AUDIO – FOR HOW MUCH LONGER? –
June 29, 2026 – Kristin Williamson is taking in the fine weather with her newborn son, drink in hand. But like a growing number of consumers, her drink of choice these days is often non-alcoholic.
“Those non-alc have been just a great opportunity to make you feel like you’re still contributing at social gatherings,” she said.The statistics on drinking habits are sobering. For the fourth year in a row, the Canadian per capita consumption of alcohol has fallen, hitting a 20-year low, according to a recent Statistics Canada report. The Canadian average for 2024-2025 was 6.8 litres of alcohol per person.
Filling that gap has been a soaring non-alcoholic industry, poised to take up space in beverage consumption with booze-free options for beer, wine and spirits.
