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As Americans spend less on booze and browse menus for non-alcoholic alternatives like mocktails and wine, sticker shock can be a common reaction.
At Binge Bar in Washington, DC, the city's first fully non-alcoholic bar, "spirit-free" cocktails cost between $11 and $14. A glass of NA wine is $15, while a can of NA beer is $5. Prices are similar at other hot spots in Washington, DC. Moon Rabbit, an upscale Vietnamese restaurant, sells several "spirit-free" cocktails for $13 to $14 compared to about $19 for regular cocktails.
On social media, mocktails have been criticized as "glorified" or "sexy" juice that shouldn't be priced similarly to alcohol.
Restaurant owners and bar managers told Business Insider that alcohol alone doesn't drive the price. Mocktails are often made with high-quality ingredients such as botanicals, herbs, and spices, and can take longer to make. That way, customers still feel like they're getting the cocktail experience. Plus, NA whisky, gin, or wine can cost just as much — if not more — than traditional booze in part because removing alcohol is an additional step for manufacturers.
Ingredients account for about 18% of a drink's menu price, according to restaurant industry standards. The rest covers operating costs like labor, rent, and utilities, bar managers said.
This comes at a time when many participate in Dry January or reflect on their drinking after the US Surgeon General released its recent report linking alcohol to cancer.
Gigi Arandid, owner of Binge Bar, said NA cocktails are just as complex as those with alcohol. She spends a lot of time educating customers about special ingredients in Binge Bar's drinks and the health benefits of avoiding alcohol. Sales are up 45% between 2023 and 2024, Arandid said.
She created the most popular drink on the menu, a Cucumber Mangorita, with fresh cucumber juice, mango puree, lime juice, herbs, spices, and tonic. It costs $11 or $14, depending on whether you add a non-alcoholic tequila. The prices reflect the fresh ingredients, labor-intensive prep, and Reposado Tequila, she said.
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At Moon Rabbit, bartenders infuse NA whiskey with five spice, a spice blend commonly used in Vietnamese and Chinese cooking, for 24 hours. The whiskey is made by Lyres, one of the most popular brands in the sector, and at $26 a bottle, it is more expensive than some traditional spirits, said Thi Nguyen, bar director at Moon Rabbit.
"We're not just putting a bunch of juice together," Nguyen said, adding that ingredients like purple shiso and soursop are expensive and challenging to source. "We are really intentional and want to highlight Vietnamese culture."
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At Bresca, a Michelin-starred bistro in DC, spirit-free drinks are $12, while regular cocktails are in the $18 to $20 range.
Bresca's Cintronnade al la Menthe, a play on the mint lemonade you might find in France, is a three-day process. While the ingredients are simple — mostly lemon, cardamom, mint lemongrass, and sugar — bartenders make a citrusy syrup known as oleo from scratch, then lightly ferment and carbonate it, said Will Patton, beverage director for Hive Hospitality, which operates Bresca.
For those not interested in cocktails, NA wine is slowly gaining popularity as manufacturers improve the taste. But don't expect it to be cheap, because winemakers and brewers have to take an additional step to remove the alcohol.
"As a winery, you've already invested in making great quality wine, and then it's more work to run it through an industrial process to remove the alcohol," Sarah Kate, founder of non-alcoholic drinks magazine Some Good Clean Fun, said. "When you do that, you're also removing some of the characteristics of the wine."
Patton said mid-range NA wines cost between $17 and $25 a bottle, comparable to traditional bottles.
The beer industry is further along, with more than 150 brands, such as Athletic Brewing, Heineken, and Budweiser, making NA products. Athletic cofounder Bill Shufelt said in an email that the company's "off-premise" sales — or those at supermarkets and convenience stores — grew by more than 50% between 2023 and 2024. Athletic is now the most popular brand in the category, holding more than 19% market share, Shufelt said.
He added that the company has worked hard to match the price of widely distributed craft beer. Six-packs of Athletic are typically priced between $9.99 and $10.99 on retail shelves. The price is budget-friendly, even after Athletic re-engineered nearly every step of the brewing process to make its products free of alcohol.
"While some may assume that the absence of alcohol should make NA beer less expensive, the reality is that it can cost just as much — or even more — to produce," Shufelt said.
