The Low Alcohol Era is Now Upon Us – and It Will Bore Us Silly

 Bridget Jones era women cackling over a bottle of Chardonnay, men in quarter zips knocking back the negronis, highlighted blondes ordered vat-like glasses of rosé or ‘lady petrol’, groups of lads downing pints of Stella a.k.a. wife-beater, Cheltenham racegoers consuming lakes of Guinness, west country teenagers sloshing plastic glasses of sui-cider, couples sharing a bottle of Burgundy and a bag of kettle crisps on a Friday night – what was once a great nation of heroic drinkers is evaporating into a temperate nation of 0.0 boredom.

My own recent drinking experiences – or lack of them – mirrors the news that the UK’s appetite for alcohol is shifting. The low-alcohol market is growing apace and 35% of younger people are said to avoid drink altogether. Mintel, the market research firm, suggests that the low/non-alcohol market at £330 million in 2024 is set to grow to £800 million by 2028. 

A combination of better products and a greater interest in health and wellbeing are understood to be driving the trend. 0.0 Guinness tastes, I’m told, exactly the same as real Guinness and is the UK’s top-selling non-alcoholic beer with over half of Ocado’s deliveries being the 0.0 version. While it’s tempting to celebrate this trend – let us not forget the tragedy of approximately 10,000 alcohol-specific deaths a year – am I wrong in thinking, Basil Fawlty-like, it’s a pity that that particular avenue of pleasure has been closed off?...<<<Read More>>>...