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Writer's pictureTrish Silverman

The business of alcohol-free booze is buzzin’ in the Northwest

Northwest Public Broadcasting | By Lauren Paterson | January 23, 2023


Non-alcoholic beer, wine, and zero-proof spirit sales are going up as people look for alternatives to traditional forms of alcohol.

As the Dry January trend continues this new year, more non-alcoholic beverage options line market shelves than ever before. Northwest Public Broadcasting's Lauren Paterson takes us around the region, where business is booming.


Founding Distiller of Wilderton, Seth O-Malley, leads me down the stairs of the basement brewery in southeast Portland, where he crafts what he calls, “botanical spirits.”


“We are using a craft spirits approach that was honed and seasoned and created in the context of creating alcohol. But we are also innovating upon those and adapting those to this brand new category,” he said.

Seth O’Malley pours samples of Wilderton’s botanical spirits at his home brewery. Wilderton’s new facility in Hood River, Oregon will open this spring.

O’Malley stands near a wall covered in small shelves filled with spices.


He pours a sample of a fragrant, herbal-tasting liquid with a spicy finish. It’s something designed to add zest to a non-alcoholic cocktail.


“The data supports that Millennials are drinking less than Gen-Xers, and Gen-Zers are drinking a lot less than Millennials,” said O’Malley. “We’re still trying to figure out exactly what the forces are that are in play there. But we are constantly just bowled over by the amount of interest in this category.”


And it’s not just younger generations jumping on the non-alcoholic beverage trend.


Erin Tierney works as a nurse in Eugene. She’s taking part in Dry January, where participants try to avoid or reduce alcohol consumption for the month.


For her, having a drink at the end of the day is a ritual. That’s why she says for Dry January she needed to find some non-alcoholic options.


“I have a stressful job. So when I come home from work, and once I get my child to go to bed, it’s like my unwinding is: have a beer and sit down,” she said.


But now, people like Tierney have more alcohol-free drinks to choose from, thanks to an uptick in popularity in the last decade. That’s according to research by Ruiying Cai, an assistant professor at Washington State University’s School of Hospitality and Business Management.


“I think the restaurants, if they want to attract customers, they definitely want to provide more non-alcoholic options,” Cai said.


Cai said whether or not an establishment has non-alcoholic drink options is becoming an increasingly important deciding factor for consumers on where to dine.


While the statistics also include soda, Cai says that in the U.S. and Canada, sales of non-alcoholic drinks are set to surpass spirits sometime in late 2024 or early 2025.


Over in Seattle, another booze-free business is also taking off.


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