Just like Dry January, the summer has allowed many consumers to discover a wide range of alcohol-free products. Between new drinks and alcohol-free cocktails that have multiplied in bars, the offer is flourishing!
In beer as well as in wine, innovations abound. For example, the brewers Emilie and Sébastien, founders of Edmond Bières, have launched an alcohol-free beer for young mothers: Mamabeer. The zero and organic beer, sold in a limited edition, 'campaigns for the right to a proper aperitif' for young mothers who are breastfeeding and for whom alcohol consumption is not recommended. In the Netherlands, the La Trappe brewery in Tilburg decided to launch the first ever alcohol-free Trappist beer. Nillis is the first beer of its kind. Although there were already a few light Trappist beers, notably in Belgium at Chimay (with Chimay Dorée at 4.8° as opposed to 8° for the other beers of the brand), none of the eleven Trappist breweries had yet taken the zero alcohol step.
This craze has affected the entire beer market. Carlsberg has seen an increase of more than 25% in sales of its alcohol-free beers since the beginning of 2021. On the wine side, Domaine de l'Arjolle, located in Pouzolles in the Languedoc, has just launched its range of alcohol-free wines. Produced from the 49 hectares of the estate, these 4 new products are available in different colours: white, red, rosé and sparkling white. It is by using dealcoholisation that the estate's winegrowers have been able to obtain these wines with 0% alcohol. The Équilibre range is already available for purchase on the estate's website.
The summer season is also an opportunity for many bars to rethink their drinks menu. For example, the Limbar, the famous cocktail bar at the Cheval Blanc in Paris, has recently started offering cocktail evenings inspired by the Anglo-Saxon model. The head bartender, Florian Thireau, proposes, in addition to the classic cocktails, "mirror" cocktails without alcohol but guaranteeing identical flavours to their alcoholic counterparts. In Cherbourg, the bar-disco Freedom has completely rethought its formula by putting forward new alcohol-free cocktails.
The summer has thus allowed alcohol-free drinks to grow and to become a must for producers, distributors, bars and restaurants in response to this new consumer trend. So there is still a lot of innovation to look forward to!