Dry January, the month when thousands of people around the world try to abstain from alcohol, has been an annual tradition since 2013 when non-profit Alcohol Change UK launched the first Dry January campaign. However, in 2025 the month gained new gravity across the pond in the U.S. after the nation’s surgeon general released an advisory linking alcohol consumption to increased risks for cancer. Lucky for non-drinkers, sober people, and the sober-curious, the non-alcoholic (NA) beverage sector is expanding each year. And as the New York Times noted last summer, the growth of the non-alcoholic spirits, wine, and beer sector is outpacing its alcohol-included counterpart many times over.
We used our social listening and analytics solution to dive into how the NA beverage conversation has looked on social media over the past year.
How big was Dry January on social media this year?
Social media mentions of Dry January in January 2024 and January 2025.
On social media, Dry January had less buzz than it did in 2024. From January 1 to January 21, 2025, there were about 87,200 mentions of Dry January across 16 social media platforms and channels, about a 13% decrease from the same period in 2024.
However, there have also been about 74,200 mentions of mocktails and other NA drinks in the first three weeks of 2025. This is up 40% from about 53,000 in the first 21 days of 2024.
So while the popularity of Dry January has waned on social media over the past year, buzz about NA products seems to be gaining steam.
How big is the buzz around non-alcoholic beverages?
Social media mentions of non-alcoholic beverages in 2024.
Star power helped drive the NA drink conversation in 2024. Over the year, there were about 952,000 social media mentions of NA beverages. The volume of conversation was about 22% higher in the second half of the year compared to the first, thanks in part to actor Tom Holland. On October 14, the day after he announced the launch of his non-alcoholic beer brand Bero, NA drink social media mentions spiked 26x higher than average.
Bero’s first Instagram post on October 13, 2024 has generated more than 15,200 likes.
He wasn’t the only celebrity to drive the visibility of the NA sector last year. In August, Pernod Ricard acquired a minority stake in Almave, the NA agave brand owned by F1 driver Lewis Hamilton. By September, rumors began to spread that Hamilton, who now drives for Ferrari, may sponsor himself via the Almave brand, alongside other backers like Monster Energy and Puma.
With these and other household names drawing attention to the NA sector, celebrity influencers could play an even bigger part in its growth in 2025.
Learn more about how Pernod Ricard uses consumer intelligence to stay ahead of beverage industry trends.
What is the biggest driver behind choosing non-alcoholic beverages?
Our analysis of mentions of three drivers — health, taste, and sobriety — from January 22, 2024, to January 21, 2025 showed that health was the most discussed topic in the overall NA beverage conversation. However, discussions of taste were not far behind.
In both conversations, recipe sharing played a large part in driving engagement, with instructions on how to make mocktails like cucumber elderflower spritzes and strawberry mint mojitos being especially big on Pinterest.
Takeaways for marketers
Food and beverage industry marketers should brace for an ever bigger year for NA drinks in 2025. As more celebrities drive buzz and more consumers share mocktail recipes, there’s a huge opportunity to leverage consumer intelligence to stay ahead of emerging trends around favorite flavors and mixers. And while the NA sector was traditionally geared towards sober audiences, today, there are many more people beyond that niche who are simply looking for drinks that taste good and are good for them. Marketers can meet this rising interest with innovative concoctions and messaging that speak to the concerns of health-conscious foodies.
Learn more about another major industry trend in our Consumer Insights: Food & Beverage report.
