I don’t know about you but my TikTok has recently been filled with mocktail recipes. While many, such as the Sleepy Girl mocktail, contain fruit juice, others often contain zero-proof alcohol to further resemble the taste of the original drink. Some sober and sober curious people drink mocktails and nonalcoholic canned beverages as a way to still enjoy the experience of having a drink with friends. Now, it’s become a bit more difficult to recreate all of the mocktail recipes you have saved.
Target will ID for nonalcoholic beverages.
The retail giant Target has recently announced it will begin to card customers who are attempting to purchase nonalcoholic or zero-proof alcohol. This follows a recent announcement about the chain carrying the zero-proof alcohol brand Séchy. The shelves of Target have increasingly been stocked with a variety of nonalcoholic beverages. Now, you must be 21 or older to purchase to purchase zero-proof alcohol.
What are the age restrictions for buying zero-proof alcohol?
While Target is not the only store that has age restrictions on who can purchase zero-proof alcohol, it is certainly the largest. The company has not explicitly stated why, but business experts believe it is a mix of a combination of things. Firstly, Target decided to place these alcohol-free drinks in the regular alcohol aisle of the stores. A spokesperson for Target told Yahoo this was due to the flavor profiles more closely aligning with alcoholic beverages than what you would find in the soda or juice section. This, along with the packaging that is often intentionally meant to resemble that of full-proof alcohol, makes the zero-proof products more difficult to distinguish. “It’s not an impossible problem, but there’s a considerable degree of liability that follows every single violation,” business attorney Nicholas Bradley told Food & Wine. “The safest move is to be over-inclusive and to require ID for all ‘nonalcoholic’ beverages, even if that specific brand genuinely has no alcohol.”
It is possible that other large retailers will make similar risk assessments in upcoming months about carding for zero-proof beverages to avoid liability. Walmart, one of the largest retailers in the United States, has also decided to start carrying zero-proof drinks, including Wine0 and Ritual. With the difficulties of ensuring no full-proof alcohol is mistakenly sold to those under 21 among boxes of zero-proof drinks, other chains are likely to follow suit taking the safest option for them.
But for those under 21, don’t worry. The Sleepy Girl mocktail will always be an option!