Sober up for October

Edited by Cindy Tan and Sarah Gupta

Dear all,

We're back this week with a special edition exploring some of the trending drinks in the alcoholic and non-alcoholic spaces. We will also share a dessert/coffee that has been making waves this fall.

Cheers to October.

Sober October

Sober October involves abstaining from alcohol for the entire month of October. What started out as a fundraising effort for charity in Australia and the UK a few years ago has become a global challenge, and many now participate for health reasons. Even though wellness trends have gained traction during the pandemic, some turned to alcohol to cope with pandemic-induced stress. Sober October is not only a movement leading to positive health and social impact, it also gives drinkers a chance to reevaluate their relationship with alcohol. Unsurprisingly, it is expected to fade at the end of the month as the holiday season approaches.

Spirited away: The growing trend of low/no-alcohol spirits

According to the IWSR, global alcohol consumption declined by 6.2% in 2020, while no-alcohol and low-alcohol spirits are expected to grow 31% by 2024. With the shutdown of bars during Covid lockdowns and consumers prioritising their health, alcohol-free drinks have increased in demand. Though non-alcoholic spirits from Pentire and Ghia have slightly declined, Seedlip Garden 108 and Rasavada saw an exponential growth of +464% and +558% respectively this summer. Consumers were curious about the purported restorative effects of these newfangled zero-alcohol spirits crafted with floral and garden herbs, using techniques from traditional Eastern medicine. Even though the demand for these spirits started tapering off as October arrived, our forecast suggests that non-alcoholic spirits will remain a growing trend over the next year.

Move over, Pumpkin Spice Latte

With fall in full swing, pumpkin spice is the flavor of the season. Ever since Bud Light unveiled its first hard seltzer infused with pumpkin spice in September, there has been a sharp rise in chatter surrounding the fall-flavored beverage which reached a peak Impact Score of over 100 lately.

The thirst for CBD infused seltzers

While hard seltzer sales declined during the reopening of bars this summer, CBD-infused hard seltzers could perhaps revive the hard seltzer market. Veylinx found that 73% of consumers drank hard seltzers at home, which correlates with the uptick in CBD-infused hard seltzers this month as temperatures start falling and people stay home more.

According to a recent report, the CBD hard seltzer market is expected to “make over $14.6 million by the end of 2026.” Several other factors are also fueling the market growth, including the “rising authorization and certification for recreational cannabis in the United States and Canada” and the push away from smoking to healthier edible options. With increased accessibility, rising consumption of CBD-infused drinks among patients suffering from various health conditions, and its growing popularity as a functional drink among athletes, CBD hard seltzers are here to stay. Our forecast estimates that interest in the topic will sustain over the winter.

Hard cider: The fall alcoholic drink of choice

The hard cider market has steadily grown this year and has yet to reach its peak. Despite the negative impact on global alcohol consumption during the pandemic, hard cider was not affected. Unlike craft beer, hard cider doesn’t rely on on-premise sales, and new product variants are constantly introduced to the market. Now that it’s apple harvesting season, small-batch cider makers have begun pressing their apples for production. Cider is an alcoholic beverage commonly associated with falls, which is why we see a current uptick in interest. Our forecast suggests that the demand for hard cider will peak just before Christmas when cider gift packs are snapped up for Christmas parties.

The Apple Cider Mule

A seasonal spin on the Moscow Mule, the Apple Cider Mule is a fall-flavored cocktail that combines inexpensive and readily accessible ingredients like apple cider, ginger beer, vodka, lime juice, and optional cinnamon or pumpkin spice. With these simple ingredients, mixology skills aren’t required, driving the popularity of the drink as a DIY festive cocktail. NWO.AI’s forecast suggests that interest in this cocktail will peak at the end of the year, before fading in January 2022.

It’s time for the Irish Whiskey Mocha

With temperatures falling, it’s hot chocolate and whiskey season.  The richer cousin of the traditional Irish Coffee, the Irish Whiskey Mocha combines hot chocolate and whiskey with an added caffeine kick from coffee for a decadent, warming winter drink or even chocolate mousse. With freezing temperatures around the corner and St. Patrick’s Day approaching in six months’ time, interest in Irish Whiskey Mocha will remain high as we head into 2022.

About NWO.AI
NWO.AI's predictive platform enables leading Fortune 500 companies and government agencies to anticipate and track global cultural shifts by aggregating, analyzing, and producing actionable reports on human-generated data. We are leveraging petabytes of external, noisy, and unstructured data from various sources - including search, social media, blogs, news, patent databases, SEC filings and we are continuously adding more sources. Our mission is to answer the what, when, and most importantly 'why' behind a consumer trend and enable our customers to detect these shifts as early as possible.

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