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US Millennials are driving the non-alc trend
Consumption of non-alcoholic beverages among US drinkers has doubled since April 2023, according to IWSR data. But what makes Millennials the perfect target?
Greater product availability is boosting momentum for non-alcoholic drinks, particularly in retail.
“The no-alcohol category as a whole is gaining popularity amongst drinkers in the US, with participation rates doubling since April 2023 – and much of this increase is being driven by Millennials,” explains Nastya Timofeeva, Bevtrac senior insights manager, IWSR.
Volume consumption of non-alcoholic drinks grew 20% in 2023, with a forecast volume CAGR of +17%, 2023-28.
Millennials are key to the category’s success. In April 2023, 45% of non-alcoholic beer consumers in the US were Millennials; by April 2024, that figure had risen to 61% – far ahead of Gen X at 22% and legal aged Gen Z at only 7%. Similar participation rates are reported for no-alcohol spirits (66% of consumers are Millennials) and no-alcohol wine (59%).
Millennials in the US are the age cohort that currently displays the most significant positive shifts in their financial sentiment, triggering them to be drinking and socialising more. This drives consumption.
“Millennials also skew to heavier usage of beverage alcohol in general, when compared to the overall drinker population in the US, and are the only cohort with a wider repertoire in 2024 vs 2023,” said Timofeeva.
Millennials over-index in terms of their participation in a number of full-strength categories in the US, including total spirits, whisky, RTDs, rum, brandy/Cognac and Champagne.
Timofeeva continued: “So, when they do moderate their alcohol consumption, they are doing so from a high level. The fact that Millennial no-alcohol buyers are more likely to be frequent alcohol consumers highlights an overlap between no-alcohol and full-strength alcohol consumers.”
The landscape of non-alcoholic drinking habits in the US is different from that of the UK, where Gen Z rather than Millennials are the driving force. Gen Z Brits are drinking even less than they were a year ago, according to the latest data from CGA by NIQ. Read more here.
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