How Nonalcoholic Cocktails Became So Expensive

Every few months someone online kicks up the discourse around the cost of nonalcoholic cocktails, and it’s all we can do to escape it.

There’s a prevailing belief that nonalcoholic cocktails should cost less than alcoholic ones. It’s not hard to figure out why: Over 100 years ago, it was prohibited to produce, sell, and transport spirits. At the time it made sense to put a premium on a forbidden commodity that, sip by sip, made imbibers feel a little more relaxed, a little tipsy.

But that notion is not only outdated, but uninformed. At craft cocktail bars around the country, there is just as much cost, overhead, and sometimes even more labor involved with creating alcohol-free beverages.

It’s easy to overlook the creativity required to build nonalcoholic drinks in the intimacy of a craft cocktail bar. These cocktails are rarely “just” juice and a splash of soda water. “We wouldn’t serve the nonalcoholic drinks we make to a kid; they’re developed for a sophisticated palate,” says Harrison Ginsberg, the former bar director of Overstory and forthcoming bar lead of Crane Club in New York.

For traditional cocktails made with spirits, the structures and blueprints are time-tested. There are infinite permutations of alcohol, acid, and sugar for drinks like the Negroni or martini. Not so for their nonalcoholic counterparts, a nascent category that has only recently invited innovation as the number of such options flood the market. “You need to create texture and balance in a drink that doesn’t lean on an alcoholic component, because a lot of the flavor and viscosity of a drink comes from the alcohol itself,” says Leishla Maldonado, co-owner and beverage director of Loma in Providence.

Say you’re seeking out a nonalcoholic sour cocktail, “which is generally a little easier to achieve,” says Vay Su, co-owner of Vandell in Los Angeles, because acid is a reliable contributor to structure in drink. “But when you’re creating a ‘spirit-forward’ version, it’s super difficult to create something that tastes like alcohol.”

Good Zero-Proof Drinks Require More Ingredients, More Time

Not only is there more time and labor often involved with these very thoughtful beverages, but raw material costs add up. On a chemical level, alcohol is a very effective and relatively inexpensive extractor of flavor; water is simply unable to do the same job. Think the floral and woodsy qualities of gin or the vanilla-driven and smoky notes of whiskey–these flavor compounds are better dissolved in alcohol. Without a strong flavor carrier like this, it becomes challenging to build a nonalcoholic cocktail from scratch.

“When you’re extracting flavor with water, and you don’t have alcohol, you have to use double or triple the amount of raw ingredients to get that flavor across,” beverage consultant Christopher Longoria says. “That’s expensive on its own.”

“We have an NA milk punch that takes a long time,” Vandell’s Su says. “We sous vide the spices, clarify it, and top it off with pandan foam. That takes us two days, which is way more labor and cost than, say, making a Negroni.”

Overstory’s hojicha tonic is another example of a cocktail using high-quality, expensive ingredients. After being cold-steeped, the tea is made into a cordial, a two-day process. “That roasted green tea comes from a single farm in Japan, processed there and then brought to Brooklyn to a specialty tea supplier,” Ginsberg says. The other ingredients, a nonalcoholic vermouth and a nonalcoholic spirit alternative, cost just as much as their spirited counterparts. In this case, the margins are even thinner and profits slimmer than Overstory’s alcoholic choices.

Nonalcoholic Spirits Are Not Inexpensive

Averaged out, many NA spirits essentially cost the same as alcoholic spirits. To the consumer, a 700-ml bottle of Seedlip nonalcoholic spirit costs north of $30, as does a 500-ml bottle of Optimist Botanicals. A 700-ml bottle of The Pathfinder Spirit is $40. These zero-proof spirits are all about the same price of a bottle of mid-tier whiskey or gin.

But on the other side of that, their usage doesn’t necessarily indicate a quality NA cocktail.

These products aren’t meant as one-to-one replacements, whereby you can simply substitute them for spirits in a cocktail recipe; good nonalcoholic drinks require more thought. “If every cocktail [on a menu] has a de-alcoholized spirit or spirit replacement, then that’s probably a bad sign, because that just means they’re trying to Mr. Potato Head something that’s not going to work,” says Austin Hennelly of Kato in Los Angeles.

In reality zero-proof spirits taste significantly different and, by principle, are weaker in flavor than alcoholic spirits. The ingredients that acidify or sweeten the drink also need to be dialed back in order to balance the mixture; many bartenders will include spices or other ingredients that provide nuance and complexity in the drink.

(Even More) Alternatives to Spirit-Free Alternatives

Still others are choosing potions that are nonalcoholic but alter one’s mood in a different way. Beyond tea, which provides caffeine, an entirely different nonalcoholic category introduces naturally occurring ingredients that cause various mood-altering effects.

“There are functional spirits and adaptogenics and nootropics and energy-type drinks. And there are relaxing-type drinks with mushrooms, L-theanine, and ashwagandha. And some are made with CBD,” Longoria says. These adaptogenics also cost as much, if not more, than alcoholic spirits, such as Three Spirit, which incorporates ingredients such as guayusa (stimulating effects), damiana (aphrodisiac effects), and valerian (stress-relieving effects). Others also come ready-to-drink such as Curious Elixirs, some of which simulate classic cocktails out of the can; Recess, which come as adaptogenic sparkling waters and craft mocktails; and Daytrip, which can be CBD-infused.

There’s also been a surge of cafés throughout the US dedicated to beverages using one particular ingredient, the root of the Piper methysticum plant, which originated in the South Pacific. Kava bars provide a nonalcoholic social space that promote the ingredient’s relaxing and anxiety-reducing effects. The cost of these drinks at these cafés are more aligned with the cost of a cup of coffee, but when it comes to kava-infused spirits, they cost just as much as a high-end whiskey or gin at over $50 retail.

What Do You Value?

Most restaurants and bars are not looking to pull a fast one on their customers when it comes to nonalcoholic menu items. “Nine times out of 10, a bar or restaurant is not trying to rip anyone off, they’re just trying to make enough money to pay their staff, pay their bills, pay their rent, pay their insurance, and continue to operate,” Hennelly says.

Because no matter the drinks you order and the cost of those goods, rent, payroll, utilities, licensing, and maintenance are consistent costs to the business. “People have to remember a few things: Bars and restaurants are gathering spaces. They’re not just places to drink,” Maldonado says. “They are places to be in community with other people.” She does not drink alcohol and has organized her bar’s menu in ascending order of ABV, placing the nonalcoholic drinks at the top.

Until the public shifts its perception on what it necessarily means to imbibe or drink in community with others, bars will continue to battle these outdated notions. The more we become educated on the true costs of being inclusive so that cocktail menus can serve everyone, the further we can advance bar culture.