Cr(af)ted Journal

What’s new and trending in alcohol-free

From new spirit launches to industry trends, we curate the stories worth your attention. Every story ends with The Cr(af)ted Take: our honest read on what it means.

9 stories in Industry — clear

Results

Industry · Jul 27

The World Cup Is About to Become the Biggest Alcohol-Free Ad Campaign Ever

The beer giants sponsoring the 2026 World Cup are pouring their marketing muscle into zero-proof, not full-strength lager. When An…

Industry · Jul 15

A Beloved Alcohol-Free Spirits Brand Just Closed — and Demand Wasn't Why

The British non-alcoholic spirits brand Myth Drinks is shutting down — not for lack of demand, but because the economics of distri…

Industry · Jul 10

The Alcohol-Free World Just Had Its First Big Merger

The Zero Proof, a national retailer of non-alcoholic drinks, has acquired The New Bar, a West Coast hospitality and discovery plat…

Industry · Jul 8

The Team That Built a Billion-Dollar Tequila Is Now Betting on Zero Proof

George Clooney, Rande Gerber, and Mike Meldman sold Casamigos to Diageo for up to a billion dollars. Their next act is a non-alcoh…

Industry · Jul 3

New Research: One in Five Drinkers Now Skips Alcohol When Out, and Price Is the Top Reason

Datassential's 2026 trend research puts numbers on what bartenders already see: Americans are drinking less, Gen Z is leading the …

Industry · Jul 1

The Rise of the Dedicated Alcohol-Free Bottle Shop

From online specialists to brick-and-mortar storefronts, retail built exclusively around alcohol-free drinks has gone from experim…

Industry · Jun 24

How Big Alcohol Buys the AF Category: Inside the Invest-to-Acquire Playbook

Diageo, Constellation, and Pernod Ricard don't buy AF brands outright — they take minority stakes, watch the data, and convert lat…

Industry · Jun 17

Five Years to the Shelf: What It Actually Takes to Get an AF Brand Into Whole Foods

Dry Atlas traces Mingle Mocktails' path from a customer service desk inquiry to national placement. The timeline is measured in ye…

Industry · Jun 10

"Zebra-Striping" Gets a Business Model: The Industry Discovers the Extend-the-Night Occasion

Dry Atlas argues the AF industry has been selling "moderation" while consumers actually practice something else: alternating drink…

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