Walk into just about any bar and you’ll see many nonalcoholic options that are way beyond Coca Cola or water. Now we have nonalcoholic wine, good tasting non-alcoholic beer and even new, botanical spirits to take the place of gin or whiskey.
But the biggest growth has been in nonalcoholic beers, like Heineken 0.0. That market grew to $22 billion in 2022 and is expected to double this year.
And you see it in Las Vegas, from the fanciest bars on the Strip to the cherished downtown dives. The Bar & Restaurant Expo, which was in town last week, featured an entire section of non-alcoholic drinks and brands for the first time in three decades.
Michael Ian Borer is a professor of sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His work has focused on image, local beer, pop culture and more.
“I think the word you used earlier, sober-curious, is a curious term unto itself,” he said.
Younger generations, like Millennials and Gen Z, came out of the COVID-19 pandemic more health conscious than ever before. The pandemic was “saturated” with booze, Borer said. “And frankly, our whole culture is saturated with booze.”
But he doesn’t think choosing not to drink is a trend.
“I think we could think of it as a movement, as a lifestyle movement, where folks aren't actually trying to change laws or policies, but they're trying to change their own behaviors,” he said. “Now with the options that are available to them, the sober-curious and or the just outright sober, have some other options. And I think that's really exciting for them.”
For the younger generations, Borer attributes some of the movement to image.
“The younger generations are the digital generation, right? And they're very image-conscious. So alcohol can threaten that image. And … they've grown up in a time where everything is online, right? And we think of TikTok and Instagram. … I think that … one of the main reasons that makes them different is that they don't want to spoil their image by getting drunk or having a hangover; ‘hangxiety,’ right? Even the idea of being hungover causes anxiousness and anxiety.”
Post-pandemic, there’s a need for people to get out and socialize, said John Landry, the executive vice president of Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, a major national liquor distributor.
“Having these options available at bars and restaurants takes a barrier down so that people don't feel like they're awkward sitting at a bar. And they've got something in their hand, whether that's a very eccentric cocktail, or whether it's a beer … they've got something that they can sit there and socialize and get out amongst people. And I think that's very important,” he said.
One of those places to socialize is downtown Las Vegas’ ReBar, owned by Derek Stonebarger. The bar offers a four-drink mocktail menu and about 10 nonalcoholic beer options, among other N/A beverages. They added the mocktail menu about five years ago for Dry January, but it stuck.
“We're happy to be one of the leaders, at least in our town, with all of the selections we have of nonalcoholic drinks,” he said.
Keep in mind, there are many reasons someone may choose an alternative to alcohol: mental health, physical health, addiction, to avoid a hangover, not feeling like it at the moment. Long-standing stigmas have fallen by the wayside for choosing to be alcohol-free while socializing.
“I'm drinking a nonalcoholic Guinness here at nine in the morning,” Stonebarger said. “And no one would know any different. They wouldn't think that I'm drinking at work if you saw it, so that's kind of the way it's set up is if you need that … we're here for you. And the products are there for you. It's just a positive thing.”
Beyond the pandemic, Stonebarger said legalizing marijuana in Nevada also likely had an effect on the drinks market.
“I'm not sure on the statistics on that, but it's just a thought that I have that there's potentially more people who are legally using marijuana in our city,” he said.
Nonalcoholic drinks are still a small fraction of the market, but it’s growing rapidly. For ReBar, nonalcoholic beverages make up about 1% of sales. For Landry’s business, it’s about 2%.
Both Stonebarger and Landry brought samples of nonalcoholic drinks to Nevada Public Radio. Guinness and Corona just released nonalcoholic versions, and State of Nevada host Joe Schoenmann couldn’t tell the difference with the Corona. Landry said he couldn’t tell at first try, either.
“I don't think it's going anywhere. I don't think these products are leaving,” Stonebarger said, noting the Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher and IPNA drinks are popular at ReBar.
Many of the newer nonalcoholic beers, like Heineken’s, have 0% alcohol – a big deal for those who had to avoid N/As in the past due to their low alcohol content.
Borer added, “Alcohol is a toxin, it is toxic. And I think the younger generations are starting to understand that better than the older generations have. Even though we got my research on craft beer, there was so much excitement about the newness of the developing smaller local breweries, but now we even have local breweries that are doing nonalcoholic beverages, as well.”
And if you think the movement has been trouble for liquor outlets, think again. Landry said it’s what they do.
“It really fits our business model,” Landry said.
Nor is it trouble for the bars, which sell nonalcoholic beverages near alcoholic prices.
Landry continued, “I think the interesting thing about the spirits is that craft mixology gives [bars] like ReBar a lot of opportunity to have fun with it and create different cocktails; that comes with some expense to you. That's why the cocktail is probably $8 to $10.”
In the meantime in places like New York City and L.A., sober bars are popping up, and proving to be popular. Could we see one of those in Las Vegas? Stonebarger said maybe, but don’t expect it to be a big bar or featured on the Strip.
“And in case there's listeners out there who can't get a nonalcoholic drink somewhere, the classic nonalcoholic drink is a soda water with a lime, and you can get that anywhere.”
What our listeners shared
Eric in Henderson: “I'm not new to not drink, I quit 31 years ago. And the reason you'd ask is because both of my parents are alcoholics, so I just at that point in my life, I decided to give it a try without and I never went back. But it is refreshing to see that there's some movement toward serving more than O’Doul’s and other bland, nonalcoholic products.”
Margaret from Summerlin: “I recently got sober … it's been kind of weird, especially with dating and everything opening back up, you don't really have anything to fall back on. … Having something like that on the menu is super cool. … It's super fun here in Vegas, because there's so many crazy things y'all did with drinks anyway. So it's like, you can take the alcohol out and still make it look crazy.”
Kenny from Ely: “I drink nonalcoholic beers. I guess in a nutshell, what got me there was Al-Anon when I was married before; my ex was an addict. And I went down and just the horror stories and the things that I learned in Al-Anon really scared me away from it. I was drinking pretty heavily for a couple of years there. And it started when she went to rehab. But then I kind of noticed things getting out of control. And I remember the Al-Anon stories and I just [decided] I don't want to be an alcoholic.”
Rob from Henderson: “I haven't had a cocktail for over 40 years, and recently reached out to and found the guys from Athletic Brewery … their marketing efforts and their desire to bring people in the athletic and nonalcoholic environment is pretty interesting. They are out of Connecticut and also out of San Diego. And recently when they had the Ironman competition, which moved over temporarily to St. George, rather than doing the champagne toast and all the winners do and spray the bottle all over everybody, they supplied Athletic beer to all of the winners and had them available throughout the race for all the participants as the races we continue included each day. “
Ollie from Las Vegas: “I worked at a popular casino on the Strip, and some of them left a tremendous amount of the Heineken 0.0. And we actually filled them up in our employee refrigerator. And we would be drinking them throughout the day. And guys, believe it or not, we started buying those instead, because they had gotten the opportunity to try them for an extended period, we had cases. And they tried for an extended period of time and just started buying them at home on their own time.”
Guests: Michael Borer, professor of sociology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Derek Stonebarger, owner, ReBar; John Landry, executive vice president, Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits
