A third of the way into Dry January, you can imagine most participants have either settled into a routine for the month or given up before the stretch run. CivicScience polled U.S. adults last month to gauge general interest in Dry January this year, and it looked to be good news for non-alcoholic beer brands. But what else are alcohol abstainers turning to this month?
According to our latest data, a plurality of Dry January participants (not to be confused with the official Dry January program from Alcohol Change UK and Meharry Medical College) is not replacing alcohol with anything right now – potentially the cohort planning to make this month a one-off. But roughly 60% of those partaking in Dry January are evenly split between non-alcoholic beverages, cannabis/CBD products, and soda/seltzer products. Kombucha has a far smaller presence among the January alcohol abstainers, but a majority of all participants are deliberately leaning on alcohol substitutes to fill the void.
The older Dry January participants are, the less likely they are to be leaning on an alcohol substitute this month. More than half of those over 55 aren’t trying anything in lieu of alcohol, but a whopping 90% of Gen Z adults participating are enjoying other drinks and substances. One-third of the 21-24 age group is leaning on cannabis/CBD products, which well outpaces all older age brackets, along with their interest in non-alcoholic/alcohol-free beverages (25% compared to the Gen Pop’s 20%). Soda and seltzer products are the biggest hit among adults aged 25-34.
Zeroing in on non-alcoholic and alcohol-free beverages, a near-equivalent share of U.S. adults would be most likely to try them at a restaurant (17%) and at home (18%) – with two-thirds of adults not up for trying them anywhere. Gen Z adults are easily the most likely to try them either at a restaurant (26%) or at home (36%) – and no other age group deviates too far from the Gen Pop when it comes to trying non-alcoholic beverages at restaurants.
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