Why 20-somethings are choosing not to drink

Three 20-somethings explain why they chose to go sober amid a growing trend to ditch alcohol.

Drinking is so entwined with Australian culture that it almost seems impossible to separate the two, yet more and more young people are choosing to skip the booze and stay sober.

The market for non-alcoholic beer really kicked off in 2020, and, at a rate of 62 per cent year on year, is now the fastest growing segment within the beer category.

Craft beers with no alcohol have been produced with just as much love and care as the regular kind, and even XXXX – arguably one of the most blokey, Aussie beer companies on the market – has joined in. Now you can basically grab any of your favourite boozy drinks, minus the booze.

So why are so many 20-somethings deciding to join in the movement?

“I loved going to the pub, I was a bit of a party animal,” explains Jack Burton, 28, “but last year I just got a bit over it so I took a month off for the first time ever”.

Jack Burton, 28, decided to take a month off the booze. Picture: suppled.

“Then we went into lockdown again and I didn’t want to do it like I did the first time – having a few drinks each night. So I didn’t drink through lockdown. After that I just started to love it – the energy, and waking up feeling good, feeling more fit”.

“I think I’m just going to keep going, I’m pretty happy not drinking”.

It’s a trend he’s noticed a growing number of peers choosing the same path, noting that in his group chat, four out of five of his friends stopped drinking.

“I think lockdown changed a lot of people’s behaviours,” he said. “We stopped going out because we couldn’t, but that broke the back of a habit of going out every weekend. You started looking for other things to do.”

Coming out of lockdown hasn’t proved a problem for him either, despite being able to socialise in groups again.

“It’s been fine socially, I actually love all the non-alcoholic beer. I don’t think people care any more, I don’t feel any pressure to drink. In June it’ll be 12 months of not drinking.”

Will Mulhollando, 27, agrees, although his motivations to give up alcohol were a bit more personal.

'I wanted to get in better habits, and wake up to go for a surf, or start working on side projects on the weekends', said Will. Picture: supplied.

“My dad passed away,” he shared. “He had a long history with alcohol and went through dementia. Seeing what happened to him scared me. I didn’t want that to happen to me”.

”I also did an assessment of my own relationship with alcohol, and I wanted to experience what life was like without needing to have a drink to have a good weekend or be social.

“I thought I’ll try being sober for a month and see how it goes. By the time I got through two months I knew I definitely wanted to do a year.

“I had one drink to celebrate at the end of the year, which was nice, but now I’m back to not drinking.”

Mr Mulhollando also started to love the lifestyle of no hangovers, which motivated to keep on a sober path.

“I noticed that my life was getting more consistent, and I felt like I was growing more. It made me able to focus on what I wanted to get out of my life,” he said.

‘When I first got here there were two non-alcoholic beer options, and now every brand has an offer. It’s really shifted,’ said Matt Richards (L). Picture: Supplied.

Matt Richards, 32, also chose to go sober two years ago after moving to Sydney from London.

“I tried to do a few one month challenges in London but could never get any traction with it,” he explained. “Moving country really gave me the space to actually try it”.

For Richards, the catalyst was really starting to feel the hungover longer and stronger as he was heading into his late 20s.

“As you get older the negative effects of drinking get worse,” he said. “You're feeling it for a number of days”.

What’s kept him at it is the time he gets back in the day to be productive, a change he described as “wild”.

“Back in London there wasn’t a weekend that wasn’t spent drinking or recovering from drinking,” he explained.

“Then last Sunday I went for a surf twice, went for a run, cleaned the house and then it was only 4pm. I was like, what do I do now?”.

“It’s funny, one tiny tweak can have an impact on basically every part of your life in a small way. Your sleep gets better, your diet gets better, your exercise gets better. Will your relationships get better? Probably, because you’re more present and you’re less anxious.

“It’s been a really all encompassing positive change.”