Dry January, sober curious, California sober — every day, there seems to be a new phrase to describe the same phenomenon. People are drinking less alcohol.
An NCSolutions poll found nearly half of Americans, 49 percent, are trying to drink less alcohol in 2025. That is a 44 percent increase from 2023.
There are myriad reasons more people are drinking less or no alcohol these days. It reflects an overall physical and mental health prioritization or even a way to save money.
According to the poll, 62 percent of people are drinking less to improve their physical health, while 55 percent are planning to drink less in 2025 to save money, and 1 in 5 Americans feel drinking alcohol is a habit they can no longer afford, according to the poll.
Gen Z is spearheading the trend at 65 percent saying they are trying to drink less in 2025.
To cut back or stop drinking, many are turning to nonalcoholic beverages, and Arkansas liquor stores and alcohol producers are responding to the trend.
Zero is a nonalcoholic sake that Origami Sake in Hot Springs released recently. It is the only NA sake sold in the U.S. right now.
Ben Bell, vice president at Origami Sake, said Matt Bell, president and CEO, came to the team and asked if it could create one, and the team had to experiment with it to get it just right.
“We’d never really done that, so we had to think through how to do it,” Ben Bell said. “We really had to be creative.”
Ben Bell
In the end, Origami did not want to make an alcoholic sake and dealcoholize it, which is how most NA wines and liquors are made and can affect the flavor profile of the sake. Instead, the Origami team decided not to add yeast, so the sake never became alcoholic in the first place.
Since taking Zero to market, Bell said the response has been very positive.
“As we expected, people are looking for ‘nonalcs’ in a way that sort of lines up with the numbers in the market,” he said.
Bell has been in the beverage industry more than 15 years and said companies never used to think about NA beverages, but there has been unprecedented growth.
Origami is lucky because while sales of beer, wine and liquor have been down overall, sake sales have been up. That, coupled with NA options selling better, has caused the market to be great for Zero.
Bell said it is good to have NA beverage options like Zero both for people who used to drink and do not anymore or drink less and for people who have never drank, which is a growing number of younger people.
“I think that’s a positive trend,” he said.
Being able to have something in one’s hands in a social setting has eliminated a lot of pressure one may feel during a social situation when not drinking, Bell said.
He has also noticed a trend of people turning to cannabis products instead of alcohol.
One growing sector is infused drinks, including those with THC, Delta-9 THC, CBD or adaptogens.
Twenty-six percent of respondents to the NCSolutions poll said they plan to try a THC and CBD-infused drink in 2025, but that number rises to 38 percent when looking at just the Gen Z population and 37 percent when looking at the millennial population.
“It’s similar to the effects of drinking without the damage to your liver and blood sugar,” said Dustin Curtis, vice president of the Goods, a division of Interstate Holdings, owned by Steve Landers Jr. “I think people are finally waking up and realizing, ‘Hey, this is something people have done for a long time.’”
Dustin Curtis
The Goods offers Delta-9 THC gummies for mail order. It has four different “vibes” of gummies, meaning they are formulated for different experiences, including Laugh, Snooze, Chill and Boost in a variety of flavors.
Curtis said there is no longer the stigma that used to surround taking edibles.
The Goods offers Delta-9 THC gummies infused with Delta-9. (Photo courtesy of the Goods)
“You can have a Laugh or have a Chill and hang out with everyone and get up and be a productive adult the next day,” he said.
The Goods is also getting ready to release mocktails infused with Delta-9 because of the demand for such products.
The Goods offers Delta-9 THC mocktails infused with Delta-9. (Photo courtesy of the Goods)
The mocktails will also have no artificial flavors and be low in sugar, an issue some infused drinks and mocktails on the market encounter, Curtis said.
“We’re trying to go real healthy on that side too,” he added. “I think people are thinking about that more.”
Similarly, Arkansas-based brewery Flyway has offered a Delta-9- and CBD-infused drink called Ave since early last year.
At first, the establishment offered Ave in cans that could be bought in the tap room or in four-packs to be taken home. Now Flyway has Ave on tap.
