“1月戒酒”活動只是一個開始：無酒精風尚將在2019年大行其道

今年1月一個寒冷的周一夜晚，時針還有數分鐘便要指向7點，曼哈頓東村一家地下室酒吧外的樓梯上已經排起了長隊。

在酒吧內部，燈光昏暗，服務員站在吧臺后面，正在按照酒水單準備原料，其中包括工藝雞尾酒、玫瑰味氣泡酒以及隨點隨飲的精釀。但與這個街區其他酒吧不同的是，來此喝酒的顧客可以通宵暢飲，不必擔心醉酒問題：因為酒水單上的任何飲品都不含有任何酒精。

當羅瑞雷·班德洛維奇最初分享其Listen Bar的理念時，她發現人們對此頗有微詞。它是一個充滿時尚、社交風格的快閃酒吧，其酒水單上都是清一色的無酒精飲料，由 Dead Rabbit的杰克·麥格里、Seamstress的帕梅拉·韋茲尼澤和Harvard & Stone的阿隆·保爾斯基等天才調酒師精心打造，同時還配備了飲食限制指南。

她向《財富》雜志透露：“懷疑論者說：‘接下來呢？是不是連吃的都沒有了？’”但在她看起來，這些帶有強烈感情色彩的回復證明其理念“觸動了人們的心弦?！?/p>

在去年于威廉斯堡舉行了為期5天的快閃之后，Listen Bar都會在每周一舉行無酒精之夜，以迎合名為“1月戒酒”（酒客們在假日的縱飲之后試圖通過在一個月內遠離酒精來找回自我）的活動。但鑒于酒吧在過去數周的熱度，班德洛維奇覺得Listen Bar的壽命不應止于1月31日，于是她發起了一場眾籌活動，并希望為這一理念找一個永久的家。

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.

這種方式能夠讓人們在體驗美妙飲品的同時遠離酒精帶來的煩惱，但她并非是唯一一位看到該行業潛力的人士。酒店行業大多都在奮起直追；專注于餐廳行業的市場研究公司Technomic稱，2016年上半年到2017年上半年，酒水單上的“無酒精雞尾酒”飲品數量增長了13%。隨著更多的酒精和啤酒公司加入無酒精飲品大軍，這些吧臺服務員和調酒師便會擁有更多的原材料可供使用。

“1月戒酒”活動人氣的不斷上漲無疑是推動人們關注無酒精飲品的因素之一，但行業觀察家稱，這一現象的背后還存在很多因素。隨著消費者希望在零食、蘇打水這類產品中獲得更高品質的原料和更多的營養，眾多公司都在重新思考其飲品的內在成分。與此同時，人們在文化層面對健康和“自我關愛”的關注正在促使一些美國人拋棄了酒類制造商長期所宣傳的“聚會狂人”形象。此外，還有一些人，包括孕婦、宗教戒酒人士、專職司機以及那些擔憂酒精成癮家族史的人士，長期以來便一直以各種理由來規避酒精飲品?！叭罒o酒精雞尾酒周”的創始人瑪尼·克拉克表示，為那些不愿意飲用含酒精飲品的人士提供其他飲品完全是出于對“社區和包容性”的考慮。

當然，對于各大公司來說，它還關乎公司營收的問題。對于啤酒行業來說，進軍無酒精行業是為了尋找新營收來源：美國對酒精類飲品的消費量在過去兩年中持續下滑，很大一部分原因在于啤酒銷量的下滑。喜力今年在美國推出了其無酒精啤酒——喜力0.0。百威啤酒的制造商百威英博宣布在本月發布另一款無酒精啤酒。而且公司計劃到2025年將其無酒精系列飲品的種類增至飲品種類總數的20%，公司在去年甚至還任命了一位首席無酒精飲品官。

一些精釀廠家，例如Athletic Brewing，僅專注于無酒精啤酒。在Listen Bar提供Athletic精釀的班德洛維奇稱，這款飲品口感極佳，很多顧客在最近的聚會上喝了三輪之后才意識到這是一款無酒精啤酒。

無酒精飲品的客戶群在不斷增長。Curious Elixirs在2016年通過網站Kickstarter進行了眾籌，以推出其無酒精工藝雞尾酒。自那之后，創始人約翰·懷瑟曼表示，需求“只升不降”，而且公司的銷量呈現出了10倍的同比增長。

就在非酒精飲品開始在美國市場走熱的同時，歐洲在飲品偏好方面的變化更為深遠，這一點英國尤為突出。YouGov的民調顯示，該國今年有420萬民眾打算加入“1月戒酒”活動。

無酒精飲品品牌Seedlip的創始人本·布蘭森于2015年在英國推出其產品。Seedlip標榜自己是“全球首款蒸餾型非酒精飲品品牌”，如今，Seedlip所在的這個門類正在不斷發展壯大。

布蘭森表示：“在過去9個月中，我們看到該領域約有40款新品上市?！彼A計無酒精飲品將繼續增長和創新，并提到自己如今看到無酒精飲品存在著“無與倫比的活力”。

2016年，帝亞吉歐集團收購了Seedlip的少數權益，這是全球最大的酒精飲料公司對非酒精產品的首筆投資。帝亞吉歐的產品包括司木露、尊尼獲加和唐胡里奧等。自那之后，英國無酒精“杜松子酒替代飲品”Ceder與 Absolut和Jameson等品牌的所有者Pernod Ricard達成銷售和營銷協議。去年，Stryyk品牌將無酒精朗姆、杜松子酒和伏特加引入英國，同時，一款新的無酒精飲品Cale?o也于本月早些時候在英國上市。

布蘭森說：“我覺得我們無需深究人們不喝酒的原因。在我看來，我們應該向人們提供一種方式，讓人們能夠像購買高品質素食一樣選購一杯高品質的成人飲品?！?/p>

對于Seedlip創始人來說，“1月戒酒”活動的興起以及澳大利亞10月戒酒、7月戒酒、比利時的Tournée Minérale（2月戒酒）這樣的類似活動，說明人們對自身與酒精飲品之間關系的看法已經發生了重大轉變。

他說：“我無法肯定這些活動一定就能延續10年的時間。但職場更加強大的文化力量以及個人的健康和福祉需求將成為一個重要的推動力?！?/p>

相較于其祖輩，如今的年輕人能夠更好地了解飲食對其身體的影響。他們的飲酒量減少了，而且在尋找替代飲品。

隨著充滿活力的人群將，而桌上則擺滿了11美元的無酒精飲品，班德洛維奇解釋說，今晚的主題是“唱響自我關愛的新搖滾?！?/p>

她說：“對我來說，朋克搖滾和搖滾就是要逆潮流而行，并做自己想做的事情。自愿選擇提供無酒精飲品的場所便是唱響了‘做自己’的朋克搖滾?！保ㄘ敻恢形木W）

譯者：馮豐

審校：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 Cale?o, 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.”