In Montreal, it is not uncommon to pay the same price for a mocktail, or even more, than an alcoholic cocktail. In some establishments, you even have to pay up to $16.
At the cocktail bar La Distillerie, in the Latin Quarter, an amalfi with or without alcohol sells for $12 a glass, while at the MTL Bar, there is only a dollar difference between a mocktail and certain cocktails.
Photo provided by Apéro at 0
At the Bootlegger bar, on Saint-Laurent, non-alcoholic beverages cost on average $16, while the prices of those with non-premium alcohol vary between $15 and $18, according to a review carried out by the QMI Agency.
What explains why the prices are equivalent?
Spirits used in mocktails often go through an additional step than alcoholic spirits in their preparation, explained Sophie Anne Aubin, employee at Apéro à zero, a boutique specializing in the sale of alcohol-free products.
Photo provided by Apéro at 0
“It’s called de-alcoholization. This step also adds additional costs,” she explained.
“For the same spirit, with or without alcohol, the bottle without alcohol is $5 more,” confirmed Monica Beaulieu, manager at the Distillery.
Several factors influence the price
Other factors such as the location of the establishment – a cocktail in a Griffintown bar will be more expensive than in Hochelaga –, the time allocated to creating a mocktail and the demand for this type of product can also influence the price of a drink, they agreed.
Photo provided by Apéro at 0
The co-owner of Apéro à zero also recalled that there is a cost linked to the activity of going for a drink. “What we pay for is the experience, it’s the ritual, it’s getting together with friends around a cocktail. And there are costs attached to all that.”
How do you make sure you pay the right price for a mocktail?
The two women are of the same opinion: a cocktail from which the alcohol is simply removed, without reducing the price, is not worth it.
Photo provided by Apéro at 0
“If I see a cocktail that I really like and, to have it as an alcohol-free option, they just remove the spirit from the recipe, but they charge me the same price, that’s sure to shock” , lamented Sophie Anne Aubin.
Marked trend for alcohol-free
The proliferation of mocktails and non-alcoholic spirits in recent years coincides with a marked drop in alcohol consumption in the country since the pandemic, going from 8.1 liters per capita in 2021-2022 to 7.8 liters in 2022-2023 , according to a Statistics Canada study. In Quebec, however, alcohol consumption remained stable.
We are also seeing more and more dealcoholized products on the shelves of the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ). If sales of these products remain marginal, the state company has nevertheless taken note of the explosion in their popularity, the “Journal” reported in March.
Photo provided by La Distillerie de Longueuil
Monica Beaulieu has also noted a constant increase in the consumption of mocktails in recent years. “Our sales curve rises at the same speed from year to year,” explained the woman who composes the Distillery’s cocktail menu.
Like many other establishments of its kind, more and more restaurateurs and bars are developing a more sophisticated mocktail menu.
“They will come to see us and often they have little reference in the alcohol-free market. We will therefore advise them, see how we can already reinvent existing cocktails or even create something else,” said Sophie Anne Aubin.
