The first fair entirely dedicated to non-alcoholic drinks will be held at the beginning of July at the Marché du Lez in Montpelier, and de-alcoholized drinks are in the spotlight! The organizers are keen to highlight local products from the French terroir. Wines, beers and non-alcoholic spirits will find their place there. An event that makes sense at the beginning of this summer and this period of strong heat.

Indeed, it is not recommended to consume alcohol in the middle of a heat wave, and for a good reason: alcohol dehydrates! Ethanol molecules will affect the activity of the kidneys by disturbing the production of vasopressin, a hormone produced by the brain, more precisely by the hypothalamus. Released in the blood, it will have an anti-diuretic role.

Drinking alcohol will therefore lead to an overproduction of urine and a too rapid elimination of our body's water reserves. The quantities contained in alcoholic beverages do not allow to compensate for these losses, our body finds itself having to draw water from its last resources, such as the brain. This is what causes the symptoms of a "hangover". Alcohol increases the risk of sunstroke and even hyperthermia.

It is therefore advisable to limit alcohol consumption when the sun is shining, and to turn instead to non-alcoholic drinks. Wine, beer or de-alcoholized spirits are a better alternative to continue to consume a festive drink as an aperitif while avoiding "heat stroke". Nevertheless, in these hot periods, the most important thing is to drink water, of course!

    Fully or partially dealcoholised wines, previously called "beverages from dealcoholised wine", can now be called "dealcoholised wine" or "partially dealcoholised wine". This is the resolution adopted by the new CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) which decided to harmonise the Community rules.

    PDO and PGI wines may also be partially dealcoholised, but total dealcoholisation will be reserved for wines without a PDO or PGI. Brussels also settles the question of the difference between "partially dealcoholised" and "dealcoholised": using the limit given by the OIV in 2012, the notion of "dealcoholised wine" will be reserved for wines with an alcohol percentage of less than 0.5%.

    It remains to define the oenological practices that will be allowed for the production of these wines. The Member States are currently working on this issue.

    To be continued...

    While the number of new hard seltzer references is increasing in the United States and Europe, have they found their audience in France?

    On the other side of the Atlantic, the success of hard seltzers has been proven. The latest creation is the Primer pack. The concept developed by the new American brand Primer consists of packaging three drinks of different alcohol content in a single pack. Primer Electrolyte Charged Hard Seltzers is preparing to launch in the Midwest in February 2022. Nine packs of three different drinks of each alcohol content: 0%, 5% and 8% will be available.

    In France, after Heineken, ABInBev is entering the market with three flavours: black cherry, lime and raspberry. Mike's Hard Seltzer offers drinks with 5 degrees of alcohol and 2 grams of sugar for a total of 100 calories per 33 cl can.

    Industry professionals have no doubt that hard seltzer will be a success in France in the future. Romain Le Mouëllic, co-founder of the Fefe brand, says: "The evolution of this market is colossal, without equivalent and there are real reasons to believe that France could follow a similar path. Florentin Cugnot, co-founder of the Natz brand, sees hard seltzers as "an alternative to craft beers and natural wine, close to a natural sparkling wine, with fermentation work".

    To be continued 

Some new products in the alcohol-free sector have just arrived on the market.

Among them, Heineken has decided to change the rules and is launching the world premiere of its famous alcohol-free beer, Heineken 0.0 on draught. It will be available in hundreds of English pubs from next year. The introduction of this draught will give people even more choice and will be crucial in standardising and accelerating the uptake of alcohol-free and low-alcohol beer.

Meanwhile, global drinks group Kerry this week decided to launch 'Botanicals Collection Zero 2.0', a new generation of botanical extracts containing 0% ethanol, designed for low-alcohol and non-alcoholic beverage applications such as mocktails. These new extracts will allow non-alcoholic cocktails, among others, to be given fruity, floral or spicy flavours to enhance the creative ideas of bartenders.

Finally, the famous non-alcoholic beverage brand Lyre, has just announced a new round of funding, enabling it to be valued at $500 million today, compared to $185 million earlier in the year. While the brand sold its first bottle in 2019, Mark Livings, co-founder and CEO of Lyre, said it sells one every 30 seconds now.

The new figures on alcohol consumption were released last week. According to Santé Publique France, almost one in four French people drink too much alcohol. According to a survey carried out in 2020 among almost 15,000 people, "23.7% of the population aged between 18 and 75 exceed the alcohol consumption guidelines". Santé Publique France is therefore calling for the reinforcement of prevention actions, particularly with regard to advertising and accessibility.

In this context, non-alcoholic beverages are taking their place. These drinks are very fashionable and are reaching more and more consumers: according to a Kantar study in 2020, 27% of French people say they consume low-alcohol or non-alcohol drinks, a figure that is increasing. Thus, the penetration rate of non-alcoholic drinks in French households rose from 21.5% in 2016 to 28.6% four years later. Among the motivations given by consumers, 41% of them say they drink non-alcoholic drinks in order to reduce their alcohol consumption.

Another spotlight on non-alcoholic drinks.