Results: As 'Dry January' becomes more popular, some express sticker shock at the price of mocktails

A recent Morning Consult poll shows 21% of drinking-age U.S. adults said they were participating in some form of reduced alcohol consumption for this year's "Dry January" abstention period, up six percentage points from 2023 and the highest level recorded since the group began polling in 2021. Are you participating in Dry January this year?

While nondrinkers may have been aiming for some financial savings along with health goals, "it's definitely not your wallet" that is going to get relief, said Tia Barrett, general manager at Hav & Mar restaurant in New York's Chelsea neighborhood. "The biggest feedback and one thing I always have to explain is the cost of a [nonalcoholic] beverage," Barrett said. Have you noticed mocktails that are priced higher than what you would expect?

The price of a given drink, whether purchased at a bar or brought home from a store, comprises much more than just its ingredients. The largest cost element is labor. In fact, says Barrett, the work involved in creating a nonalcoholic cocktail served at a bar often exceeds that of creating a regular cocktail, since regular spirits represent a much more stable base to build a flavor profile around, she said. In general, alcoholic drinks are actually cheap to produce thanks to economies of scale and industrial production resources that don't yet exist, in most cases, for nonalcoholic spirits. When you go out for dinner, do you ever order a mocktail?