Low & No - Alcoholic Drinks Trend Is Brewing

The new global "low-and no-alcohol drinks trend" is here. Lopamudra Ganguly finds out.

The dry days aren’t restricted to ‘Dry January’ anymore. The trend of skipping a few days or taking a break from consuming alcohol or total abstinence from alcoholic drinks is the latest shift in pattern that the global drinks community is witnessing at the moment.

So much that the alcobev major Diageo has taken the pioneering step of investing into a brand like Seedlip, a sophisticated non-alcoholic distilled spirit, and has brought out two “ultra low” pre- mixed gin and tonic sparkling beverages under its Gordon’s gin brand and also a low -abv botanical range for its Ketel One Vodka. When it comes to mixing drinks with low or no calorie alcohol, it surely is taking the mixology world by storm and is here to stay for long with the new age bartenders always looking for progressive alternatives to create new age cocktails.

Nitin Tiwari, the earlier Brand Ambassador for Bacardi India and now the Beverage Head and Director for Together at 12 at Le Meridian says, “ Concept focus bars are slowly challenging and changing the traditional mould and are coming up all over the country. Ideas like farm to glass and root to fruit are slowly evolving in the beverage industry with equal importance as in the food. Drinking has not just remained a part of the restaurant experience, instead it has carved out it’s own niche within. The focus has now shifted to either better tasting or better looking drinks. Everyone wants to drink something that makes them feel special or look different from rest.”