Following the craft beer and gin booms of recent years, the British drinks sector is enjoying a new market darling with sales of alcohol-free spirits up 30% year-on-year, research from distillers Bax Botanics reveal.
Consumers have spent £5.4million on 171,000 litres of alcohol-free spirits so far this year in supermarkets, according to the latest data from Nielsen.
Sales of alcohol-free spirits hit £37million in 2019, up 506% since 2014, with revenues growing £11million a year and expected to hit £74million by 2024.
The number of producers has grown from none in 2014 to an estimated 70 in 2019 and could grow to 140 by 2024.
Sales of the ‘No-to-low’ category that includes zero and low-alcohol beers, wines and spirits are worth £188million, up 23% year on year. The growth comes as younger generations drink less alcohol and older people increasingly moderate their consumption.
Much of the growth in the alcohol-free spirit market has come from smaller, artisan distillers who use traditional techniques and sustainable methods.
