Alcohol-free products | People are drinking less, the industry is adjusting

The latest drinking guidelines from the Canadian Center on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) have caused a lot of buzz, and sober months of January and February are gaining popularity. People for whom alcohol is at the heart of their business reflect, review their game plans, worry. Reflections, from three points of view.

Sell ​​some

The main activity of the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) is to sell alcohol. However, in addition to Beaujolais wines, Quebec gins and ready-to-drink spritzes, the Crown corporation offers non-alcoholic products in its branches. And it has every intention of expanding its offer even further in this niche, confirms Sandrine Bourlet, vice-president of marketing at the SAQ.

“Yes, our business is to sell alcohol, but we also have a mandate to be a responsible merchant. We have always had this concern to work on balance, to make sure to promote moderation. »

“We have a section that we have made more visible in stores with the identification [sans alcool] “, she adds.

Despite everything, do the new recommendations which tend towards non-consumption worry him? Do we fear a drop in the sale of alcohol?

“We are sensitive to that, recognizes M^me Bourlet. We watch it all, we listen, we adjust the shot and we will see what the future holds for us. »

Other businesses are watching this tidal wave. At La Boîte à Vins, in Vieux-Rosemont, Louis-Philippe Mercier had a fairly dry January, thank you. Sales were slowing, more than expected. He can’t say beyond any doubt that it has something to do with alcohol news, but the owner of this business specializing in local wines is already working on new communication strategies.

“I want to transform the slogan ‘consume less, consume better’ into ‘consume less, consume local’”, he says.

Since La Boîte à Vins has a grocery permit, it must devote a portion ($5,500) of its inventory to non-alcoholic products. For the moment, cider houses, which practically all offer apple must or other non-alcoholic products, have a good share of this market.

There remains the alcohol-free Quebec wine which is not yet riding this wave, far from it. The Wine Box is impatiently awaiting the arrival of the first local non-alcoholic cuvées.

The story is quite different at Tite Frette, where sales are not slowing down these days, they are moving. “In January, February and March, we see a decrease in consumption [régulière] and a shift to low-sugar, low-calorie, low-alcohol beers,” says Karl Magnone, president and co-founder of the chain, which now has 43 stores. Tite Frette embraced the sober February movement in 2018.

What saves the deal for the company, details Karl Magnone, is that, unlike wine, non-alcoholic beer is undeniably tasty since microbreweries got into it, taking over from the big brewers who sometimes used processes chemicals to remove alcohol from their drinks, leaving an ugly aftertaste on the finish.

“Microbreweries are artisans,” says Karl Magnone. We work on the products and we don’t want to produce tasteless products. Beer accounts for 80% to 95% of sales at Tite Frette, depending on the store. Around 5% of these sales are low-alcohol or completely alcohol-free beers.

produce

“Alcohol-free wine is not a fad, it’s a trend that’s here to stay,” says Charles-Henri de Coussergues, from the Orpailleur vineyard. The Dunham winemaker believes that we must take a serious interest in it.

The challenge is daunting, because making wine without alcohol is very simple, he says, but making good wine without alcohol is much more complex.

“Financially, I could make non-alcoholic wine tomorrow morning,” he says, because he could easily wash the alcohol out of his grape must.

Except that by removing the alcohol, we often remove the aromas, explains Charles-Henri de Coussergues.

For this reason, at Côteau Rougemont, we decided to focus on apple must to satisfy consumers’ thirst for non-alcoholic beverages. Louis Dugas, the company’s marketing director, starts the year “sober” himself, but prefers not to drink wine rather than pouring himself a glass of non-alcoholic wine. The products he tasted did not live up to his expectations. “It lacked roundness and depth,” he says.

The winegrowers here are therefore divided into two camps: those who want to give it a try and those who prefer not to take the plunge. Charles-Henri de Coussergues wants to take up the challenge. He hopes that the Orpailleur will be able to offer a quality alcohol-free wine within three years. He closely follows what is being done in this field in Europe, where the trend is well underway in the cellars and where techniques are developing to remove alcohol from wine, both by hot and cold processes.

At the Château de Cartes vineyard, there’s no question of watching the train go by either. The process is well under way.

The wine will be dry, says winemaker Stéphane Lamarre, who criticizes alcohol-free wines on the market for their high residual sugar content, which often makes them undrinkable.

However, the clientele for non-alcoholic wine has changed, he says. People no longer drink it out of necessity, but out of choice. We must therefore introduce the notion of pleasure. The first alcohol-free white from the Château de Cartes, in a still and effervescent version, should be marketed next year, after numerous trials and a process that the winemaker wants to keep secret.

serve it

Each time new recommendations on the consumption of alcohol are made public, we feel the effects directly… behind the bar, notes Renaud Poulin, president and general manager of the Corporation of owners of bars, brasseries and taverns of Quebec (CPBBTQ ).

According to him, the guidelines issued by the CCSA will certainly have an impact for the 925 establishments that his corporation represents.

Like the SAQ, Mr. Poulin points out that owners can no longer content themselves with offering a single non-alcoholic product and must improve their menu in this niche. “Alcohol-free beers are becoming increasingly popular. The major brewers all have a non-alcoholic alternative. We can no longer limit ourselves to a single product. It takes several. We do not have a choice. People still want to go out, see friends, watch the Super Bowl. »

On the side of the New Association of bars of Quebec (NABQ), the president, Pierre Thibault, also co-owner of the Taverne Saint-Sacrement, does not believe, for his part, that the movement will have an impact on his turnover.

“The message of moderation will always have its place, wishes to say the one whose organization has 200 members. It will perhaps lead people to consume differently. But I don’t think it has a negative impact on the bar industry. »