SENSORIAL FULFILMENT

Perhaps the most innovative approach comes from the Mocktails brand. Though producers are increasingly mastering replicating the taste of spirits in their non-alcoholic formulas, they often fall down when it comes to other sensory experiences. The heat and let’s put it delicately, the high you get from booze are a frontier only being attempted by a few. But when it comes to mouthfeel, the Mocktails brand is the first to attempt to offer something satisfying in a can.

Its new range features Mockarita, Mockapolitan, Mockscow Mule and Sansgria; we’re not going to insult your intelligence explaining each one. Each can features a widget to nitro-charge the liquid, adding texture, aroma and a visually differentiated liquid meant to resemble a freshly shaken cocktail.

Steps In The Right Direction

What’s clear when looking at the range of non-alc RTDs available is that this segment of the market is still very much in its infancy. And brands are having to walk a very fine line between offering something familiar enough that consumers feel comfortable to sample, but exciting enough to make them want to in the first place.

RTDs are increasingly becoming a crucial recruitment tool for brands hoping to tempt consumers to commit to a fullsize bottle, offering a way to trial it at an affordable price, while also demonstrating how to mix it.

However, they now have an increasingly diverse, nuanced and sophisticated soft drink market to compete with. What’s the difference you ask, say between an Everleaf Spritz and Campari’s traditional non-alc aperitif drink, Crodino? About £1.40 per can/ bottle. Whereas Crodino is widely available in multipacks where each bottle works out at roughly 90p each at their cheapest, the Everleaf cans have an RRP of £30 for a 12 pack, or £2.50 per can.

Non-alc spirits, even in RTD form, still have a high price point that they’ve perhaps not yet convincingly justified to consumers. It will be the role of creative branding agencies, as well as flavour innovation teams to figure out ways to differentiate them, visually as well as through taste.

The Future

Flavour and experience wise however, these new RTDs feel like they’re taking the category in the right direction, moving the experience of consuming one beyond a direct replacement for existing full strength serves (an area ripe for consumer disappointment) into something that can’t be compared and able to stand on their own.

The addition of new textures and mouthfeels — in short, additional sensory experiences — as well as distinct and unique flavour profiles will be a key method for differentiation from the soft drinks category, will better help producers justify their prices and will truly pit them as a worthy replacement for alcoholic products.

Expect not only further non-alc RTD products to launch — this is not a radical prediction — but expect them to offer greater experimentation when it comes to flavour, heat, mouthfeel and even replicating the buzz from booze. The likely biggest shift however, is the expectation that more and more brands will debut with an RTD first — winning consumers over in a much more cost effective way — rather than their spirit replacements themselves.