It’s the Era of ‘Self-Prohibition.’ That’s Made Booze-Free Alcohol a Big Business

When the booze-free bottle shop Spirited Away opened in Manhattan five years ago, its proprietor found about a dozen options with which to stock the shelves. Now, according to co-owner Alex Highsmith, the store stocks about 300 brands.

Business, meanwhile, is increasing annually by double-digit rates. Customers, she said, try eschewing alcohol—testing a “Dry January,” for example—decide they like how they feel, and then “keep coming back.”

That feeling has helped retailers selling nothing but non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits grow as alcohol consumption has waned.

Fewer Americans are drinking alcohol these days, and those who do are cutting back. About 54% of adults say they drink, Gallup said in August, the lowest rate recorded in 90 years. Those surveyed reported having an average of 2.8 drinks over the past week, down from 3.8 in 2024 and even more in prior years. The shift appears most pronounced among young Americans, with those under 25 drinking 17% less than older adults, according to research from Jefferies.

One reason for the pullback: Consumers are more aware of and concerned about alcohol’s negative health impacts, research shows, with recent studies linking alcohol consumption to cancer. The gradual legalization of cannabis, wider use of weight-loss drugs and embrace of health trackers may also be weighing on alcohol use, experts said. Some see drinking declining the way that cigarette smoking has. 

“With wearables tracking every metric and influencers glamorizing sobriety, self-prohibition is a headwind that is not going away,” Jefferies wrote in a report this month. “Winners will likely be those who shape the moderation trend, not resist it.”

‘There’s No Going Back’ as Booze-Free Businesses Blossom

Some of those curbing their consumption still like to end their day with a drink, with many looking for something that looks and tastes like alcohol but doesn’t lead to a hangover. That has generated an audience for non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits, a segment expected to be worth $5 billion by 2028, according to IWSR, a data and insights firm focused on alcohol.

Dozens of bottles and cans have cropped up on store displays beside Clausthaler, a nonalcoholic beer created in 1979. Actor Tom Holland launched Bero; Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton started zero-proof tequila brand Almave; and singer Kylie Minogue added alcohol-free bottles to her wine line. 

One of the more established “NA” beer brands, Athletic Brewing, surpassed $90 million in sales within six years, The Wall Street Journal reported. The segment’s success has some of the biggest alcohol manufactures, such as Diageo (DEO), adding zero and low-alcohol options.

Booze-free shops say business is booming. New York City has at least two such stores, three zero-proof bars, and a planned $3,300-a-year, alcohol-free, social club called Maze. In Seattle, non-alcoholic beverage shop Cheeky & Dry, hit nearly $1 million in sales last year, owner Kirstin Vracko said. 

Although many customers still consume alcohol, according to Vracko, non-alcoholic alternatives have become a part of their lifestyle.

“The [non-alcoholic beverage] industry is not going anywhere,” Vracko told Investopedia. “There’s no going back.”

‘Alcohol’s Effects Are Out of Vogue’

Major alcohol producers have argued that booze has been a casualty of tighter consumer budgets, not changing cultural norms. Young adults’ behavior can be explained by them having relatively little disposable income, their executives have said.

But Gen Z is also more focused on mental health and socializes differently, Jefferies said. They spend less time “going out,” and more time exercising, gaming and on the Internet, analysts said.

Young adults aren’t the backbone of Cheeky & Dry’s business, Vracko said. They didn’t spend their formative years socializing with drinks in-hand, so they don’t have the same impulse to buy alcohol—or, for that matter, products to replace it.

Instead, young shoppers come to Cheeky & Dry for “functional” beverages, Vracko said, including those with non-psychoactive parts of mushrooms or cannabis, kava or ingredients purported to provide energy, mood enhancement or other benefits.

“They still want to feel something,” Highsmith said. “It’s just that alcohol’s effects are out of vogue.”