Distill Ventures sees a huge opportunity in the exciting sector of Non-Alcoholic Drinks and we want to help entrepreneurs and creators launch and grow non-alcoholic brands of the future.
Traditionally, if someone wasn’t drinking alcohol, people would say they were ‘not drinking’. This used to mean they could only choose from a range of sugary, fizzy, or fruity drinks or juices, but this is changing dramatically. The demand for complex, more challenging options is growing fast, which is one of the reasons we believe that the popularity of non-alcoholic drinks trends translates into one of the most exciting and biggest opportunities currently emerging in the drinks industry.
Read more to learn about our key findings or download our full white paper from 2017 below.
Over the last few years, health and wellbeing have become more and more important to people all over the world. At the same time, people are looking for new experiences, and want to get the best out of everything they do. This has inspired greater curiosity around different flavours, and people want better choice. We’ve found three main trends which are driving the rise of making and consuming non-alcoholic drinks: greater focus on wellbeing, a thirst for experiences as well as choice and curiosity.
These trends have led to far more creativity and experimentation across flavour combinations and production processes for non-alcoholic drinks. Restaurants and bars are making and selling drinks made on the premises in small batches, and including much more challenging and complex selections on their menus. These are being served in comparable ways, and at similar price points to alcoholic drinks.
In this light, the industry focus has shifted towards producing challenging and intricate flavours, as well as delivering a superior experience. The production process is therefore important in two ways: the techniques used and the founder’s story. Giving people an understanding of how something is made builds a stronger connection to the drink and helps the founder build a community that loves the brand. At the same time, technical and traditional production methods like distillation, nitro-charging, and fermentation are popular, and instil a scientific rigour into the story behind drinks.
As this category grows and develops, the competition for share of voice and places on menus will naturally get tougher.
Making intriguing, complex, and challenging drinks may be a hobby at home, or a side project you want to grow. It could be something you do at your bar or restaurant, which you would be interested in developing further. Now is the perfect time to step it up a notch. As drinking trends change, and people are looking for drinks that add to, or even define their experience, bars and restaurants need to pay as close attention to their non-alcoholic drinks, as they would their wine or cocktail lists, and even their food menus.
