The Neo-Temperance Movement

A sober-curious cohort of moderate modern drinkers might just be strengthening, not diluting, the rituals and cultural traditions of imbibing.

If you had to pick the exact moment when the neo-temperance movement began, the day Ruby Warrington’s Sober Curious launched (December 31, 2018) wouldn’t be a bad place to start.

Applying the flexitarian approach to drinking is what really gave the sober-ish crowd an identity, not to mention some viability. In the five years since, we’ve seen endless stats about young teetotalers, a cascade of non-alcoholic (NA) product releases, and a whole new lexicon that includes terms like “hip sobriety,” “zero-proof drinks” and “California sober.” 

Is the end of booze on the horizon? Before we call it for alcohol, it’s useful to recall another event from 2018. Archeologists discovered evidence of a brewery in Haifa, Israel, estimated at 13,000 years old. For better and for worse, alcohol is part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. That puts into perspective a single-digit downturn in sales over the past year or so, especially after several record-breaking years. Overall consumption per capita in Canada over the past few years is still higher than it was in the mid-1990s, when drinking levels hit a 50-year low. 

It’s way too soon to say if the way we drink has permanently changed. We can, however, report a major change in the way people practice sobriety. Throughout the 20th century, getting sober meant abstaining from alcohol entirely. The Cali sober lifestyle permits exceptions to that rule. Modern sobriety could, in fact, easily pass for moderation or, for that matter, temperance, which, in its original meaning, was about exerting control over excess. 

That’s exactly how many NA products promise to help people, whether it’s through spacing out drinks by alternating placebos with spirit-forward cocktails or celebrating the end of a long day with an NA G&T. Alcohol-free spirits make it a lot easier for people to take a break from drinking, since you still engage with the ritual: pouring the NA spirit over ice, adding the mixer, stirring the drink, spritzing it with citrus and feeling the bubbles hit your nose as you raise the glass to your lips. 

The booming alcohol-free business, which is devoted to finding ways to replicate everything from vessels to flavour, is actually a testament to the fact that we love our drinking rituals — an intangible part of the heritage in many cultures. 

Those rituals are a big part of the reason alcohol is such a survivor. Beer predated bread in ancient Mesopotamia and illicit ardent spirits made it through Prohibition. It seems likely that alcohol will make it through hip sobriety, too. In fact, by ventilating and loosening up old-fashioned sobriety, the sober-ish movement may even give it new life. Low-alc, no-alc, full-strength, whatever. We’ll raise a glass to that! 

BY CHRISTINE SISMONDO

ILLUSTRATION BY ANTONY HARE