Can happy hour lose the booze?

Low and no-alcohol drinks have seen a spike in pandemic-era popularity.

Too many Zoom happy hours making you feel… not happy? As GQ reports, there’s a wide and wonderful world of low- and no-alcohol cocktails to appeal to the sober-curious. 

Can happy hour lose the booze?

Lower in calories and less likely to leave you hungover, health-conscious sippers have been raising a glass… with something other than LaCroix.

And we don’t just mean White Claw. Nielsen recently called hard seltzer the “most resilient” alcohol category in the US — notching a 4x sales increase over last year — but there’s a bevy of new craft bevvies behind the bar.

They’re a sophisticated sip

Though the companies we reached out to remained mum on exact dollar amounts, all reported huge growth this year.

Curious Elixirs makes pre-mixed nonalcoholic drinks. Its Cocktail Club memberships have spiked 600% since mid-March, a spokesperson said. 

Haus ships low-ABV aperitifs D2C. The company launched last June and has seen orders grow 500% in 2020.

Kin Euphorics uses adaptogenics and nootropics —  botanic compounds said to boost brainpower — for a booze-free buzz.

Kin told us D2C revenue nearly tripled between March and July 2020 compared with the same period last year.

Topics: Food

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