A Sobering Effect

How a zero-proof moment is reshaping youth drinking, rituals and brands

- DHRUV KAPOOR

Picture the perfect night out: the right people, easy chemistry, energy that carries you. Dinner is indulgent, gin and tonics keep circling, laughter stays light, and no one is watching the clock. Morning, surprisingly, is kind. No headache, no cotton mouth, no blurry regrets. It sounds like a fantasy-maybe the pitch for a wellness retreat. But it's quietly becoming part of everyday nightlife. Enter zeroproof spirits: non-alcoholic (0% ABV) drinks that deliver the flavour, complexity, and ritual of traditional spirits through layered botanicals and precise blends. A clean break from the syrupy mocktails and sad sodas of the past, they turn alcohol-free drinking from compromise into choice.

Drinking in India has come a long way-first a moral taboo, then a social liability, and eventually a quiet rebellion in rooms where the glass became the centre of connection. As drinking moved from the margins to the mainstream, from hushed indulgence to household normalcy, socialising began to depend on alcohol so completely that opting out meant settling for forgettable substitutes that neither complemented the meal nor matched the theatre of a proper cocktail. Zero-proof spirits changed that. Designed with the same care as their alcoholic counterparts, they deliver ritual, complexity, and presence without the hangover, excess calories, or chemical blur-allowing abstention to feel not like absence, but a fully formed choice.

Global spirit houses are rolling out sleek non-alcoholic lines, boutique labels are experimenting with hyper-local botanicals, and bartenders are applying the same precision and respect to zero-proof menus as they do to their spirited classics.