What to consider when offering Low & No Alcohol Drinks
© Green Door Bar
Author: Maria Gorbatschova
Maria Gorbatschova, Bar Manager of the Green Door Bar and member of the BCB Education Board, discusses the effective use of Low & No products in bars.
Alcohol consumption is significantly declining. According to an EU statistic (1), over a quarter of adults in the European Union do not drink alcohol at all. Worldwide, nearly half of all adults are abstinent. Among people under 30, the number of non-drinkers is considerably higher than in previous generations, and this trend is increasing*. These are trends that bars must address to remain successful in the long term.
Low and No are therefore topics that bartenders will need to engage with more intensively in the future. For early adopters, this presents significant opportunities, as hospitality establishments function as social spaces for interaction, as third places, and not solely for the consumption of alcohol. Abstinent individuals also go on dates, meet friends, or want to go out at the weekend. There is no good reason to deny them this.
How the Green Door Bar does it
At Green Door, our focus is on low- and mid-ABV drinks. Very strong drinks rarely make it onto the menu but can, of course, be ordered. In the case of low-ABV drinks, the creation process is relatively simple. We enjoy working with products such as vermouth, Madeira, port, sherry, sake, Pineau, Poiré, makgeolli, wine, or simply small quantities of spirits. We often use homemade cordials or, less frequently, shrubs for sweetness. Syrups are almost never used as sugary drinks aren't really our thing. A strawberry cordial at our bar has 80% freshly pressed and then clarified strawberry juice using agar-agar, only 20% sugar, plus 2% ascorbic acid and citric acid for preservation. This way, you get much more fruit aroma in a drink than with syrup and require less acid. We usually use verjus, but also citrus juices or very high-quality vinegars. A Manzanilla or Fino can also balance some sweetness. Our formula is lots of flavour, little sugar, little acid. Drinks with lots of syrup and even more acid are often too sweet and too sour at the same time for me. Later, the sugar intensifies the hangover and the acid causes heartburn.
When creating alcoholic drinks, consider how a non-alcoholic variant might look. This increases the sales of non-alcoholic drinks, as often a limited selection stands in the way of ordering a second or third drink. The larger the offering, the more guests order and return.
Non-Alcoholic Drinks: What to watch out for
Technically, there are a few things to note when working without alcohol. Alcohol lowers the freezing point of liquids. A shaken drink reaches -5 to -8 degrees Celsius. A non-alcoholic cocktail can go below 0 degrees, as sugar and other additives also lower the melting point, but it will be significantly warmer than an alcoholic drink with the same preparation. A non-alcoholic drink served in a coupe glass will warm up faster. You should test whether the drink can handle this and otherwise serve it on ice.
What non-alcoholic drinks often lack is complexity and sometimes mouthfeel. There are many ingredients that provide these while being alcohol-free. We like to work with hydrosols, essences, tea, horchata, selected non-alcoholic spirit alternatives, ferments like kombucha, and cordials or shrubs that we already make for our alcoholic cocktails from seasonal ingredients. There are so many ways to get flavour and texture into a drink.
© Green Door Bar
When preparing homemade ingredients or pre-batching non-alcoholic drinks, hygiene is crucial. Alcohol is excellent for preservation. Without it, mould can form quickly, or yeasts can start fermenting the sugar into alcohol if cleanliness is inadequate. Very clean working conditions, sterilised bottles, and subsequent cooling should be standard practice.
Sensory Perception: Does Comparing with Spirits make Sense?
From a sensory perspective, alcohol cannot be completely replaced. Alcohol is an extremely good carrier of flavours, and not every flavour is as soluble in water as in alcohol. This is noticeable, for example, with gin; non-alcoholic products carry the juniper note much more subtly. A Dry Martini with non-alcoholic gin that tastes the same as one with alcohol? That's not feasible, and it doesn't need to be. I think non-alcoholic products should be viewed as their own category and not compared too strictly with spirits. Mouthfeel and flavour are entirely different, and unlike spirits, they are not made for pure consumption. They are simply ingredients that need to be incorporated into a drink. After all, I don't drink a glass of cordial or shrub neat either.
Non-Alcoholic isn't always Non-Alcoholic
A subtle but important distinction is whether the drink is truly alcohol-free, meaning it has 0.0% alcohol. Legally, the upper limit for non-alcoholic beverages like non-alcoholic beer is 0.5%. A non-alcoholic drink can therefore occasionally contain a dash of cocktail bitters and still be labelled as non-alcoholic. If you want to be precise, you can indicate 0.0% and >0.5% on the menu. Some guests may wish to avoid any trace of alcohol for religious reasons or due to pregnancy. In everyday life, complete abstinence is unlikely, as even fruit juices, ripe bananas, miso, vinegars, or even bread can have harmless levels of 0.3-0.4% alcohol. However, recovering alcoholics should avoid even 0.0% beer. The appearance, taste, or even the setting of a bar can trigger a relapse, even if the drink itself is entirely alcohol-free.
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