Following a recent spate of drink releases featuring wellness claims, Lizzy O’Riordan considers whether alcohol should ever be part of the wellness space… 

Oil and water, orange juice and toothpaste, socks and sandals. These are a few things that – most people would agree – do not go together. Badly clashing, naturally incompatible, sometimes even verging on the horrific, there are certain combinations that, however hard you try, don’t work. At first glance, this is true of alcohol and wellness. 

Why? Because the truth is that alcohol is not good for you, and because of this, there isn’t an easy congruence between booze and the wellness culture sweeping the nation. Despite this, however, an increasing number of drinks brands seem keen to dive headfirst into the wellness industry – now estimated to be worth over £160 billion in the UK – by adding a series of electrolytes, vitamins and adaptogens to products that nobody really expected them in. 

But is it a scam? A quick way to capitalise on a lucrative trend? Or, less cynically, is it indicative of a change in drinking culture instead? 

For Tarek Moursi, founder of alcoholic kombucha brand Better Sundays, the answer lies somewhere in the middle. Speaking about alcoholic brands with a wellness factor, Moursi is quick to point out that not all are made equal. “Adding a token amount of an adaptogen to a can and implying it does something for you… that’s where the tension [between alcohol and health] turns into a credibility problem.” 

On the other hand, removing sugar, lowering abvs, leaving in naturally occurring live cultures or antioxidants, “that’s credible, because it’s a subtraction you can actually taste the next morning,” he says. For him, put plainly, there is no way that alcohol can ever be a health product, nor should it be advertised as such. But it can be healthier, and that’s an important differentiation. 

Part of a shifting landscape – in which more people want to drink without getting blackout drunk – ‘healthier’ alcoholic drinks represent a mindset of intentionality. As Tom Bell, founder of Traces, which just released a vitamin-infused spritz, says: “The modern consumer, especially younger drinkers, wants to know what’s in the products they buy and why those ingredients are there. They’ll often ask: Why should I drink this? How does it align with me?” 

Realistically, “alcohol in excess is the opposite of wellness, and no amount of vitamin C changes that,” Bell says. But, mirroring Moursi, he comments that producers can make liquids that are lighter and more considered. 

Keeping up with general food and drink trends, Moursi and Bell both note that the health-forward hooch trend is also a way to keep up with an emerging attitude of consumer vigilance. Long gone are the days when people didn’t care what they ate or imbibed. In what he describes as “ingredient literacy migrating,” Moursi points out that, “people have spent a decade reading labels on food, then on soft drinks, then on coffee,” and that now alcohol is going through the same evolution. 

For him, it’s essential to survival for brands to consider the quality and purpose of their ingredients, because drinkers won’t accept anything less. Sharing the same thought, Bell adds, “today’s drinkers read the back of a can or bottle the way they’d read a yoghurt label, and they increasingly expect every drink in their fridge to justify its place”. 

In this way, then, healthier alcoholic drinks aren’t necessarily trying to deny the negative impacts of alcohol but instead are just trying to meet consumers where they are, tapping into a wider call for transparency. 

On this change in mindset, Joel Gott, founder of Joel Gott Wines – which just released an electrolyte-infused Sauvignon Blanc Spritz – says: “We’re not trying to blur the line between alcohol and wellness. We’re simply offering an option for consumers who enjoy wine and are looking for something lighter.” 

Talking about consumer demand, “It’s no longer just about heritage or image. Consumers are also paying attention to things like ingredients, calories, alcohol levels and how a wine fits into their lifestyle,” he continues. 

All in all, then, the consensus seems to be that alcohol can’t really be part of the wellness space, even though there will be brands who try to say otherwise, covering their packaging with unsubstantiated claims. What alcohol producers can do, on the other hand, is create products that are in line with consumer preferences for quality and moderation. 

As Moursi from Better Sundays says: “Better-for-you, yes. Wellness, not really. We want to be a better option, not a supplement.” This – unlike oil and water or juice and toothpaste – isn’t so incongruent. In fact, it makes a lot of sense, as brands look to move with the emerging market we have.