Achi news desk-
Jonathan Barembruch and his wife would often sit with a glass of wine and relax after long days at work.
But when his wife became pregnant, Barembruch decided to find an alternative to their after-work tradition, setting out to find the best non-alcoholic drinks so they could continue their ritual in the evening
Several online retailers sold wine, beer and non-alcoholic spirits, but none offered enough information about the products, he recalled. It was difficult to decide which one tasted best or which one was more suitable for a particular occasion.
“I saw a gap in not only the availability of good non-alcoholic beverages but also the education behind it,” said Barembruch, who has a background in the restaurant and bar industry.
This eventually led Barembruch to open Calgary’s first ever alcohol-free bottle shop, Santé Dry Bottle Shop, at Crossroads Market last July.
“I set out to educate and change how people see non-alcoholic drinks and show them that quality and passion and real care goes into crafting these drinks,” he said. “They’re pleasant substitutes if you don’t drink.”
Santé is among several non-alcoholic bottle shopfronts that have appeared over the past year or so.
“We’re starting to see more of these types of opportunities from a retail perspective to promote and deliver non-alcoholic beverages through different channels,” said Robert Carter, a food industry analyst with the StratonHunter Group, in an interview.
The soft drinks industry is constantly improving the taste and quality of drinks, “which resonates with consumers,” he added.
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The younger generation in particular is not as driven to drink alcohol as previous generations, Carter said. Meanwhile, older generations are increasingly considering the health consequences of alcohol. Overall, this stimulates a trend towards health and well-being.
Statistics Canada’s 2021 survey found that one in five Canadians are drinking less than they did pre-pandemic.
In 2023, Health Canada changed its alcohol consumption guidelines, saying alcoholic drinks should be limited to two a week – a significant reduction from its 2011 report which said a maximum of 10 drinks a week for women and 15 drinks for men was acceptable.
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Fewer young people drinking alcohol due to ‘more awareness’ says a local fake drinks seller
“Drinking alcohol has been part of the culture for a long time and getting rid of the habit is much more difficult than replacing it with a drink that mimics the taste but is not alcohol,” said Cristian Villamarin, founder a Toronto-based company. -Bevvy’s alcohol bottle store.
The store opened its doors to customers in January and has since seen thousands of sober-curious visitors — tasting and sampling more than 100 curated beers, wines and non-alcoholic canned cocktails, Villamarin said.
As more types of soft drinks are put on shelves, customers are coming in with more questions about quality, process and pricing.
People often ask why a bottle of non-alcoholic wine costs as much as an alcoholic bottle, says Villamarin.
Non-alcoholic wines go through the same lengthy process as alcoholic wines, he said, including distillation, fermentation and aging, but there is an additional step to remove the alcohol from the drink, which can be labor intensive.
A lot of research and product development goes into making alcohol-free wines, Barembruch said, including sourcing high-quality grapes.
“A big misconception is that non-alcoholic wine is just grape juice,” says Barembruch.
Bevvy’s recently set up a patio, welcoming people from all walks of life to enjoy drinks on warmer days, without having to commit to buying a full bottle.
“It’s not a caffeinated drink or another alcoholic drink — (we) want to be that middle,” Villamarin said.
Carter said now could be a “very good time” for alcohol-free storefronts to open as the multibillion-dollar alcohol industry continues to see decline.
A December 2023 Statistics Canada report showed that alcohol sales in volume terms decreased by 1.2 per cent over a period tracked between 2021 and 2022 compared to the previous tracking period. It marked the biggest drop in more than a decade.
The cost and barriers to opening alcohol-free bottle shops and pubs are also not as high as their alcohol-serving counterparts, Carter added.
“You don’t need to be licensed, you don’t have to get permission from the government — all those obstacles that would prevent opening an alcohol retail store,” he said.
But non-alcoholic bottle shop owners face a separate set of challenges.
A couple in British Columbia’s Port Coquitlam opened the unsolicited Bevees bottle shop in November, showcasing nearly 300 products curated from local and international beverage makers.
The idea for the store and taproom was in line with other non-alcoholic bottle shops – an opportunity to taste new types of drinks in person, said store owner Racquel Foran.
But banks and insurance companies didn’t understand their business model.
“It was very difficult to get insurance and it’s very difficult to get a bank account because they couldn’t wrap their brains around the fact that it wasn’t alcohol,” Foran said.
“(The idea) was so new that we kept hitting roadblocks just because they didn’t understand what we were doing.”
“It’s difficult because we still call the products by the same name(s),” he said. “We still call them wine and beer and spirits so people hear those words and they think, ‘Oh, alcohol.'”
However, Foran is confident that the idea will change quickly.
“It’s a fast growing industry and more and more people are getting into it, and less and less people are drinking alcohol,” he said.
