ASK ANYONE WHO works in the hospitality industry, and they’ll tell you the same thing: People are drinking less alcohol. A Gallup poll from 2025 confirms that anecdotal claim, with just 54 percent of adult respondents saying they consume spirits. That’s the lowest number Gallup has seen since it started tracking Americans’ drinking behavior in 1939.
The number gets even lower when we look at the demographic that—in past generations—was most likely to imbibe to excess: Of adults under age 34, only 50 percent consume, Gallup reports. But before you write this off as a woke Gen Z trend, you should also know that overall, only 46 percent of Republican voters imbibe, compared to 61 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of independents.
According to Nick Detrich, owner of Fountain Square restaurant Magdalena, the tide of mocktails has been rising for over 15 years. “When I first started bartending 20 years ago, it was not a thing at all. Then around 2010, I started getting more and more people ordering mocktails.”
Back then, that meant a creative mixologist might combine some juice, simple syrup, and soda water and call it a day. Every bartender we spoke to for this package agrees the pandemic was a tipping point. “That first summer after Covid, everyone was partying,” says bar consultant Kendall Lockwood, who’s also the operating partner at Mass Ave’s The Ball & Biscuit. “Then people seemed to go back to real life, and they course corrected in a big way.”
Jess Johnson, bar manager at near–northside restaurant Tinker Street, says the destigmatization of mental health and wellness practices spurred by the global crisis helped many people reevaluate their relationship with alcohol. “When you’re alone with your thoughts, you can focus on how you’re caring for yourself,” she says. “For many people, that meant they decided—even if they were not an alcoholic—that drinking wasn’t for them at all, or at least not for right now or that night.”
Alex Knight tends the bar at downtown Noblesville’s Bar Ellis; he’s also been sober for three years. “Sometimes, the only thing that keeps someone in recovery on track is feeling like they belong,” he says. “Having a cocktail in your hand means you’re still part of the group. No one’s going to grill you to see if there’s alcohol in it.”
Whether by choice or by necessity, these teetotalers are on the right track, says Carmel physician Dr. Tod Huntley. “Alcohol is metabolized into a byproduct called acetaldehyde, which is a known human carcinogen and a toxin that can affect DNA and certain proteins,” he says. Comparing ongoing use of booze to cigarettes, he notes that it will increase risks of illness and decrease quality of life. For many people, the perceived benefits of alcohol as a social lubricant, stress reliever, or delicious thing to consume make those prospects worthwhile.
But a lack of nonalcoholic options isn’t the reason to go ahead and partake that it once was, Lockwood says. “Bartenders are putting as much, if not more, creativity into mocktails,” she says. “The market demands it, sure, but it’s also an interesting challenge. That’s what makes my job so fun.”
