Drink Up.

The non-alcoholic mixers category is having a moment

The zeitgeist of pandemic I was blissful ignorance, reconnecting with our loved ones, nature and our “inner-self”. The world was united in its fight against the virus, back when we still believed it’s a 3–6 month ordeal. We made Dalgona coffee, learnt how to cook and clean, experimented with food and home workouts, had long video calls with friends, took up hobbies, meditated, played with our children and pets, experimented with skincare, and bought a ton of athleisure and loungewear.

But gone were the days when you could go to your favorite bar for a Tequila Sunrise. You had to improvise and make do with neat/watered down liquor at home or simply a milkshake. Maybe you thought about becoming an amateur bartender, but there simply wasn’t enough information or ingredients to do so. Identifying this pain point, a smorgasbord of brands started popping up with cocktail mixes — all you had to do was add alcohol!

Like any nascent ecosystem, this one was also teeming with life and evolution. Innovative flavors, packaging, recipes, formats and modes of consumption started emerging every day with brands creating their own identity and targeting their own niches within this emerging category. The mixers and non-alcoholic industry was born.

Not that it didn’t exist before. But in the name of mixers, Shweppers was really the only option one had, as tonic water. Until the pandemic renaissance.

And suddenly, you have Zero Percent (by premium water brand VEEN), extracting out alcohol from spirits and wine for the more mindful drinkers looking for the taste of alcohol without the liver damage. You have Sepoy & Co and Svami offering tonics, ranging from exotic and local flavors to diet-conscious consumers. You have Jimmy’s Cocktails bringing you cocktail premixes and May & Co bringing the bar to your home with its cocktail syrups and shrubs. In this emerging category, it seems that no two brands are the same.

Now even bigger brands wanted a share of the pie. Moet Hennessy partnered with Svami to launch limited edition drink mixers that can be paired with the company’s vodka, whisky and cognac range. Jimmy’s Cocktails tied up with craft gin brand Greater Than for similar projects.

As the culture around drinking becomes more open, people are starting to experiment with their tastes. While some demand more variety, others want to put on their bartending hats and try their own creativity. It’s a hotbed of evolution and activity. Brands are expanding into the Horeca industry, channeling offline distribution, diversifying product offering and categories, localizing and personalizing their product portfolios and co-creating with their very consumers. It may be too soon to predict the trajectory it takes, but one thing is for sure — the non-alcoholic mixers industry is here to stay.