Nonalcoholic Spirits Market Booms as Gen Z Cuts Down on Drinking

In a lab about an hour’s drive northwest of London, chemist Matthew Coulshed pours a deep burgundy liquid into a large plastic jug. Jars of mini rosebuds, tulsi and other herbs sit on the bench ready to be processed. He’s tinkering with the ingredients for Sentia, a plant-based, alcohol-free spirit. It promises to deliver “that two-drink feeling,” lifting a person’s mood and making them open and chatty, without the nasty anxiety spirals, headaches and nausea that booze can bring. And it contains only 9 calories per serving, plus vitamins.

Gaba Labs is one of a slew of startups that have sprung up in response to a greater awareness of the harms that drinking poses: Health-conscious younger people are drinking less than millennials or baby boomers when they were the same age. Worth less than $1 billion in sales globally, nonalcoholic spirits make up only a sliver of the $650 billion spirits market, but they’re booming. They’re poised to grow around 30% annually in the coming years, versus 6% for conventional spirits, according to the market research company Euromonitor. So it should come as no surprise that the category is drawing interest from multinational liquor companies such as Diageo Plc and Pernod Ricard SA.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o7jOqKSbnaKce6S7zGilnq%2BjZK6zwMico56rX2d9c4CMaWhmaGVku7C6wKWaqKCfobakedKpoKuhpKh6rq3RpJytZZKkvK6%2FjJqqZp%2BVo3q7ecKuq6xllKTEr3nOp2SdqpmjuKq6xg%3D%3D