Are low/no drinks a trigger?

I was inspired to write today’s posts by one of my rare morning scrolls on Instagram (honestly, I try not to consume too much Instagram as inevitably it feels like I'm just waiting to see reels and posts that make me feel like I'm not #livingmybestlife) when I came across this post from @marathon2sobriety

In it, Luc Zoratto, a vocal advocate for sobriety with over 134k followers on the platform, is responding to a comment from another poster which reads:

“Not judging – but working a program and drinking NA beer is using behaviour.”

Putting aside the opening statement, “Not judging” (which to me is akin to the ever-popular Love Island idiom, “I’m not gonna lie,” both of which prepare me to receive their inverse), are NA beers, wines, spirits, etc., the lifesaver drinks we think them to be, or are they triggers to negative behaviour?

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I have met a lot of people in the low/no-&-light space over the last year and a half of producing Low No Drinker Magazine, and I can testify right now in front of the gods of whatever algorithm brought you to me today that there is absolutely, definitively no one right way to address your relationship with alcohol.

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I have met alcohol-free brand founders who still drink alcohol; I have danced with others who have not touched a drop in over 25 years and swear they never will again;?I have interviewed sobriety coaches who have the occasional full-strength beer; I have spoken with people who have no idea if they'll ever drink again or not but just know that they don't want to in that moment. And I have met low/no awards directors who have no concern over their relationship with alcohol but just LOVE alcohol-free drinks and all they have to offer.

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Some people go to AA, others go to friends & family; some people need a sponsor, and others need solitude; some people aim for complete sobriety, and nothing else will do, and others just want to drink a bit less.

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There is no one right way.

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So what about low/no-&-light drinks, then? Where do they fit into the debate?

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It'll come as no great shock that my answer is 'It depends.'

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And no, that's not me hedging my bets because I know there'll be as many people out there who agree with me here as those who don't, but for some, alcohol-free drinks are the very lifesaver that helps bring them out of their own personal despair and for others they will weight them down.

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One 2022 meta-study of 4,045 records* reported that,

"Craving and desire to drink have been found to increase after the consumption of NoLo drinks in patients with [heavy or high-risk drinking pattern] AUD."

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And goes on to explain that,

"The increase in craving correlates with the severity of alcohol dependence."

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The same study also found that,

"Alcohol-related cues might trigger physiological responses similar to those experienced when using alcohol."

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Clearly, for those cohorts consuming alcohol-free beers, wines and spirits, some of which are in a race to get as close to the 'real thing' as possible, is a highway to hell that is best exited swiftly.

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However, in this report, Caballeria et al. were looking only at those with heavy or high-risk drinking habits and those already clinically designated as suffering from severe AUD. Having never been categorised so myself, I can't speak for the experiences of those who have, but what I can share is the experience of those who have had the most harrowing of incidents with their alcohol addictions and dependencies, leading to loss of family, lively-hood and liberty but who have gone on to produce alcohol-free brands themselves, believing wholeheartedly that without having such alternatives their temptation to drink the 'real thing' would no doubt have overwhelmed them many moons ago.

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Conversely, speaking to Recovery Coach Arron Smallman on the Low No Drinker Podcast, he told me,

"Life is a grey area; there's loads of variables in it. There are people, myself included, that without no and low products, their life would be completely different, and the chances are they wouldn't actually be here, and I'm quite open and honest about that like it would have fucking taken me down, I ?would have gone under."

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And what of those whose fortunes have not yet reached such depths?

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I am passionate that with Low No Drinker Media, I want to serve those who find themselves looking for answers while they still feel able to action change within themselves, no matter how challenging that may be.

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As a culture, we spend so much time talking about 'fixing' people and 'getting over' things, but as my mother was oft fond of telling me, 'Prevention is better than cure' (you'll have to imagine the Jamaican accent in your head, I've no idea how to portray that on the page).

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Joking aside, finding tools (read: drinks) that allow consumers to acknowledge their drinking behaviours and change accordingly before the severity of their AUD becomes unmanageable is where low/no-&-light drinks come into their own.

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You may prefer those drinks that aim to replicate the burn of alcohol with the use of chilli extracts. Perhaps you prefer a cocktail in a can so you can have something decadent the instant you feel a craving. Maybe you're on the hunt for a wine to replace your old favourite for the days when you want a glass but don't want a hangover. Or maybe you just fancy a beer but not booze.

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And, of course, there's a wealth of brands out there that are working to offer you something new, something unique and never experienced before, either with or without alcohol. Brands like Botivo, Feragaia, Wild Eve and the new collagen-infused, tea-brewed Botanist Beer from the Gentleman Brewing Co (currently facing a legal battle over the use of their name from 'big alcohol'. Read more here).

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The reasons for choosing to drink low/no-&-light are as varied as the people who consume them. And let us not forget, as reported by The Grocer, that

"99% of shoppers who have bought alcohol-free and low-alcohol drinks in the last year have also purchased alcohol".?

With practices like active moderation, dry months, and blending (mixing full strength and low/no on the same drinking occasion) becoming commonplace in our pubs, restaurants and homes, it's little wonder that the low/no industry is forecasted to see compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19% from 2023 to 2028. And that sales of total beverage alcohol in the UK dropped by 2% between 2022 and 2023, while low/no saw a 47% volume increase in the same time (IWSR).**

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The trend (and I loathe to call it that) for low/no-&-light is reaching far beyond the predictions of yesteryear drinkers. Even industry professionals like Pooja Sharma-Jones of Mocktail Beverages Inc. have conceded their earlier doubts about recognising the capacity of low/no to help people take back the power of choice in their drinking.

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Speaking on the Low No Drinker Podcast a couple of weeks ago, Pooja told me the story of her entry into low/no, in part via a job with Luke Boase at Lucky Saint | B Corp? ,

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"I don't think this is going to be something people are going to buy into, this non-alcohol stuff, non-alcohol beer, and I was a bit kind of like, I'm not sure about this."

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Needless to say, after helping to propel Lucky Saint into the AF beer stratosphere and now doing the same with RTD AF cocktail brand Mocktails, Pooja sees things very differently,

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"I think it's definitely going to continue to grow, and I think at some point we may not even have things like KAM Insight [Low+No conference] because the category will have cemented itself. It's there, and it sits alongside all the other categories."

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To suggest that low/no-&-light alternatives are facilitating 'using behaviour' is like saying that Walkers are responsible for the obesity crisis; sometimes, you just want a packet of prawn cocktail with your lunch.

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More from Low No Drinker Media:

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*National Library of Medicine

**Harpers.co.uk

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