“1月戒酒”活动只是一个开始：无酒精风尚将在2019年大行其道

今年1月一个寒冷的周一夜晚，时针还有数分钟便要指向7点，曼哈顿东村一家地下室酒吧外的楼梯上已经排起了长队。

在酒吧内部，灯光昏暗，服务员站在吧台后面，正在按照酒水单准备原料，其中包括工艺鸡尾酒、玫瑰味气泡酒以及随点随饮的精酿。但与这个街区其他酒吧不同的是，来此喝酒的顾客可以通宵畅饮，不必担心醉酒问题：因为酒水单上的任何饮品都不含有任何酒精。

当罗瑞雷·班德洛维奇最初分享其Listen Bar的理念时，她发现人们对此颇有微词。它是一个充满时尚、社交风格的快闪酒吧，其酒水单上都是清一色的无酒精饮料，由 Dead Rabbit的杰克·麦格里、Seamstress的帕梅拉·韦兹尼泽和Harvard & Stone的阿隆·保尔斯基等天才调酒师精心打造，同时还配备了饮食限制指南。

她向《财富》杂志透露：“怀疑论者说：‘接下来呢？是不是连吃的都没有了？’”但在她看起来，这些带有强烈感情色彩的回复证明其理念“触动了人们的心弦。”

在去年于威廉斯堡举行了为期5天的快闪之后，Listen Bar都会在每周一举行无酒精之夜，以迎合名为“1月戒酒”（酒客们在假日的纵饮之后试图通过在一个月内远离酒精来找回自我）的活动。但鉴于酒吧在过去数周的热度，班德洛维奇觉得Listen Bar的寿命不应止于1月31日，于是她发起了一场众筹活动，并希望为这一理念找一个永久的家。

A few minutes before seven on a cold Monday night in January, a line forms up the stairs leading to the basement of a bar in Manhattan’s East Village.

Inside, the lights are dimmed, bartenders shuffle behind the bar, prepping ingredients for the drink menu, which includes craft cocktails, sparkling rosé and an IPA on tap. But unlike every other bar on the block, patrons of this watering hole could drink all night without getting so much as a buzz: Nothing on the menu contains a drop of alcohol.

When Lorelei Bandrovschi first started sharing her idea for Listen Bar, a pop-up that offers the social atmosphere of a hip lounge with a 100% virgin drink list—crafted by talented bartenders including Jack McGarry of Dead Rabbit, Pamela Wiznitzer of Seamstress, and Aaron Polsky of Harvard & Stone and complete with a guide for dietary restrictions—she found people had some strong opinions.

“Skeptics would say, ‘What’s next? A restaurant without food?’” she told Fortune. But to her ears, the strength of those responses proved the concept was “striking a chord.”

After a five-day pop-up in Williamsburg last year, Listen Bar is hosting booze-free nights every Monday during the phenomenon known as Dry January—when drinkers who indulged freely over the holiday season attempt to reset by taking a month off the sauce. But given the spot’s popularity over the past few weeks, Brandrovschi thinks Listen Bar has a life beyond January 31st, so she’s started a crowdfunding campaign that she hopes will land her concept a permanent home.

这种方式能够让人们在体验美妙饮品的同时远离酒精带来的烦恼，但她并非是唯一一位看到该行业潜力的人士。酒店行业大多都在奋起直追；专注于餐厅行业的市场研究公司Technomic称，2016年上半年到2017年上半年，酒水单上的“无酒精鸡尾酒”饮品数量增长了13%。随着更多的酒精和啤酒公司加入无酒精饮品大军，这些吧台服务员和调酒师便会拥有更多的原材料可供使用。

“1月戒酒”活动人气的不断上涨无疑是推动人们关注无酒精饮品的因素之一，但行业观察家称，这一现象的背后还存在很多因素。随着消费者希望在零食、苏打水这类产品中获得更高品质的原料和更多的营养，众多公司都在重新思考其饮品的内在成分。与此同时，人们在文化层面对健康和“自我关爱”的关注正在促使一些美国人抛弃了酒类制造商长期所宣传的“聚会狂人”形象。此外，还有一些人，包括孕妇、宗教戒酒人士、专职司机以及那些担忧酒精成瘾家族史的人士，长期以来便一直以各种理由来规避酒精饮品。“全美无酒精鸡尾酒周”的创始人玛尼·克拉克表示，为那些不愿意饮用含酒精饮品的人士提供其他饮品完全是出于对“社区和包容性”的考虑。

