With over 30,000 participants in 90 international locations, One Year No Beer (OYNB) is hell-bent on supporting people to take a look at their dating with alcohol. Ex-bartender-became-broking Ruari Fairbairns and commercial enterprise associate Andy Ramage have created a program to help people who need to give up alcohol. Fairbairns spoke to Imbibe about how bartenders and venues may be the pioneers for alternate.
What have been your consuming habits before starting OYNB?
I’m quite obsessed with this. I used to work within the bar enterprise in Ibiza and Edinburgh, and it’s very much the lifestyle to have fun and decompress; there might continually be a drink. A few human beings don’t need a drink in the bar industry but sense like they need to. Since starting OYNB, I now not look at alcohol in an equal manner. Say I’m a brand ambassador, I believe I will be a complete hit brand ambassador and not drink any alcohol. I don’t need to drink anymore.
Do you observe society pushes us into consuming whilst we don’t need to?
When you are saying you don’t want to drink, most people let you know to piss off. I suppose an awful lot of this is tribalism. In our research, ninety-three % of people have stated they’ve had a drink then they didn’t need to. There is still this ridiculous peer strain that doesn’t exist with different capsules. Nobody says, ‘He’s so boring he gained’t have a latte.’ While this peer strain remains there, we need to eliminate that. I need to mention to the bar enterprise, ‘take a look at this tidal shift due to the fact you’re sluggish to hold up with it.’ We’ve created a global network for human beings to press a reset button on their relationship with alcohol and enter into a feeling of belonging. This is a tribe you want to belong to.
How smooth is it to give up alcohol for a yr?
Firstly, we’ve by no means ask people to ‘surrender.’ It’s approximately gaining something – you’re giving up taking poison. I drink as a good deal as I want on every occasion I need; it’s no longer approximately abstinence; it’s about gaining clarity. Now, for me, it’s unbelievably clean. It takes working on yourself as there’s constantly a reason why human beings drink. That’s what takes work.
Is alcohol being demonized like smoking was?
Yes, and quite rightly. There are no wonderful aspect results. When Dame Sally Davis reduced guys’ endorsed amount [in 2016], she began using pronouncing there is no secure amount: forget about approximately the demonizing of it, there’s an actual fitness difficulty. Put ‘alcohol’ into Google, and you get the phrase ‘ethanol’ – it’s the most harmful drug within the international.
What’s the first-class manner for bars to suggest no longer consuming?
In our program w,e advise human beings to go to pubs and bars. I still need to socialize; it’s a really essential part of life. This is why we’re collaborative with the bar enterprise. We want to help society alternate, and the solution is to be a leading bar or eating place – we need more pioneers. Why no longer have alcohol unfastened at nighttime? Have a great band and rejoice the alcohol-unfastened side, or [promote] alcohol-free drinks like ‘four drinks if you’re the driving force’ – imagine the PR around it.
Have you determined alternatives like no-abv beers? Or have you veered far away from the concept of alcohol completely? We are a hundred% advocates of the no-abv market. The presenting is ideal and is getting better. There is a massive selection of non-alcoholic beers; they’re not in the bars. Come on, men! I can’t look forward to humans to certainly trap on, and it’s going to be a thrilling day whilst that occurs. If you get to the quiet of a shift, get a Heineken zero.0, pour it right into a pint glass. We name it ‘stealth drinking,’ and it’s a stepping stone for those who need to masks the fact they aren’t drinking.
Is this a motion, and if so, in which can we be in 12 months?
I would love to peer menus with half of alcoholic and 1/2 non-alcoholic liquids on them. I can’t consider whatever more notable. However, I know that paradigm shifts are very gradual. I suppose, realistically, [in one year time] we’ll be marginally higher.
