The end of the “you have to fail it” era? The NoLo phenomenon is taking place in Poland

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Klara: A few years ago, my not drinking was suspect. Is he in rehab? Pregnant? But even beer? Now it doesn’t bother anyone. More and more often I hear someone say “thanks, I don’t drink.” And there is no more persuasion or stupid questions.

Zofia: Do you ask someone why they don’t do cocaine? Weird, right? Well, don’t ask why he doesn’t drink alcohol. This is a serious drug.

Party without alcohol? Alcohol-free wedding? A completely sober Friday evening with friends? No glass of wine while watching a show or a drink after a long day? For most people it is still unimaginable, but the number of Poles who decide to abstain is growing.

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Three years without permille

Maciek, in his early thirties, a journalist in a well-known TV program, has been abstinent for three years. Unlike many Poles, he gave up alcohol completely during the pandemic. – My wife and I stayed at home, we both worked remotely, and suddenly I realized that I drank much more than she did. Not that I get drunk, but, and this is wine in the evening, and this is beer. It happened so much and often. Then I came across Gosia Halber’s book “The Worst Man in the World” and it fascinated me so much that I couldn’t stop reading. It was about me, my environment, my language. As if I had been punched in the face. It dawned on me that I had a problem. And I promised myself that I would give up alcohol – from now on, permanently. And when I break down, I join AA.

Earlier, Maciek drank… like everyone else. The first beer in high school, student parties and intellectual discussions over alcohol. Then a trip to Warsaw, my first job in the media, loneliness and a harsh, demanding, often unpleasant boss. – Then I started drinking in the evenings, at home, or going from bar to bar, or just wandering around the city with a monkey in my pocket. And every meeting with friends, with my brother, obviously – there had to be beer. Sober Friday? Unimaginable.

He tried to give up alcohol several times, but he quickly gave up – and it’s a stressful day, or going to a bar, he won’t sit down with a glass of water. – A few years ago, virtually everyone was drinking at a party. Now? I was having a party on Friday. Two out of ten people drank. Well, maybe three. In our Warsaw metropolitan environment, it’s starting to become natural, it’s become fashionable not to drink, no one is surprised.

— My father experiences my abstinence the worst. I arrive home and he brings alcohol out on the table. And every time the same questions: but why don’t you drink? But even beer? And finally, disgusted, he only pours himself one. And he’s not an alcoholic, he’s never had a drinking problem. He just can’t understand that you can live like that. It was easier for him to accept that I stopped going to church. And he keeps saying that I will get over it. This is typical of the older generation. When I visit my mother-in-law, she always asks if I want a drink. For her it is a reflex, a form of politeness.

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Vodka is a bummer

— Do you remember these photos from the Polish People’s Republic and from the 1990s – some name day parties, vegetable salad on the table, guys with mustaches and everyone with a cigarette in their hand, lots of smoke, kids sitting in it all and inhaling it. Today it’s pathological, isn’t it? – Klara asks rhetorically. – For me, vodka is the same thing, it reminds me of drunk uncles at a wedding.

Klara is 25 years old and doesn’t drink alcohol for more than four o’clock. – I started early, in junior high school. If someone wanted to be popular, cool, invited to parties, they drank. And not just one beer. Water arrived quickly, mixed with juice or cola. Not only at parties, colorful monkeys in clothes were smuggled in during school trips. Teachers? They pretended not to notice until no one was staggering around and causing trouble.

She watched a movie for the first time when she was 14 years old. There wasn’t a single house party where someone didn’t exaggerate with the percentages.

– And don’t think that we were some kind of pathology – says Klara. — Ordinary teenagers, most of them got into the best high schools. It just seemed normal to us, we wanted to have fun like adults. AND If someone didn’t drink, he was out of society. In high school it was quieter, alcohol exploits were no longer impressive, but meeting on Friday evening without a beer? Eighteen without vodka? “There was no such option,” says Klara.

The first sobering up came after my high school final exams. One of my friends, instead of enjoying the longest vacation of her life, ended up in rehab. She didn’t drink more at parties than others, but no one knew that she also drank more and more often at home in the evenings. – Previously, an alcoholic was a drunkard who stood in front of Żabka every morning, or someone’s father whose mother divorced him because he drank alcohol. Somehow it shocked me that it could be someone like me.

