It was only six years ago, in 2015, that Seedlip came to market, and though decried by some as posh squash, became a bona de hit. At the end of last year, Bacardi predicted that the low and no-alcohol sector will grow 400% over the next four years.
Wellness and mindful drinking trends were accelerated by the pandemic and, increasingly, more consumers expect decent, mature zero-alcohol options from bars; the days of the fruit juice-filled mocktail list are behind us. Half of the polled bars stock one or more non-alcoholic spirits brands, with 22% stocking two and 19% stocking three or more.
Seedlip retains the top spot comfortably, the original proving again to be the most popular, with two-thirds of bars that stock a non-alcoholic spirit selecting the Diageo-owned brand as the house pour. It was a top-three serve in almost 80%.
Australian brand Lyre’s – a range of 13 non-alcoholic facsimiles of traditional spirits and liqueurs designed to be seamlessly swapped into classic serves – takes second place, with 15% of bars opting for the brand as their first choice.
Not much separates the three remaining brands, with Everleaf, a non-alcoholic apéritif brand created by bar owner and conservation biologist Paul Mathew, taking third place thanks to a strong performance in a supporting role as a second or third choice.
Three Spirit, a range of functional beverages in that they contain active compounds designed to alter the mood, takes fourth place, and Aecorn, the Diageo-backed sister company of Seedlip, completes the table.
The trending list makes for similar reading to the bestsellers, with Aecorn giving way to Pernod Ricard’s non-alcoholic gin Ceder’s, which takes fourth place as Three Spirit moves down to fifth.
Methodology
The results of this report are the culmination of a questionnaire of 106 bars around the world, each cherry-picked to take part based on their performance in global bar awards. We aim to find out not only which brands sell best but also what’s trending. These two data sets give us an insight into the brands that are doing the most volume and the brands that are hot right now.
To read more on the methodology of the Brands Report click here.
