4.4 • 943 Ratings
🗓️ 31 January 2025
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
What's behind the rise and rise of low alcohol and alcohol free drinks? The sector grew by a quarter last year alone, fuelled by our changing relationship with alcohol. More than fifteen million people are thought to have considered taking part in Dry January this year and younger drinkers in particular are turning away from alcohol and embracing alcohol-free versions of beer, wine and spirits or entirely new drinks coming onto the market.
In this programme Jaega Wise considers the changes in the drinks industry. She eavesdrops on an alcohol-free workshop with the mindful drinking movement Club Soda and speaks to its founder Laura Willoughby. She hears from the alcohol-free beer brand Lucky Saint and the market research company Kam on our changing drinking patterns, including the trend for zebra-striping - alternating between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
Then Jaega visits Bristol to find out how breweries are using different techniques to make alcohol-free beer that is far superior to the much-derided watery and flavourless versions of old. The Bristol Beer Factory tells her that their alcohol-free brand now makes up a fifth of sales. At Wiper & True nearby, they reckon within five years around half of all their beers will be alcohol-free.
The movement towards "low and no" drinks means there is now a World Alcohol Free Awards as their co-founder Chrissie Parkinson explains and Dash Lilley from the Three Spirit brand talks about how some drinks makers are looking to very different ingredients from the plant world to create original flavours.
Presented by Jaega Wise Produced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Robin Markwell
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0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Greg Jenner. I'm the host of Your Dead to Me, where the best names in comedy and history |
0:05.5 | join me to learn about and laugh at the past. You are a traitor. And in the new series, we'll meet |
0:11.2 | Aristotle. I think he might have been a time traveller. Someone who's like almost a glitch. |
0:15.3 | We'll dive into the causes of the British Civil Wars in the 1600s. In England at this period, |
0:19.8 | there's people can't get on the housing ladder. |
0:21.5 | This sounds familiar. |
0:23.2 | And we'll discover the arts and crafts movement. |
0:25.3 | I love the clothes. |
0:26.3 | I love the vibe. |
0:27.1 | Yes, we're a comedy show that takes history seriously and then laughs at it. |
0:30.5 | You're dead to me. |
0:31.3 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
0:34.0 | So come over. |
0:35.7 | Grab whatever inspires you. |
0:42.3 | We have herbs. We have mint, rosemary, basil with cucumber, we have different mix of citrus with mandarin, grapefruit, teas, pineapple, avocado. |
0:49.3 | Be my guest. Do whatever you like. |
0:51.3 | In a basement in London's Covent Garden, |
0:54.5 | a group of drinks industry professionals |
0:56.3 | are in the middle of a training course. |
0:59.0 | They've been tasked with making something delicious by Nicholas, |
1:02.8 | a charismatic Italian who also goes by the name of Dr. Cocktail. |
1:07.2 | I want a cocktail ready in eight minutes. |
... |
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