Why did she stop drinking completely? Klara thinks for a moment. – Because I stopped feeling the need. I saw that it didn’t help me. That I can be cool without alcohol. Because I’ve met people who don’t drink and it’s ok to meet completely sober – she enumerates. And I admit that at the beginning there were some stupid comments or at least surprise. Now? – Almost no one asks about it. You’re not drinking? It’s your business, this one doesn’t eat meat, this one doesn’t drink alcohol, and that’s it.

Alcohol is poison

— Are you on an anti-alcohol crusade? – I ask Zofia Sobczak. She is 33 years old and a social activist. Together with Janek Śpiewak, they fight the promotion of what they call “alcohol culture”. – We do not want to ban alcohol, although some people accuse us of doing so. You know, I drink very little myself, but it’s not like I’ll never drink. The point is to say it straight – alcohol is a poison and a strong one at that. There is no safe amount of alcohol. And people are seeing this more and more. For the generation of people in their thirties and younger, drinking is no longer the default way of spending time. Previously, it was automatic – shall we go for a beer? Shall we go for a drink? And now no. And a teetotaller is now no longer someone who is an alcoholic and has become sober, is in AA, but simply a person who does not drink because he does not want to.

Zofia herself belongs to this group. She drinks alcohol once or twice a year and her friends are more likely to be surprised by the sight of a glass in her hand than by its absence. Just a few years ago it attracted more attention. – At the beginning I didn’t drink alcohol for health reasons, and I was twenty-something, so you know, at that age parties are intense. I was sober during them, I observed others and had more and more reflections on what alcohol does to us, how shallow and trivial conversations really are, which after drinking seem extremely deep.

Now, not only is she practically abstinent, but she also loudly demands restrictions on the sale of alcohol and its promotion, as well as compliance with the regulations already in force. On his Instagram profile, he points out influencers who illegally advertise alcohol and stores introducing promotions such as “a second six-pack for free”. – Cultural change is one thing, the young generation drinks differently and less. However, whether this consumption will actually drop significantly in the coming years depends on the provisions and regulations, he emphasizes.

Zero procent

We are celebrating Dry January, check out our mocktail menu – a popular Warsaw bar was tempting in January. Dry january, translated into Polish not very neatly as “dry January”, is a challenge initiated over 10 years ago in Great Britain. Since then, it has gained considerable popularity around the world and is slowly gaining ground in Poland. Goal: give up alcohol for 31 days. Mocktails, a non-alcoholic alternative to drinks, are intended to help you stick to this resolution without having to avoid going to bars or spending the entire evening sipping orange juice and water. However, more and more bars are introducing them to their offer permanently. The offer of non-alcoholic equivalents of popular drinks in stores is also growing.

— When I started thinking about this product, in 2020, there was nothing in stores except zero percent beer, says Joanna Banaszewska, co-founder of Good Spirits Company, a company offering a zero-proof equivalent of gin.

It all started with pregnancy. Previously, she reached for a drink when meeting friends. Now she had a choice of carbonated drinks, juice or lemonade. Everything is sweet, often with artificial additives. There is no alternative for a health-conscious pregnant woman. How much water can you drink…

— My first idea was to open a store with NoLo products, i.e. non-alcoholic and low-alcohol products, but I realized that the offer on the market did not satisfy me. And that’s how Jenny in the Bottle was born. Now this market looks completely different. There are plenty of such alternatives. And that’s great, he says.

Who is the recipient of her product? Not only pregnant women and drivers, more and more often they are simply people who have decided to give up alcohol or significantly limit it. Products from the NoLo segment are also targeted at those who focus on a healthy lifestyle and care about their figure and fitness. And this is a growing group.

Sales results show this. At the end of 2021, the sales value of non-alcoholic beers alone exceeded PLN 1.17 billion. This was a fourfold increase over the previous five years. In 2022, its value increased to PLN 1.3 billion – at the same time, there was a decline in sales of strong beers. Non-alcoholic wines and equivalents of stronger drinks are becoming more and more popular, and traditional producers regularly include NoLo products in their portfolio.

This reflects trends also visible in other countries. The report of the IWSR Drinks Market Analysis Limited institute published in 2022 shows that the consumption of NoLO products will increase by one third by 2026.