Low&No Trends to watch out for in 2020

It’s been a fantastic year for the low&no beverage market, with 2020 already shaping up to be an even better one. February 2019 saw non-alcoholic beer volume sales were up 28%, while a whopping 4.2 million sober-curious Brits pledged to give up the bottle for Dry January. Attitudes are changing dramatically, with Club Soda co-founder Laura Willoughby stating that drinking rates among British adults are “at their lowest for 18 years, and a quarter of 16-24-year olds drink no alcohol” and that “at least one in five of us is trying to reduce or minimise their alcohol intake”.

So, with the successes of the past year soon to be behind us, it’s time to start thinking about the coming year and what exciting and disruptive trends we can expect from the low- and no-market in 2020.

Low- and no-alcohol trends to watch out for in 2020

Flavour trumps ABV

Looking at Waitrose’s annual Food and Drink Report, it seems there is a higher inclination for consumers to choose their alcoholic drinks based on flavour rather than ABV.

“Low and no-alcohol has been one of the biggest talking points in the beverage industry of the past two years.” Says an article by The Drinks Business. “So much so, one of the top-read stories on our website of all time is now a list of non-alcoholic beers to try in 2019, published in January.

“Waitrose’s report claims that drinkers now think more about whether they want to sip on something bitter, sweet, long or cold, rather than whether it’s alcohol-based.“This trend is partly due to prioritising health, but also thanks to non-alcoholic mixers such as Fever-Tree, Coca-Cola and Double Dutch innovating heavily and moving upmarket.”

The growth of non-alcoholic beer

Although alcohol-free beer makes up less than 5% of the market, it seems it is only growing in popularity for sober-curious Brits, says The Drinks Business.

“More than half of Brits who took part in a OnePoll survey last year said they have at least tried a non-alcoholic beverage, while 52% also said non-alcoholic beers have become more socially acceptable in the past two years.”

With this increase in mind and the ever-growing popularity of craft beer, many alcohol-free beer brands are looking to market premium versions of their 0.0% beers.

“We can expect to see low alcohol beers for every occasion where you would normally opt for your go-to brew, and could even see this being adopted by bartenders as a cocktail ingredient.

With this in mind, I believe it’s only a matter of time before we see alcohol-free beer becoming more mainstream in pubs and bars - by being available in draught-format. At present, there isn’t much besides bottled non-alcoholic brews, but in a few UK pubs, you can get St Peter’s Brewery alcohol-free offering on draught while Heineken’s 0.0% beer can be bought in keg-form.

Dark spirits take to the spotlight

When we think of alcohol-free spirits, quite often we only seem to think of white spirits such as Seedlip, but all that is going to change in 2020.

At London’s Lo & No Beverage Summit, there was a huge interest around dark spirits and whisky-style drinks, says The Drinks Business. “One of the products Omega showcased at the summit was a ready-made ‘dark spirit and cola’ drink, which tasted fairly similar to a whiskey and coke.

“A number of booze-free alternatives to rum and whiskey have already entered the market, including Rumish by Ish Drinks, Stryyk’s Not Rum, made by the founder of Funkin Cocktails. Craig Hutchison, the founder of non-alcoholic gin alternative Ceder’s, also revealed he is working with Pernod Ricard on a new ‘spirit’ that is inspired by rum.”

Healthy additives and CBD-infusions

While alcoholic beverages aren’t allowed to promote any health benefits of their drink, this leaves room for zero-alcohol drinks to take the spotlight and push their wellness-boosting perks. For some, this is extra botanicals, vitamins and minerals, for others this is CBD, another widely growing trend here in the UK.

As you may have read previously, I am a big advocate of CBD and the use of natural ingredients. I am fully behind the idea of CBD-infused drinks as I think they’re a great alternative to alcohol if you’re looking to cut down or go to tee-total all the while giving your wellbeing a boost.

Read more: CBD Drinks - Quality matters!

Other notable 2020 drinks trends to look out for

The driving force behind the development of the low- and no- market is the changing attitudes towards health and wellness. Interestingly, this is also contributing to the way the drinks market promotes, produces and bottles their drinks – alcoholic or not.

The whole reason I created Kolibri was because I wanted to give sober-curious and tee-total consumers a choice. Rather than having to order a 'soda and lime' like a broken record, I wanted people who are abstaining to have adult flavours to choose from, and ones that aren’t full of sickly-sweet syrups and sugars – hence the creation of the Kolibri nectar cap.

So, it comes as no surprise that other players in the drinks market are looking to shake up the way they package their drinks too to fall in with health-focused and environmentally-conscious consumers.

Fill-your-own beer and wine

Can you imagine going to your local supermarket and finding wine and beer on tap? Well, that’s exactly what Waitrose trialled earlier this year in their Botley Road shop in Oxford.

“The test, which the grocer called Waitrose Unpacked, ran for 11 weeks.” Says The Drinks Business. “Four different wines and four different beers were available on tap to take home in reusable bottles, to cut down on the use of glass bottles.

“Waitrose also said that 10 weeks’ worth of beer sold out in four days, and the trial is being extended to three more stores.”

The return of the tinny

Another interesting trend to watch out for is the growing popularity of tinned drinks, says The Drinks Business.

“Canned wines are on the rise in the UK and US. Sainsbury’s, for example, added two new French wines in cans to its line-up in February. Last year, Waitrose launched an organic rosé and Shiraz in cans after seeing sales of single bottles rise 10%, and this year added popular Provence rosé Mirabeau to its line-up of tinnies.

“The Co-op has also looked at alternative, environmentally friendly packaging with its listing of the Most Wanted pouch in 2017. The brand is also available in cans. Waitrose’s 2019 report found that sales of canned lagers now outstrip bottled versions, which means the tinny is back in fashion.”

Armed with the above trends, I think 2020 might just be the best year for the low- and no- market yet. Watch this space!

About the Author:

Kamila is a bestselling author of  “Bespoke. How to radically grow your bar and restaurant business through personalisation”, and passionate trend-spotter for the UK Eating Out market with thousands of followers on her widely popular blog kamilasitwell.co.uk

With a decade of hands-on experience collaborating with hospitality influencers and insight experts and background in setting strategies for leading brands, Kamila has become the industry champion for truly bespoke and guest-centric experiences.