“I feel really strongly about it,” founder Matt Foster said. “I think it’s a wonderful social tonic. It’s a relaxation beverage.”
Matt Foster
Foster said Flyway has experimented with various flavors, including lime, lemonade, watermelon and black cherry.
He added that Flyway’s creation of the drink was not a response to lower beer sales. The business has seen an increase in sales every year since opening in 2013.
“Beer isn’t going anywhere,” Foster said.
Flyway has experimented with different flavors of NA drinks. (Photo courtesy of Flyway Brewery)
Still, the company wanted to create Ave to innovate and offer patrons an alternative to alcohol. He added that he himself “needed and wanted” an alcohol alternative, so the inspiration and drive to create and sell the product is personal for him.
Kaitlynn McKenzie, team manager at Flyway, said lots of people have been turning to Ave to drink less alcohol but also because they are just interested in a new product that is gaining so much traction.
Kaitlynn McKenzie
Liquor stores are also responding to the huge push for NA drinks.
Colonial Wines & Spirits in Little Rock offers a myriad of NA beer, wine and cocktails, team member Chris Kotoun said. As the popularity of NA drinks has exploded, Colonial’s offerings have expanded.
Chris Koutoun
“Whether it’s to include their friends that don’t drink or they’re doing it for health-conscious reasons, the quality and quantity of what we get is growing every year,” team member Robert Giles said.
Robert Giles
Kotoun said it should be noted that when someone is buying a nonalcoholic beer, wine or spirit, the company is allowed to include .5 percent ABV and still market the drink as nonalcoholic. Unless the packaging says 0.0 percent, one cannot assume the beverage is fully alcohol free.
He said he thinks the NA trend stems, in part, from a correction of people drinking a lot of alcohol during 2020, which was when the industry saw its highest alcohol sales.
Kotoun added that there is an overall acceptance of sobriety that there used to not be, saying that everyone is “wired differently” and has their own mindset about alcohol consumption and that it is good to have options.
Jonathan Looney, owner of O’Looney’s Wine & Liquor in Little Rock, said with the popularity of Dry January and Sober October, he has seen more clients “dabbling in the sober experience and space.”
Jonathan Looney
He said many people come to him for recommendations of NA drinks based on diets, health and the like.
The store has offered NA beer since they opened 25 years ago, but he noted there are more varieties now.
“It’s always been a strong category,” he said. “It’s better represented and better quality than has ever been available before and since.”
However, Looney remains cautious about what he offers.
He said O’Looney’s still only offers one NA wine because he has tried many but has not found many at the standard he wants to offer for various reasons. He does not want to overwhelm customers with too many choices, he said, so he is selective about the options he has in store. He added that he wants everything he provides to be both healthy and have a good story behind it.
“We are standing at the forefront to discern quality for our clients,” O’Looney said.
Mary Zunick, cultural affairs manager at Visit Hot Springs, has, in her free time, started seeking out and posting on social media about available mocktails in the area. Her turn to mocktails began about a year and a half ago, after her husband experienced health problems and the couple decided to cut back on alcohol consumption.
Mary Zunick
“We enjoy going out for dinner, getting a drink and even having a cocktail at home,” she said. “It is just part of our routine.”
The Zunicks have not completely stopped drinking alcohol, she added, but they switch it up for alternatives often, and she started seeking out mocktails.
Since asking for mocktails at restaurants, Zunick said she has noticed that many are offering more.
She said it is also great to have mocktails when one is entertaining at home “just to be a good host and have something for everyone. No one wants to feel like they’re a problem or an exception.”
She said one of her favorite places right now for mocktails is Oaklawn in Hot Springs. Another is 501 Prime in Hot Springs, which she said has a good alternative to a paloma.
She said some mocktails, especially canned ones, which she drinks at home, are too sweet. She suggested if one thinks a drink sounds too sweet, ask restaurants to cut back on the simple syrup. For the canned ones, she likes to add lime to “freshen it up.”
“I encourage people just to try them,” she said.
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