MINDFUL drinking and the development of high quality zero-alcohol beverages is seeing bottle shops stocking wider ranges of no- and low-alcohol wines, beers and spirits.

“The no-alcohol beverage category is gaining popularity as Australians’ alcohol consumption continues to slowly decline.

“Despite what we heard during the pandemic, in 2020 consumption actually hit a 50-year low,” said Brydie Allen, Editor, National Liquor News.

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“At the forefront of this trend is the ever-increasing amount of people practicing mindful consumption and looking for options that are ‘better for you’, including those that help them moderate their alcohol intake.

“These people still want quality adult beverages that help create their favourite drinks experiences, just without the alcohol content.

“Soft drink, juice or water used to be the only options for those who were driving, pregnant, allergic or just not feeling like drinking.

“But these days producers big and small are celebrating the non-drinkers by giving them premium and crafted beverage choices they actually feel excited and happy to drink,” added Brydie.

Lauren Hammond, Customer Experience Manager at Dan Murphy’s Coffs Harbour calls these drinks ‘pretend wines and spirits’.

“They look and taste just like the real thing.

“The difference today is the high quality of these beverages.”

In the last twelve months, sales of non-alcoholic drinks increased over 100 percent across BWS and Dan Murphy’s, peaking for Dry July.

Tim Carroll, General Manager of Buying & Merchandising of Endeavour Group said, “The rise of non-alcoholic drinks is a reflection of a broader trend where consumers are choosing to moderate.

“We’ve never had such a wide range of non-alcoholic and lower alcohol drinks in our stores.

“You can find anything from craft beer, rosé and bubbles to craft gin and bourbon without any alcohol in it – and the quality is so good, you won’t be able to tell the difference.

“We are seeing great innovation from Australian producers in particular, people are so surprised at what’s available in the alcohol-free section”, says Dan Murphy’s Inge Van Dyk.

Hamish Barr, manager at Sawtell Hotel’s Bottler Bottle-O is now stocking alcohol free wine from McGuigan Wine’s Zero range.

Hamish told The News Of The Area, “We’ve had such a great customer response to our non-alcoholic beers – two out of our 15 available are alcohol free – it’s made me think about increasing our offer.

“The Zero wines come in from McGuigan’s tomorrow and we’ll be introducing our customers to Shiraz and Sauvignon blanc to start with.”

By Andrea FERRARI