ORLANDO, Fla. — After a huge increase in the amount of alcohol Americans were downing … now there’s a shift happening at home and at the bar.
Research conducted by the beer company Heineken, found nearly 30 percent of 21- to 25-year-olds haven’t had a beer in the past month prompting businesses to embrace the mocktail revolution.
There is now a new trend where alcohol is out and sobriety is in. Sober bars are popping up in cities around the country allowing folks to socialize in a bar-like atmosphere without the booze. “Mocktails” are replacing cocktails.
“Normally, I’ll just do soda water and orange juice, looks like a mimosa, I’ll put it in a champagne flute,” Austin Steele, beverage manager, told Ivanhoe.
Bartenders are stepping up their mocktail game with drinks like the blueberry ginger cooler, the raspberry lemon mojito, and the grapefruit kombucha agua fresca.
“These are for people who want to look like they’re drinking. You know, they want to fit in, don’t want to be questioned,” he said.
One potential cause for the decline in drinking: Americans are more health conscious. Long-term alcohol use can increase the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, liver disease, cancer, and more.
But whatever the motive for banishing booze, mocktails are offering an alternative for those who want to drink to their health.
What about non-alcoholic beer? Well, it turns out very few non-alcoholic beers contain no alcohol at all. In the United States, to be labeled “alcohol-free,” beer may contain up to zero-point-five percent a-b-v, or alcohol by volume. Compare that to regular beer that contains around five percent a-b-v.
Sources:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-are-drinking-less-alcohol-11547733600
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/08/tech/alcohol-alternative-sober-curious/index.htm
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/01/health/alcohol-harms-secondhand-drinking-study/index.html
https://www.printfriendly.com/p/g/pUywngl
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/06/23/732876026/breaking-the-booze-habit-even-briefly-has-its-benefits
https://www.rightstep.com/rehab-blog/much-alcohol-low-alcohol-non-alcoholic-beer/
