Speaker 1 1:12

If you are new to drinking low , no and light , you might be wondering why the heck these drinks cost so much money when there is no booze in them . It is a question that a lot of people ask , and it is a very fair question , and in this episode , I want to give you five reasons why low , no and light alcohol alternatives cost the same , if not sometimes more , than their full-strength alcohol cousins , whether you like to drink beers , wines , spirits or completely unique alternatives , these are some of the challenges that the producers and founders that I speak to on this podcast tell me are impacting them on a regular basis , and make sure you check out number three , because it's the one that surprises people the most . Okay

Reason 1 - Preservative

Speaker 1 1:58

, reason number one alcohol is a preservative . As a compound , alcohol is really good at killing unwanted germs . All those bottles of hand sanitizer that we had back in 2020 were mostly alcohol-based , because it's a really good killer of unwanted and sometimes wanted nasties that could otherwise cause us harm . Inside your bottle of booze , it does exactly the same thing , and it's the reason why alcohol can last for years and years . It's why we can age wine . It's why that bottle of ouzo in the back of your cupboard that you brought home from Greece in 2002 is still perfectly safe to drink . I mean , it might not taste very nice , but it's perfectly safe to drink .

Speaker 1 2:42

Alcohol-free drinks obviously don't have that luxury , so they need other preservatives , and that means more expense . A lot of alcohol-free and non-alcoholic producers are trying to target markets who are conscious and aware of what they're putting in their bodies . They're trying to make healthful decisions and therefore synthetic preservatives aren't really a viable option for many of them . That leaves natural preservatives . These are things like oils , sugars , salts , botanical extracts . As you can tell from that list , some of those things might not be appropriate to go into a drink , and those that are can be very expensive to produce and to use en masse , which makes it difficult for these smaller producers to take advantage of the economies of scale , which is another reason that we will look at in a minute .

Reason 2 - Flavour

Speaker 1 3:38

Reason number two alcohol is a great and I mean a great carrier of flavour . When it is put into a maceration with the ingredients used to make a drink , those compounds bind with the flavour molecules and do this little dance another little dance to help produce the flavors and tastes that we've come to know and recognize from alcohol-filled drinks . The longer this mixture sits together , the deeper those flavors become . That's why we've become such fans of things like well-aged red wines and barrel-aged whiskeys , because they've had time to develop this great depth of flavor . Obviously , with alcohol free drinks not having the preservative element , they don't have this same opportunity to bind to the alcohol and develop this flavor bomb . So producers have to find different ways to bring in those flavor notes that you've come to know and love to produce the drinks that you're going to enjoy as alternatives to those adult drinking occasions . That means more ingredients , more processes , more equipment , new technologies , new strains of yeast that don't ferment as much . A lot of time goes into the manufacturing process to create these liquids that you can enjoy in the same way . Then there's also the other side , which is that once these drinks have been made , if they do contain alcohol in them , they must have that taken out , and that stripping away of alcohol can also take away flavors . So there's another process that needs to be considered there and that involves things like de-alkalisation machines and vacuum distillation and pasteurisation . All of this combines together to mount up to some very , very high cost , running into the tens and tens and tens of thousands of pounds , which makes it now impossible for small producers to get a sniff at this equipment , let alone to own it outright . And the rental of these bits of technology to enable them to produce these drinks means that they're incurring a lot of costs that have to become part of the eventual purchase price for the consumer , like you and me .

Reason Free!

Speaker 1 5:53

Reason number three and this is one that usually shocks people the most is that alcohol itself is actually free . Yes , the ingredient that people often value the most in their drink is actually the cheapest ingredient to include . So how could that be ? Well , alcohol is actually a byproduct of fermentation . It is the yeast's reaction to the sugar in the ingredients that we're macerating that causes the alcohol to be produced . So whether we're using fruit or grains or vegetables to make our alcoholic beverage , such as grapes or barleys or potatoes , it's the reaction of the yeast to the sugars in those ingredients that causes the production of alcohol . This means that whether you're making an alcohol-full or an alcohol-free drink , you're actually taking the ingredients through exactly the same process and therefore incurring exactly the same costs . But to produce a low , no or light alcohol beverage , that process has to be interrupted in some way . Either we stop the fermentation before it has a chance to fully reach maturity and that can be done with the use of new yeasts , for example , that don't allow the sugars to ferment as much , but of course that kind of agricultural technology is quite expensive or we allow the fermentation process to continue to the end and then remove the alcohol afterwards .

