Non-alcoholic spirits - why are they the same price as alcoholic spirits?

Four years ago we really had just one option when it came to alcohol-free spirits. As it stands today, hundreds of innovative players, and some of the large players too, have created non-alcoholic spirits with extremely complex flavours offering powerful alternatives to alcohol. 

The market is continuing to grow and consumer choice is becoming more varied. Being such a new sector however, the question is often asked - why are we paying as much for our alcohol-free spirits as our alcoholic spirits? 

Well, it isn’t quite as simple as a one-word answer, so we have broken it down into a few different categories to provide some visibility on the matter. 

What is put in the product: 

The low and no space is full of passionate brands looking to make a high quality product with unique flavour profiles and ingredients that provide the strongest end product for the consumer. 

Alcohol-free products are focused on premium ingredients and have to be, as taste and quality is number one. Many consumers are exploring these drinks for the first time or perhaps even exploring their relationship without alcohol for the first time - if the drink isn’t good, they’re not coming back, I’m not sure the same can be said necessarily for alcoholic brands.

Ever-leaf for example use some of the most expensive spices in the world - Saffron and Vanilla. In total, they use 16 plants all sustainably sourced. 

The way the product is made: 

Alcohol-free products usually have 4-9 times the amount of botanicals and are often complex to create given the ingredients used, the lack of alcohol and the need to preserve their delicate flavours. This can be done at lower temperatures or through custom distilling processes with custom equipment for the unique ingredients used. Many suppliers struggle to understand what alcohol-free spirits need and they therefore struggle to compete with their large alcohol counterparts therefore having to go down the custom route - all adding to the cost of production. 

Once the product has been created, it is essential that the non-alcoholic spirit is kept clean. Alcoholic spirits are almost self sanitising, however zero proof can welcome microbes and therefore requires an extreme packaging material for the product.

In addition, many of these brands are smaller and therefore cannot produce in such high quantities, again adding significantly to the costs. As the sector continues to grow, we will expect to also see a variation in price points. 

Marketing and perceptions: 

Most non-alcoholic spirits are still in their infancy and with that brings smaller marketing budgets. As we know, large alcohol brands have incredibly large budgets which have been in front of us for years in some of the largest publications, events and locations across the world. Alcohol-free isn’t quite there yet, but some rising players are making waves driving a strong story and powerful message around ‘the joy of not drinking’ and ‘made for active living’. 

‘Mocktails’ have historically been created with juice and a heap of sugar, meaning a significant amount of work needs to be done by these brands, subscription boxes such as ourselves, alcohol-free bottle stores and restaurants and bars to create high quality, great tasting cocktails and drinks that step away from this to change perceptions of what an alcohol-free cocktail really is.

All of which is starting to be done with huge progress made! Most alcohol-free brands in the market are focusing on a low sugar, high quality ingredient approach for the best tasting product. JOMO Club are working directly with these brands to bring them directly to you and restaurants and bars are taking the need for high quality alcohol-free drinks seriously. 

All of this education takes time and money.