-alcoholic or low alcoholic products by 2025.

Consumption of no- and low-alcohol drinks is set to increase by a third by 2026, spurred on by growing consumer demand, according to a new study published by IWSR Drinks Market Analysis. And the research company is predicting the pace of the category’s growth over the next four years to surpass the growth experienced over the last four year period.

The dynamic no- and low-alcohol category presents opportunities for incremental sales growth as consumers are recruited from drinks categories such as soft drinks and water,” said Susie Goldspink, head of no- and low-alcohol, IWSR Drinks Market Analysis. Brand owners have an opportunity to recruit non-drinkers of alcohol.”

Among the 10 geographic markets examined by the IWSR Drinks Market Analysis in December, the market value of no- and low-alcohol products in 2022 surpassed $11 billion, up from $8 billion in 2018.

According to The Drinks Business, Germany remains the world’s largest market for the category, followed by Japan, Spain, the US, and the UK.

“As more people opt to avoid alcohol on certain occasions – or abstain from it altogether – no-alcohol is steadily increasing its share of the no and low category,” Goldspink added.

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