当然，对于各大公司来说，它还关乎公司营收的问题。对于啤酒行业来说，进军无酒精行业是为了寻找新营收来源：美国对酒精类饮品的消费量在过去两年中持续下滑，很大一部分原因在于啤酒销量的下滑。喜力今年在美国推出了其无酒精啤酒——喜力0.0。百威啤酒的制造商百威英博宣布在本月发布另一款无酒精啤酒。而且公司计划到2025年将其无酒精系列饮品的种类增至饮品种类总数的20%，公司在去年甚至还任命了一位首席无酒精饮品官。

一些精酿厂家，例如Athletic Brewing，仅专注于无酒精啤酒。在Listen Bar提供Athletic精酿的班德洛维奇称，这款饮品口感极佳，很多顾客在最近的聚会上喝了三轮之后才意识到这是一款无酒精啤酒。

无酒精饮品的客户群在不断增长。Curious Elixirs在2016年通过网站Kickstarter进行了众筹，以推出其无酒精工艺鸡尾酒。自那之后，创始人约翰·怀瑟曼表示，需求“只升不降”，而且公司的销量呈现出了10倍的同比增长。

就在非酒精饮品开始在美国市场走热的同时，欧洲在饮品偏好方面的变化更为深远，这一点英国尤为突出。YouGov的民调显示，该国今年有420万民众打算加入“1月戒酒”活动。

无酒精饮品品牌Seedlip的创始人本·布兰森于2015年在英国推出其产品。Seedlip标榜自己是“全球首款蒸馏型非酒精饮品品牌”，如今，Seedlip所在的这个门类正在不断发展壮大。

布兰森表示：“在过去9个月中，我们看到该领域约有40款新品上市。”他预计无酒精饮品将继续增长和创新，并提到自己如今看到无酒精饮品存在着“无与伦比的活力”。

2016年，帝亚吉欧集团收购了Seedlip的少数权益，这是全球最大的酒精饮料公司对非酒精产品的首笔投资。帝亚吉欧的产品包括司木露、尊尼获加和唐胡里奥等。自那之后，英国无酒精“杜松子酒替代饮品”Ceder与 Absolut和Jameson等品牌的所有者Pernod Ricard达成销售和营销协议。去年，Stryyk品牌将无酒精朗姆、杜松子酒和伏特加引入英国，同时，一款新的无酒精饮品Caleño也于本月早些时候在英国上市。

布兰森说：“我觉得我们无需深究人们不喝酒的原因。在我看来，我们应该向人们提供一种方式，让人们能够像购买高品质素食一样选购一杯高品质的成人饮品。”

对于Seedlip创始人来说，“1月戒酒”活动的兴起以及澳大利亚10月戒酒、7月戒酒、比利时的Tournée Minérale（2月戒酒）这样的类似活动，说明人们对自身与酒精饮品之间关系的看法已经发生了重大转变。

他说：“我无法肯定这些活动一定就能延续10年的时间。但职场更加强大的文化力量以及个人的健康和福祉需求将成为一个重要的推动力。”

相较于其祖辈，如今的年轻人能够更好地了解饮食对其身体的影响。他们的饮酒量减少了，而且在寻找替代饮品。

随着充满活力的人群将，而桌上则摆满了11美元的无酒精饮品，班德洛维奇解释说，今晚的主题是“唱响自我关爱的新摇滚。”

她说：“对我来说，朋克摇滚和摇滚就是要逆潮流而行，并做自己想做的事情。自愿选择提供无酒精饮品的场所便是唱响了‘做自己’的朋克摇滚。”（财富中文网）

译者：冯丰

审校：夏林

She’s not the only one to see the potential offering people the trappings of the drinking life—without that pesky alcohol. The hospitality industry at large is catching on; the number of “mocktail” menu items increased by 13% from the first half of 2016 to the same period in 2017, according to Technomic, a market research firm that covers restaurants. And as more spirit and beer companies have jumped on the booze-free bandwagon, those bartenders and mixologists have had many more options to work with.