Speaker 1 7:38

As we've already noted , this kind of de-alkalization process , including vacuum distillation and osmosis and other techniques , can be very , very costly and end up costing producers a pretty penny , which is obviously a huge challenge . For those smaller independent producers who don't have the big budget to pay for this equipment , that can run into thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds .

Reason 4 - Scale

Speaker 1 8:04

Reason number four is economies of scale . Now , if you've ever bulk bought anything online , you'll know that the more you buy , the cheaper the thing becomes . I , for example , am a mum of two without a car , so I bulk buy toilet roll like it's 2020 . The same applies to beverage production . Everything from the bottles to the cans to the labels is all cheaper if , at the larger quantities , they'd have to produce so much liquid that it becomes unsustainable for them as a business .

Speaker 1 8:50

Sadly , I've spoken to many founders whose problem has been that they can't keep up with the demand for their drinks because they're not able to scale and produce enough liquid at the right prices . For these smaller brands to be able to do this , they would be looking at orders that just make it unfeasible , and so for those brands to be able to keep their businesses afloat , they need to price their end product to you and I at a rate that is comparable to the alcoholic drinks , so that they are able to stay in production . It costs , for example , budweiser a hell of a lot less to produce a single can of Budweiser Zero than it does brands like Mashgang or Brulow or Unlimited .

Reason 5 - Marketing

Speaker 1 9:34

And reason number five is that the marketing of these drinks , to actually get them in front of consumers like you and I , is bloody expensive . There is a reason why the low and light drinks that you see in the supermarkets are usually from the big brands .

Speaker 1 9:51

Companies like AB InBev , who produce Stella Artois and Corona Zero , diageo , who produce Guinness Zero and Tanqueray Zero , heineken , who produce Heineken and Old Moot alcohol-free cider , and Pernod Ricard , who produce Beefy to Zero and Jacob's Creep Unvined , have eye-wateringly large marketing budgets . Imagine , for example , how much it costs them to sponsor the Formula One , the Rugby World Cup and the upcoming France Olympics . Shelf space for these drinks goes to those companies who can afford to pay for the listing fees , for the shelf space itself , for the end caps , for the TV advertising , who can afford to produce and give away gallons and gallons and gallons of liquid for people to try so that they can get used to those flavors . Plus , they have the strength of the recognized full-strength versions of their brands that they come from . Many people who enter into Drinking Low and Low have come via a full-strength brand that they already know . If you know that you like Corona , you're likely to like Corona Zero and so on . So for these smaller brands to be able to reach their target market is a huge , huge challenge . They don't have the opportunity to advertise and promote in the same way and therefore their drinks never end up having that same reach . Ultimately , it's a crapshoot for these small , independent brands to even be in the same arena as these beverage behemoths , let alone to stand a chance to stand ringside and catch a few fleeting flecks of the exposure that they would need to get the market share that would allow them to expand their businesses to a point where they can afford to lower their prices .

Speaker 1 11:45

All in all , there are a myriad of reasons why low , no and light alcohol drinks cost so much to produce and as much for us to consume as their alcohol-full counterparts . This is by no means an exhaustive list . This is just some of the reasons I hear again and again and again when speaking to brand founders on the Low no Drinker podcast .

Takeaway

Speaker 1 12:10

Brand founders on the low no drinker podcast .

Speaker 1 12:11

My biggest takeaway from this is that if we want quality low no and light drinks to enjoy , then we're going to have to pay for them , and by doing so we help to support these brands so they can continue to work on developing these great drinks for us and eventually we'll be able to bring those prices down . For me , if I can enjoy the same great adult drinking experience with fantastic tasting drinks , with the people that I enjoy spending time with in the environments that make me happy without waking up with a hangover in the morning , then that makes it worth every penny . Don't forget to go and check out Lono Drinker magazine , the number one UK magazine for sober , curious and mindful drinkers , and if you would like to have a look at where you are on your own low no light drinking journey , check out the first link in the description below , which will take you to the only low , no drinking personality type quiz . Thanks a See you next time .