There’s a little thought experiment I like to do at trade fairs: close your eyes, walk through the halls and see what stays with you. At Rolling Pin Convention 2026, the answer for many visitors would probably have been cheese, meat and wine. The usual. The good. The tried and tested.
I was looking for something else.
I deliberately made my way through the exhibitors with one question in mind: How seriously are they taking alcohol-free drinks? What are winemakers, distributors and beverage producers offering? And, more importantly, how are they presenting them?
The results were encouraging. They also revealed where the industry currently stands.
Alcohol-Free Is Everywhere
Alcohol-free drinks had a noticeable presence. Almost every wine stand had something to offer, whether it was a dealcoholised white wine or an alcohol-free sparkling wine. Alcohol-free beer was naturally part of the selection, too.
There were also speciality syrups for mixing drinks, pointing to an important consideration. One exhibitor summed it up:
“It has to be quick and easy for hospitality professionals. That’s when they’ll actually use it.”
No lengthy preparation, no special equipment and no additional staff training.
Just pour, serve and you’re done.
It’s a practical reality that’s often overlooked in the hospitality industry. Even the most impressive alcohol-free drinks menu is of little use if the person behind the bar hesitates when it comes to preparing it.
At some stands, however, the category still felt like something of an afterthought. The alcohol-free bottles stood slightly apart, and the enthusiasm surrounding them was noticeably subdued.
That’s not a criticism so much as an observation of where things stand today. Anyone following market developments knows this is likely to change.
What I Tasted
Sparkling Tea was surprisingly prominent at the convention. Several producers had brought their own versions, from floral expressions to green tea with citrus notes and darker, more tannic varieties that genuinely resembled a light red wine.
Sparkling Tea is refreshingly honest about what it is. It’s not trying to replace wine. It’s a category in its own right, and that’s precisely what makes it interesting.
Among sparkling grape juices, there was a clear ambition to create something more complex.
The approaches varied. Some producers used hops to introduce bitterness and structure, while others turned to quinine. Fermentation offered another way to build depth.
These were different attempts to create the kind of experience wine offers on the palate, but without the alcohol.
“The more interesting question isn’t whether it tastes like wine, but whether it tastes grown-up.”
For me, the hop-based approach was the most convincing.
The bitterness made sense. It didn’t feel artificial or forced, and there was a certain aromatic tension that kept the drink interesting.
Was it wine? No.
Did it need to be? Not at all.
The more relevant question is whether a drink can offer a sophisticated experience without relying on alcohol. And in that respect, hops show considerable potential.
Why This Matters Now
The term Zebra Striping is gaining attention across the hospitality industry in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The idea is straightforward: consciously alternate between alcoholic and alcohol-free drinks throughout an evening.
A glass of wine, followed by an alcohol-free highball, perhaps another cocktail later on.
It’s not about abstinence or a lecture on healthy living. It’s about making conscious choices, which only works if the alcohol-free options are appealing enough to choose in the first place.
Market figures support this growing demand.
Austrian beverage distributor Del Fabro Kolarik reported growth of 60% in its alcohol-free segment, with alcohol-free spirits alone increasing by 40%.
According to the German Wine Institute, sales of dealcoholised wine rose by 25%, while one in three wine producers already offered alcohol-free products, an increase of 37% compared with the previous year.
Falstaff PROFI has also explicitly identified Zebra Striping as an emerging behavioural trend in hospitality.
The demand is real.
Drinking Like a Grown-Up, Without Alcohol
Ultimately, what alcohol-free drinks need is fairly simple: they have to taste sophisticated.
Not like diluted fruit juice. Not like something from the children’s table.
They need complexity and a character of their own. Something worth discovering in the glass.
Some hospitality businesses are already demonstrating how well this can work.
At Finest Family Resort, for example, there’s an extensive alcohol-free drinks menu offering genuine choice. It ranges from alcohol-free gin and tonic, which really shouldn’t be considered unusual anymore, to an alcohol-free whiskey sour.
That’s more than a minor detail.
It sends a clear message: guests who choose not to drink alcohol aren’t expected to settle for less.
“Guests who choose not to drink alcohol aren’t expected to settle for less.”
Examples like this show where the industry is heading.
The products already exist, and so does the demand.
What’s developing now is a broader understanding that alcohol-free drinks aren’t a compromise. They’re an equally valid choice.
Rolling Pin Convention confirmed that.
The subject has arrived.
Now it just needs to move from the back of the stand to the front.
Sources: German Wine Institute, Falstaff PROFI, Del Fabro Kolarik, Gastroportal.
