Trends on Non Alcoholic Spirits
At the end of August, my family and I spent a week in Paris. For us Turks, getting a visa is tough these days. Finally making it felt like a real achievement. My wife deserves all the credit for sticking with the process. The trip itself was great. Paris still feels much the same as I remember. We enjoyed exploring the city together. My son was thrilled to visit Disneyland. If you go, I recommend staying at least one night there; it's worth it.
Beyond sightseeing, we have a family tradition whenever we travel: we explore the local grocery stores. We like to observe what the population consumes in their daily lives (and try it ourselves if we find it interesting), track trends in FMCG, and ultimately identify trends in package designs. We find out what they do differently.
On this trip, something in the grocery aisles really caught my eye. Over the past few years, I’ve noticed a big trend in functional drinks, but what stood out most was the non-alcoholic spirits market. These aren’t your usual drinks—they’re cocktails that look and taste like the real thing, just without the alcohol. The market is growing rapidly, especially in Europe and North America, with brands such as Seedlip, Lyre’s, Ritual, CleanCo, and Three Spirit leading the way. ("Faux booze goes mainstream", 2022) The last store we visited was Bon Marche Paris, the fanciest grocery store I’ve ever seen. The quality and packaging of the products were truly impressive.
Non-Alcoholic Drinks Kiosk at Bon-Marche Paris, France
There, I noticed one special section for these drinks, and my wife discovered another section where a person was explaining different drinks, not only spirits, but a whole other type of non-alcoholic drinks; beer, wine, and champagne (and yes, this is happening in Paris).
What the category is (and isn’t)
There are two main types: first, the 'analog' substitutes that are meant to take the place of spirits like gin, whisky, tequila, or amaro in classic cocktails, with brands like Lyre’s, Seedlip, Ritual, and CleanCo. The second group is 'functional' or aperitif drinks, which focus more on taste, how they make you feel, and the overall experience, instead of being a direct replacement. Brands like Three Spirit, Ghia, and Wilfred’s are good examples. For example, Seedlip makes drinks by distilling plants separately and then mixing them together, with no sugar and no alcohol.
To make these drinks feel and taste more like alcoholic drinks, brands use plant extracts, ingredients that change the texture, like glycerin or gums, and spicy things like pepper. Because these drinks do not have the same texture as alcohol, these extras help copy the feel and aftertaste. That’s why most non-alcoholic spirits taste better when mixed with other things than by themselves.
Market size & trajectory (2025-2028)
Global size: Estimates vary by methodology, but the dedicated NA spirits segment is a few-hundred-million-dollar market today and compounding steadily. Grand View Research pegs $385.4M (2023), projecting $681.5M by 2030 ("Non-alcoholic Spirits Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Whiskey, Rum, Gin, Vodka), By Distribution Channel (On Trade, Off Trade), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2024 - 2030", 2024)
Regional weight: Europe currently holds the largest share for NA spirits (~45% in 2024), but the US is the growth engine thanks to innovation and retail penetration. ("Non-alcoholic Spirits Market Size, Share, Trends Report, 2032", 2024)
Want to learn more about trends? Check out this article: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/non-alcoholic-spirits-market-report
So why do consumers buy or don’t?
Reasons people buy: drinking less alcohol (“sober-curious”), wanting to be healthier, trying new flavors, enjoying cocktails during the week, and feeling included in social situations—especially among younger adults who are old enough to drink. More people are choosing these drinks everywhere, with the US adding tens of millions of non-alcoholic drinkers from 2022 to 2024.
Challenges: people expect a certain taste, these drinks often cost more, and there is social pressure (people still choose alcohol in social situations even if they plan to go alcohol-free), according to a Heineken/Oxford study covered by the FT.
Top Brands:
Analogs: Lyre’s, Seedlip, Ritual Zero Proof, CleanCo, ISH, Free Spirits, Fluère, Spiritless, Monday.
Functional/Aperitif: Three Spirit (uses special plant ingredients), Ghia, Wilfred’s; these are popular for making tasty “spritz” or “amaro” style drinks.
Big-co 0.0 lines & adjacent: Bacardi’s Martini 0.0 (aperitivo), Pernod Ricard’s Ceder’s (non-alc gin), plus beer majors’ 0.0 brands that normalize “no-alc” on menus; they help the category’s legitimacy even if not spirits per se. ("Low- and no-alcohol in high spirits as consumer trends continue to drive growth", 2024)
Pricing, packaging, and what makes people buy
People are willing to pay more for these drinks if the bottle looks high-quality, shows where it comes from, and offers several servings. This helps make the price feel more reasonable.
Design codes that work now:
Aperitif colorways (vermilion/amber/citrus) & botanical illustration for flavor-first SKUs;
Analog cues (juniper, agave, charred oak) for swap-ins;
Functional systems (mood icons, day-night systems) with careful, compliant wording. (Reflected across brand sites and retail PDPs.)
Overall, these brands have a premium look that perfectly matches the sophisticated vibe of high-end gin. What makes them especially exciting is that, being new to the industry, they aren’t weighed down by decades of tradition. Instead, they’re using their bottle shapes, label designs, and graphic styles to create their own unique voice. There's a real sense of momentum here—these drinks aren’t just vying for attention; they’re pushing beverage design into exciting new directions.
Walking along the shelves, I genuinely felt impressed. Almost every product seemed thoughtfully designed, from the typography and color choices to the finishing details, as if each brand wanted to tell a story. And they really succeed—they are not only visually stunning but also convey a sense of experimentation and boldness that’s truly refreshing. Unlike many traditional categories that sometimes play it safe, non-alcoholic drinks are showing us that packaging can be daring, elegant, and trendsetting all at once.
I believe this trend is more than just a passing phase. The way these products present themselves—modern, confident, and full of character—might very well set the tone for beverage design in the coming years. Their growing popularity signals a shift: non-alcoholic isn’t just an afterthought anymore; it’s becoming a source of creativity and innovation in the industry.
