The non-alc buzz can’t last forever
Huge potential for growth, masses of investment, buckets of enthusiasm… the non-alc sector is booming. We asked Dry Atlas co-founder Victoria Watter how non-alc brands will make it once the hype ends
We just released our 2026 report: The New Rules of Brand Building in Beverage & Alcohol. It gathers wisdom and thoughts on brand as a tool for growth from some of the most-referenced bev/alc brands of the moment. And it’s free to download.
We are truly in non-alc’s growth era. It’s hard to believe, but ten years ago it was just barely a category. Ordering something ‘non-alc’ meant forcing down a substandard zero beer or maybe a juice, and enduring a side of social condescension.
It’s not just that there weren’t that many non-alcoholic brands, it’s that people’s attitudes were entirely different. Ten years ago, Dry January wasn’t even a thing. Now every single person you’re friends with knows about it, and half of them have probably done it.
“In 2020, the average American consumer didn’t know about alcohol alternatives beyond O’Doul’s,” says Victoria Watter, founder of media brand Dry Atlas and Spirited Away – a booze-free bottle shop in NYC, recently acquired by ex-Campari Group Global Marketing Director Nicholas Pelis.
“Consumers may not have had an opinion before. Now, they’re forming them.”
Dry Atlas is evidence of this huge surge in enthusiasm, with Victoria saying they’re tracking 1,500+ alcohol alternatives and adding at least 50 more (!) to their database weekly. And when we spoke to The Zero Proof founder Sean Goldsmith, he told us distributors right now are getting more enquiries from non-alc brands than traditional alc companies. This is a crowded category.
It’s a huge shift. But it’s a shift we should be wary of. Sure, the non-alc space might have huge potential for growth, but that doesn’t make it easy. And sure, more people than ever are curious about it (Victoria says 50% of Spirited Away’s footfall comes from interested newbies), but brands shoudn’t assume that will make it straightforward.
And importantly, brands should be very wary of the current ‘no-one is drinking’ narrative.
After a lot of credulous press coverage insisting that young people aren’t drinking, that Americans aren’t drinking, that drinking as we know it is over…. we’ve come to the other side. Bev/alc founders, as well as journalists and commentators, are popping their heads over the parapet to say that, actually, young people are drinking. And that maybe one Gallup poll from one year shouldn’t be taken as a truth for eternity.
As someone who spends her days immersed in that non-alc space, we asked Victoria: how true is the not-drinking narrative?
“People aren’t necessarily becoming abstainers,” she says. “They’re becoming more intentional about what they consume.
“The growth is in ‘sometimes drinkers’ who want better options for the occasions they don’t consume alcohol. Per Nielsen, 92% of alcohol alternatives buyers also buy products containing alcohol, so it’s more about moderation than anything else.”
That chimes with conversations we’re having at The New Rules. For example, Botivo founder Imme Ermgassen told us that their product isn’t anti-alcohol, it’s a partner to alcohol:
“It is not against alcohol, it is with alcohol, it is alongside it. It sits very much in its own space.”
People are mixing non-alc options into cocktails. Theyre having non-alc drinks in between alcoholic drinks. There’s so much room here, but… you can’t get complacent, and you can’t make assumptions.
As someone who spends her days talking to alcohol-free brands, profiling them, and following people’s in-person reactions to non-alc options, we asked Victoria:
What will it take for non-alc brands to NOT f*** this up?
According to her, these are the mistakes it’s making:
1)The quality of the liquid
It’s so obvious, but according to Victoria many non-alc brands are still missing the mark. If this reminds you of all those meat-free brands that looked great but tasted awful, then yes it does.
2)Brand positioning
Companies are being way too broad in their targeting of consumes and drinking occasion. “Too many brands lead with vague lifestyle language instead of speaking to a specific consumer and making the drinking occasion crystal clear,” she says.
3)Lazy language
Language is really important. Early on, says Victoria, a lot of non-alc brands leant on old codes – using ‘gin’ and ‘whisky’ out of necessity, to help consumers orient themselves in a novel category. However that tactic is looking like it might be dead in the water (the EU recently ruled that non-alcoholic liquids cannot be called gin. You’ve got to assume that whiskey, tequila, wine and all the rest could be next).
Victoria says that today’s most successful non-alc brands are selling themselves with novel formulas, and product names that live outside of alcohol.
4)Distribution, distribution, distirbution
While demand is moving beyond Dry January, founders are worried about distribution. Victoria says retail buyers still misunderstand the category and brands are burning cash trying to scale too fast.
“Getting on the shelves is only half the battle,” she says. “Then you have to worry about sell-through.”
With that in mind, the best brands aren’t trying to seduce the entire US market at once, says Victoria. They start small and focused in a limited area, via independent retailers.
In summary:
If you’re a non-alc brand and you think being part of a buzzy sector is enough, you’re in trouble.
Ask yourself: is my liquid exceptional? Is it enough? do I know who my consumer is? What occasion do I fit into? Where’s my place? Being able to answer all of those things clearly, and confidently, is what’s going to be the difference btween building a non-alc brand that people love and come back to, and a buzzy novelty that people buy once and never think about again.
“When a product earns a permanent spot in someone’s routine, it stops being a trend and becomes a staple,” says Victoria. “The long-term winners are building for that.”
The New Rules is a labor of love by nihilo.agency
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