The growing popularity of Dry January is certainly one of the factors driving interest in alcohol-free options, but industry watchers say there’s much more at work. As consumers demand better quality ingredients and more nutrients in products from snacks to sodas, many are rethinking what’s in their martini glasses as well. Meanwhile, a cultural interest in wellness and “self care” is prompting some Americans to steer away from the party-centric image that’s long been promoted by alcohol makers. Then there’s the host of people— from pregnant people to religious abstainers and designated drivers to those concerned about a family history of addiction—who’ve long had reason to abstain. Marnie Clark, founder of National Mocktail Week, says providing options for those who choose not to partake in hard drinks is “about community and inclusion.”

Of course, for companies, it’s also about the bottom line. In the beer industry, the move into alcohol free has been fueled by the need to find new sources of revenue: the amount of alcohol consumed in the U.S. has dropped over the last two years—due, in large part, to dwindling beer sales. Heineken launched its alcohol-free beer, Heineken 0.0, in the U.S, this year. Anheuser Busch InBev, maker of Budweiser, announced another alcohol-free beer this month. And the company plans to grow those products to 20% of the company’s portfolio by 2025 and even appointed a chief non-alcoholic beverage officer last year.

Some craft breweries, like Athletic Brewing, are focused solely on alcohol-free beers. Bandrovschi, who serves Athletic’s IPA at Listen Bar, says the brew is so good that patrons at a recent pop-up drank three rounds before realizing it was non-alcoholic.

Alcohol-free spirits are also finding a growing customer base. Curious Elixirs crowdfunded through Kickstarter in 2016 to get their booze-free craft cocktails to consumers. Since then, founder John Wiseman says, demand “is only speeding up” and the company has seen sales grow nearly 10X year-over-year.

While the U.S. market is still warming to non-alcoholic offerings, the shift in preferences is farther along in Europe, particularly in the U.K. where 4.2 million people planned to participate in Dry January this year, according to a YouGov poll.

Ben Branson, founder of the nonalcoholic spirit brand Seedlip, launched his product in the U.K. in 2015. Billed as “the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirits brand,” Seedlip is now part of a growing category.

“In the last nine months we’ve seen about 40 new products launch in this space,” says Branson. He expects the nonalcoholic offerings will continue to grow and innovate, noting the “incredible energy” he’s seeing now within booze-free beverages.

Diageo acquired a minority stake in Seedlip in 2016, the first investment in a nonalcoholic product for the world’s largest spirit company and maker of Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, and Don Julio among others. Since then the U.K. has seen alcohol free ‘alt-gin’ Ceder land a distribution and marketing agreement with Pernod Ricard, home of brands like Absolut and Jameson. Last year the Stryyk brand brought booze-free rum, gin, and vodka to consumers in the U.K. and Caleño, a new alcohol free spirit, launched there earlier this month.

“I don’t think it matters why someone isn’t drinking,” Branson said. “I think you should be able to get a great grown-up drink, the way you can get great vegetarian food now.”

For the Seedlip founder, increased participation in Dry January and it’s counterparts like Sober October, Dry July in Australia, and Tournée Minérale (Dry February) in Belgium are an indication of a major shift in the way people think about their relationship to alcohol.

“I’m not sure that these months will necessarily exist in 10 years’ time,” he said. “There are bigger cultural forces at work, health and wellness being a huge one.”

Young people today have more information than the generations before them about how what they consume affects their bodies. They’re drinking less and seeking out alternatives.

As the energetic crowd packs into booths with their $11 alcohol-free cocktails below, Bandrovschi explains that the theme for the evening is “self care is the new rock and roll.”

“To me punk rock and rock and roll is about going against the grain and doing what feels right for you,” she said. “To be in that place where you choose to go out without drinking is that punk rock act of choosing yourself.”