Personal experience is often a spark for starting a new business, and perhaps especially so in the growing sector for non-alcoholic drinks.

“I was looking to lose some weight before my 40th birthday… and calculating how many IPAs (India pale ales) I would drink in a week and how many extra calories that was,” says Mitch Cobb, co-owner of Libra Non-Alcoholic Craft Beer, and its sister company Upstreet Craft Brewing, in Charlottetown, P.E.I. “I made the decision that if I was going to lose weight, then I should probably reduce my alcohol consumption.”

This was a common refrain among those in the growing industry.

“Two years ago, when I opened the shop, I got a lot of strange looks,” says Benson Mutalemwa, the owner of Knyota Non-Alcoholic Drinks in downtown Ottawa. “It’s the natural reaction if you're an alcohol drinker and never stop to think, ‘You know, could it be different?’ So, I think the personal experience drives a lot of what people end up doing in this space as a business.”

The other realization that was necessary and decisive was, as Cobb succinctly puts it, “It felt very isolating to go out with friends and be drinking water all the time.”

Chris Pagliocchini agrees. The co-owner of ONES Non-Alcoholic Wines in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley says his customers often complain that in social situations, “I feel obligated to have something in my hand and, really, Coca Cola wasn't getting it done.” Hold a bottle or can of non-alcoholic wine, they say, and “No one says anything. It looks like the real thing. I'm included in the group.”

The sector for non-alcoholic versions of drinks that usually contain alcohol is growing. Cobb says that non-alcoholic beer is the fastest growing sector of the beer market in Canada, albeit having started from a small portion of less than one per cent of that market.

The market for alcohol-free wine is also growing, though Pagliocchini, who previously worked 14 years with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, estimates the industry is a few years behind its beer counterpart.

Non-alcoholic wine has been around for a long time, he says, but usually “on the bottom shelf, covered in dust,” and made from inferior ingredients then pumped with sugar to hide the poor taste.

“If you start with premium wine, like a beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon, and you reduce the alcohol, it's going to taste different,” he says. “If you start with better inputs, you get better product.”

ONES partners with wine-makers near its base in Summerland, B.C., and lately with others across Canada.

“We go into cellars, we get to taste all these amazing wines and key in on the ones that we think would make a good non-alcoholic wine.”

The result, after ONES’ filtering process to remove the alcohol, is a line of bottled and canned wines that have no added sugar or artificial sweetners. The company makes white, red and rosé wines, with occasional varietals, and sells through ONES’ website and at retail shops across the country.

Knyota is one of those shops. The name means “little star” in Swahili, Mutalemwa says. “I picked the name to recognize that we all have our own motivations, our own north star that drives our decisions and how we meet the world.”

In his shop and online Mutalemwa sells dozens of products, including beer, wine and spirits, and offers tastings of non-alcoholic options, just as a typical winery or brewery might do. He says that ONES and Benjamin Bridge, in Nova Scotia, are the two Canadian winemakers that “are actively pursuing the space.”

He says his customers range in age and motivation, with some citing health reasons for wanting non-alcoholic options, and others simply choosing a “mindful journey” through life. “People come at this for so many different reasons.”

Many of his customers do drink alcohol, he says, but may want options to drink less, or to buy drinks so their alcohol-free guests feel included. Recent data from the United States shows that more than 80 per cent of people who buy non-alcoholic drinks also buy alcoholic drinks.

Health benefits can be immediately and not so immediately obvious. In the short term, there are no hangovers to endure. In the longer term, there can be a major reduction in calories consumed. A five-ounce glass of wine would typically include approximately 125 calories, whereas a glass of ONES wine has 18.

A can of Libra alcohol-free IPA has 50 calories, Cobb says, compared to more than 200 for a typical can of IPA. He agrees that many customers drink both regular and alcohol-free beer, often drinking a can of the former and then a can of the latter — a practice that’s come to be known as “zebra-striping.”

Libra ships to approximately 1,500 retailers across Canada, including Sobeys, Loblaws and Costco. Cobb estimates his company has made eight or nine different varieties of Libra, including IPA, pilsner, stout and various seasonals.

“The goal was to try and create a whole range of styles of beer to appeal to everyone who likes to consume craft beer.”
 

Are “non-alcoholic” drinks safe for everybody?

Not necessarily.

Though many drinks contain only 0.4 per cent alcohol — which, as one brewer says, is “equivalent to what you would find in a kombucha or even orange juice” (due to the fermentation of wild yeast in the juice) — there could be health risks for certain people.

Recovering alcoholics, for example, could be triggered by that trace element of alcohol in drinks labelled as non-alcoholic or alcohol-free.  

As for pregnant women, the College of Family Physicians of Canada cautions, “As there is no known safe level of alcohol intake in pregnancy, abstinence from non-alcoholic beverages would eliminate any risk of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder,” and advises that “briefly delaying breastfeeding after consumption of such drinks would ensure that the infant is not exposed to alcohol.”

Experts generally recommend that anyone with liver problems or other conditions that could be affected by alcohol consumption should consult with their doctor before drinking non-alcoholic drinks.
 

What “alcohol-free” really means

What can be labelled as “non-alcoholic” in Canada is complicated, with oversight both from provincial regulators and — since the drinks are non-alcoholic — the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Generally, anything with less than 0.5 per cent ABV (alcohol by volume) is considered “alcohol-free.” Labelling regulations vary by province, and by whether a product crosses provincial borders.