DRINKS BAKERY EXPANDS INTO GROWING ALCOHOL FREE MARKET

The Drinks Bakery which created the world’s first ever range of savoury biscuits expertly matched with drinks, is expanding into the booming global alcohol-free market by repackaging its multi-award-winning Drinks Biscuits to include tasting notes for non-alcoholic drinks.

The move is the result of a two-year project driven by the global growth of alcohol-free drinks, which is currently the fastest growing segment in the UK and is forecast by analysts from industry experts IWSR to “grow by 6% per annum on average by 2023 as opposed to the total beer market, which is forecast to be flat to slightly declining”.

This expansion into the ‘no and low’ alcohol drinks market comes hot on the heels of the Drinks Bakery taking its first orders from Australia, while Drinks Biscuits are becoming a firm foodie favourite across the ‘Pond’, too, with listings up and down the USA, including Central Markets in Texas, Providence Fine Foods in Portland and, coming soon, legendary NYC establishment Murray’s Cheese stores.

The non-alcohol drinks pairing project started in 2020, when the Edinburgh-based firm received an enquiry from Spinneys in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where alcohol consumption and purchasing are heavily regulated.

The Drinks Bakery then embarked on two years’ work testing flavour profiles to match their biscuits with various zero alcohol drinks.

Spinneys customers in the UAE will soon be able to select the perfect premium snack for their non-alcoholic drinks from the four Drinks Bakery flavours. Each flavour-profile has bespoke, on-pack information highlighting pairings for various non-alcoholic drinks.

For example, the Parmesan, Toasted Pine Nuts and Basil Drinks Biscuits are the perfect nibble alongside a glass of chilled sparkling white grape juice, while a hoppy 0% beer will go beautifully with the Lancashire Cheese and Spring Onion flavour.  The Pecorino, Rosemary and Seaweed Drinks Biscuits are the ideal companion to juniper-style gin alternatives, whilst fruity malt drinks are an excellent match with Mature Cheddar, Chilli and Almond biscuits.  

Chief Biscuiteer and die hard foodie Andy Murray (pictured above), who founded the firm in 2016, explained that the new bespoke packaging was the culmination of nearly two years of due diligence and flavour-profiling. 

Andy said: “Prior to this our Drinks Biscuits had primarily been marketed as the perfect complement to great alcoholic drinks, but when Spinneys in the UAE got in touch to explore pairing with the non-alcoholic alternatives we jumped at the chance. The ‘no and low’ sector has gone through huge growth in the last 5 years and I’m so impressed by the quality of many of the products.

 It’s great to see this project now come to fruition after nearly two years’ work so that people in the UAE can enjoy Drinks Biscuits with a non-alcoholic drink.  We had our first order for this format earlier this month and with more and more people here in the UK choosing low and no-alcohol drinks, there’s a growing market for us closer to home as well.

Whatever you’re drinking, whether it’s wine, beer, gin alternatives or low alcohol lager, we’ve got a Drinks Biscuit flavour profile to pair with it.” The introduction of new packaging with non-alcohol drinks pairing notes comes just weeks after the Drinks Bakery’s game-changing seven-figure listing deal with Waitrose, with the firm’s premium savoury snacks now stocked at the deli counters of 230 stores across the UK, as well as online.