Have you ever been drinking alcohol and considered switching to something else? Have you had to think about whether it’s safe to drive, or paused to think about what your alcohol consumption is doing to your body, and your relationships with the people you love?
You’re in good company – ‘Mindful Drinking’ is the emerging global trend of choosing low- and non-alcoholic drinks for health and social reasons and is now gaining serious momentum in South Africa.
Alcohol-free drinks are becoming increasingly conspicuous. In South Africa, Castle Free, Heineken 0.0 and Savannah Non-Alcoholic have all launched locally in the past 18 months, joining a growing number of other alcohol-free beers, non-alcoholic wines, craft ‘vir-gins’, mocktails, kombuchas and other botanical concoctions.
In a massive shift, it’s estimated that 1 in 4 beers consumed in bars in Germany is now low- or non-alcoholic. There are several reasons for why the younger generation are drinking less than their parents – health and fitness priorities, greater awareness of social harm caused by alcohol and exposure to positive lifestyle trends on social media.
Alcohol-producing companies have adapted to meet this new demand. AB-Inbev, the world’s largest brewer, is aiming to make 20% of its beer low- or zero alcohol by 2025 . In the UK, figures released by the Department of Health show that in just 12 months sales of non-alcoholic and low alcohol drinks sold rose by 20.5 per cent. In the same period sales of high-strength beers fell by 12% .
Mindful Drinking SA was started by two Capetonians, Sean O’Connor and Barry Tyson, to promote and de-stigmatise the consumption of non-alcoholic drinks. They are hosting the Mindful Drinking Festival at Kirstenbosch in Cape Town on Sunday 20 October 2019 to showcase the wide range of alcoholic-free drinks already available in South Africa. The festival will bring together alcohol-free beers, wines and spirits, kombuchas and health drinks for the first time in Africa, along with an array of healthy food and live music, giving the public a chance to try a wide range of healthy beverages in one place and at low cost – while enjoying great food and live music.
O’Connor says: “Our mission is to make alcohol-free drinks socially acceptable – even desirable – for young and old to choose in any situation. If you’ve had a couple of drinks at a braai and you have to drive home, you can switch to alcohol-free beer instead of the facing the prospect of being caught in a roadblock and being charged with drunk driving, or worse, having an accident that changes your life on the way home.
Or, if you’re having a business lunch, instead of getting mildly inebriated and wanting to fall asleep at your desk, you can choose a non-alcoholic bottle of wine and still complete an afternoon deadline. Alcohol-free drinks taste better than ever before, and there are more and more to choose from. The sooner we get South Africans to embrace them as a normal part of our society the better.”
At the Mindful Drinking Festival, the public will be able to sample drinks directly from their producers, participate in a blind tasting competition MC’d by comedian Nik Rabinowitz, and learn from a range of free presentations explaining the new technologies behind the production of these innovative drinks.
For more about Mindful Drinking click HERE
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