The World’s First Catalogue for Alcohol-Free Drinks is Sticking Close to its Roots
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Have you ever found yourself wanting to grab some alcohol-free beer or bottle of spirits, but at a loss as to where you can find these elusive products close-by? Have you ever showed up at your local grocer to see that they once carried an alcohol-free product you liked, but it’s now nowhere to be found? Like hundreds of other Canadians, we too have hoped for an easier way to buy our favourite AF products or find restaurants that practice inclusive hospitality. It was music to our ears when we heard about a new app Better Without that everyone who is rethinking drinking needs to download asap!
Founded and developed by Jonny Stevens, Better Without is the world’s first app dedicated to helping anyone discover restaurants and stockists nearby who carry or serve alcohol-free or non-alcoholic drinks. Having launched in the U.K. in late 2020 to much success, the app is finally coming to Canada on Aug. 18 after a successful pilgrimage through Australia and the U.S. Initially focusing on helping you discover drinks and where to buy from online retailers, the restaurants and grocery stores feature will be coming very soon.
Better Without app
Most mainstream brands have started offering non-alcoholic options, so on the face of it, Better Without sounds like a clever play into a growing market. The idea for the app, however, actually blossomed to feed a very personal need.
Stevens was working full-time in tech supporting restaurants and hotels when the pandemic struck and he was sidelined with the rest of the hospitality world.
“Last January, I was really suffering from anxiety,” Stevens tells Some Good Clean Fun. “And I realized that a big part of my anxiety was alcohol. So I decided to switch to alcohol-free alternatives.”
As he was drinking his way through the world of alcohol-free options in July 2021, Stevens had a light-bulb moment. “Wouldn’t it be great if there was an app that I could go on and discover all the different drinks that are available?” he wondered. He wanted to be able to see if the restaurants around him stocked alcohol-free options, but also if stores near him stocked particular AF beverages. The part of his mind trained in tech and innovation began to whir, and he could see the gap that needed to be filled. That’s how Better Without was born.
better without founder jonny stevens
“The idea of the app came about [because I wanted to be] able to educate people on all the different [AF] options that are available,” he says. “We have filters on the app, so for example, if you like beer, you could say, ‘I want a beer, I want a light beer or a lager.’ Or, ‘I want it to come from Belgium,’ or you can specify any other country,” he explains.
After a brand submits information about their drinks to Better Without for free, a user can search and find a drink that’s exactly for them. A user is also able to, if they are vegan or gluten free, filter for products that complement their lifestyles as they search through the app’s extensive and detailed catalogue.
You can also filter drinks by styles, have access to in-depth information about each item, such as the dish it can be paired with, its ingredients, and a story about its producer. In addition to info about stockists nearby, you can also see a community rating of the product, and create a log on which your alcohol-free drinks can be tracked.
This kind of wealth of information, along with a nuanced way of searching through it, has never been available to those who are alcohol-free. This is a shame, because the number of sober curious people is steadily on the rise.
According to Better Without’s site, 8.6 million people in the U.K. are curious about changing their drinking habits. Meanwhile in Canada, one in five Canadians said they have decreased their alcohol consumption since the start of the pandemic. Despite this rise, and the popularity of drinks from brands like Free Spirits and Sexy AF, there was never a tool devoted to helping the sober-curious or non-drinkers to discover grown-up alcohol-free options. With low visibility for good options, particularly from indie brands, people might be quick to feel discouraged early on in their rethinking drinking journey.
“We now have over 2.5 thousand users, and that’s growing constantly,” Stevens says of his app, which is not yet a year old. Stevens is in touch with many of these users, listening to what they have to say in the app’s ratings, but also in the drink reviews they write — the idea for the blog was inspired by user critiques, for example. This is all to say, Better Without started from a personal place, and continues to stay authentic in this way by growing with user feedback.
The response to Better Without has been incredibly positive, but this comes as no surprise, as the app is a judgement-free space that puts the user first by immediately providing them the data they need to have a good time.
“Whatever the reason you want to discover alcohol free, we are that platform [for you],” Stevens says.
Better Without is available for both iPhone and Android through the Apple App Store and Google Play.
