In Pictures: The sober-curious generation on an alcohol-free, healthy high

Revellers quaff in a festival tent at the world's biggest beer festival, the 189th Oktoberfest, in Munich, Germany, that just ended on October 06, 2024. Alcohol-free beer gained tremendous popularity at this year's fest, with most large tents offering non-boozy drinks. Oktoberfest's embrace of alcohol-free beer mirrors a broader trend in Germany and around the world. As people become more health conscious and mindful of their alcohol intake, non-alcoholic beer is evolving from a niche product into a staple.

Non-alcoholic beers photographed in Washington, DC, on March 11, 2024. A beer can claim to be non-alcoholic as long as it "contains less than 0.5 percent alcohol by volume," according to guidelines from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  According to Nielsen, in 2023, non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits collectively surpassed $565 million in sales—up 35 percent from the year prior. Non-alcohol beer, in particular, continues to dominate the segment with 86.1 percent of the market share.

A customer drinks a glass of wine at the 'It's Italian Cucina' restaurant on April 05, 2023, in Austin, Texas, US. The conventional wisdom that a glass of wine a day is good has now been attributed to flawed scientific research, according to a new report in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. A new analysis of more than 40 years of accumulated study has found that moderate drinking has no health benefits.

DJ and electronic music producer Barry Can't Swim plays a special alcohol-free sunrise DJ set to start Guinness 0.0's St. Patrick's Weekend celebrations at the Guinness Storehouse on March 15, 2024, in Dublin, Ireland. Doubling its net sales in Europe in the year ended June 30, 2024, Guinness 0.0 has quickly become the number one non-alcoholic beer of choice in the UK. The rise of "NoLo" (no- and low-alcohol) drinks, a large cultural movement of sorts, continues sweeping the UK and Ireland.

Bottles of Corona Cero alcohol-free beer move on a production line at the Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) brewery in Leuven, Belgium, on April 23, 2024. Corona Cero alcohol-free beer is now a global sponsor of the Olympic Games. Present in 40 markets worldwide, AB InBev is betting on Olympic sponsorship to help its new brew become a top-selling zero-alcohol beer globally, but it will need to catch up with rivals like Heineken 0.0, a leading player in major markets.

Egyptians drink Fayrouz and Birell, popular non-alcoholic malt beverages, at a cafe in Maadi, a suburb of Cairo, Egypt, on July 13, 2024. Non-alcoholic beer sales worldwide are slated to reach $37 billion in 2024, according to Statista. This includes $18.9 billion in revenue from supermarkets and convenience stores and $18.1 billion from restaurants, bars and retail establishments.

A general view of Amsterdam's city centre with street signs declaring 'Geen alcohol op straat' ('No alcohol in the street') in Amsterdam, Netherlands on April 18, 2023. The City of Amsterdam has launched a tourism campaign called 'Stay Away' aimed at discouraging young British tourists from visiting only to party and consume alcohol or drugs. This campaign is part of a broader desire of the Dutch capital to prevent indecent behaviour and restore its reputation.

Inn owners Kerstin Goessl and Vladimir Kloz sit behind numerous bottles of non-alcoholic beers and other non-alcoholic drinks at their Gasthof Zur Sägemühle Inn in Großenohe, Bavaria, Germany. Since Kloz's return from a detox rehab clinic at the beginning of the year, the couple have removed all alcohol from the menu and replaced it with non-alcoholic options.

A view of an Alcohol-Free Stand at the County Ground in Somerset County Cricket Club, Somerset, UK. The UK market for no- and low-alcohol beer expanded more than any other in volume terms thanks to a post-Brexit overhaul of alcohol duties. The rise of a different breed of drinker, who prioritises wellness without sacrificing taste and experience, is also willing to pay full price for the privilege.

Willy Adames of the Milwaukee Brewers dunks William Contreras with a sports drink following a 5-3 win over the San Francisco Giants at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US on August 28, 2024. Baseball is so entwined with beer sponsorships that the game goes hand in hand with alcohol: stadiums and teams are named after beer companies. The league has a long history of players dealing with alcohol abuse, which is now seeing changes.

Festival attendees Deborah Biegaj and her partner Piotr purchase non-alcoholic drinks at The New Bar during the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 14, 2024, in Indio, California, US. Heavy drinking was once a part of the package at the mammoth festival in the California desert, but Deborah and her partner are imbibing less booze these days." I felt like drinking more took away from the festival experience," Deborah says.

A file photo shows a cola mix drink filled into crates at the Oettinger brewery in Bavaria, Oettingen. One of the biggest brewers in Germany, known for its inexpensive beer, Oettinger, announced at the end of last year that it would change from being a brewer to a beverage producer. German beer sales dropped 4.5 percent last year, resuming a long-term downward trend fueled by health concerns and other factors.