The popularity of non-alcoholic party drinks has increase greatly during the past few years. Ready-to-drink “mocktails” and alcohol-free gins and runs are at least as expensive as their alcoholic equivalents. But does this not mean that we are paying proportionally too much for “water with a bit flavouring”.
Why are alcohol-free party drinks often more expensive than alcoholic drinks?
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The days that you had to drink water of juice if you didn’t wish to drink alcohol at a party are well and truly behind us. An increasing number of drinks manufacturers are offering non-alcoholic alternatives for cocktails, wine and spirits. These alcohol-free alternatives re often as expensive or even more expensive than drinks that do contain alcohol. Alexander De Beck told VRT News that there are several reasons for this.
First of all, economy of scale plays a roll. The volume of alcoholic drinks sold is still much greater that the volume of non-alcoholic drinks sold by the drinks manufacturers. “This means that manufacturers can push down their costs, meaning that they can charge less money per bottle. Even considering the high level of tax on alcohol in Belgium, a bottle of rum of gin that contains alcohol is still cheaper”.
Investments in an improved “taste experience”
A growing number of companies are investing a fortune in new techniques to produce non-alcoholic drinks. "The taste is of the essence here. We have reached a point whereby the non-alcoholic variants of some well-known drinks are all but indistinguishable from the originals. Many non-alcoholic wines even surprise me as a wine steward”.
On the one hand there are big-name brands that go looking for a non-alcoholic version of their original products. "Sometimes this is based on an infussion of herbs in water. However, most brands use their original drink, such as gin, amaretto or rum as a basis that they then dealcoholise. This ensures a better taste experience, but it costs a lot of money too”. There is also a growing number of non-alcoholic drinks that don’t have an alcoholic twin.
"For example, there is Botan, a distillery from Antwerp that makes its own (non-alcoholic) cocktails and wines. People are more inclined to spend more money on a non-alcoholic drink that they like. This is much more the case than a few years ago”.
Alcohol-free beer
The market for 0% alcohol beer in Belgium is growing. "These days the daily pint of pint of beer is increasingly one without alcohol. During the festive season non-alcoholic sparkling wines are particularly popular. A glass with bubbles gives you a different party feeling than a glass of normal wine”, Alexander De Beck said.