It’s Possible to Drink All Night and Wake Up Feeling Like You’re 25 Again. You Just Need to Make One Easy Substitution.

Drink Everyone’s Drinking Less. So Why Aren’t There More Low-ABV Spirits? Lower-booze spirits and cocktails feel like the perfect pairing with the way we drink today—but there are a few hitches. Getty Images Plus Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. As a human being in the year 2026, you are undoubtedly aware that everyone is drinking less alcohol. It’s a surge of wellness culture, government messaging ranging from practical caution to fearmongering, an economy that makes splashing out on cocktails less feasible for many, the rise of GLP-1’s … the stats are everywhere. And yet. Alcohol has been at the center of socializing since the dawn of civilization. In response to the stricter teetotalism that followed the excess many fell into during the COVID pandemic’s homebound living, there’s now a growing call for moderation. The loneliness epidemic rages on, and for many, part of the answer is to gather again in bars. A 2026 Bank of America report found spending at bars is up, while it’s down in retail, indicating that while people largely don’t seem to be resuming drinking at home, they are returning to on-premise drinking. Taking all that together, it stands to reason that there’s never been a better time for lower-alcohol-by-volume … everything. Go ahead and have that third drink tonight without fearing you’ve sabotaged your tomorrow. We’ve seen this for years now with the sustained popularity of lower-ABV spritz cocktails like the Aperol spritz or Americano, but stronger cocktails like martinis and Negronis are still the most appealing flavor options on the menu for many. Wouldn’t the obvious answer be to keep the taste, but to dial all of these drinks down with lower-ABV spirits? “Low-ABV spirits create a space between traditional cocktails and nonalcoholic offerings, allowing guests to moderate their consumption while still fully participating in the social, culinary, and hospitality experience,” says Jacopo Rosito, beverage director and mixologist at Séptimo at Four Seasons Hotel Miami. “The demand isn’t just for nonalcoholic options anymore—there’s a growing audience looking for something in between,” says Mat Resler, head bartender at New York’s Cocktail Omakase. “Low-ABV spirits help fill that gap.” Vodka, gin, whiskey, tequila, rum—these spirits typically range from 36 to 51 percent ABV. Factoring in water dilution and modifiers, spirit-forward cocktails like a martini or old fashioned clock in at roughly 30 percent ABV. There are only so many of those you want to have over the course of a night out. But what if the base spirit was half as strong? Enjoy the gin martini, but with nearly 50 percent less booze before any ice gets involved—which means you can have two, right? It seems like a no-brainer, one that would get people ordering more drinks and boosting check totals at bars and restaurants (assuming that, as with mocktails, prices would not necessarily decrease alongside the booze). That’s the drive behind Second Sip, a new 20-percent ABV gin from three industry veterans. Leo Robitschek is a renowned bartender leading acclaimed bar programs like that of the NoMad; Nick Strangeway is another admired bartender and the founder of Hepple Spirits; and Sharelle Klaus is the founder and CEO of Dry Soda Co., one of the first breakout nonalcoholic brands. Second Sip “is about being an additive to hospitality,” Robitschek says. “It’s not about limitations, it’s about the opposite. This is a solution to, ‘I’d like to have another, but …’ ” He adds that while spritzes have long been a great low-ABV category, not everyone is a spritz drinker. Martini enthusiasts have never had that compromise available to them before, except for the “tiny ’tinis” some bars offer, which can really leave you wanting more. An actual spirit—not an amaro or fortified wine, but a familiar workhorse of a spirit that grounds cocktails from light to spirit-forward—at 20 percent ABV gives people a new option and bartenders a new tool to serve more moderation-minded guests. Second Sip is already on the menu at some of the best cocktail bars in New York and Miami. Bartenders are using it in all manner of ways, from classic martinis to original creations. Some spots showcase it on the menu as a lower-ABV option, while others don’t even call the ABV out—guests can perhaps just feel pleasantly surprised when they’re not stumbling after their second round. I can attest to the way Second Sip improves a night out. The brand invited a group of drink writers out on a bar hop, and obligatory journalist cynicism be damned, I couldn’t believe I got to enjoy four complex, delicious cocktails at three different hot spots with zero hangover in the morning. “We hear all the time from people, ‘I feel like I’m 25 again,’ ” Klaus says. Problem solved then, right? Lower-ABV spirits for lower-ABV cocktails, more fun for everyone with fewer consequences. But not so fast. Spirits have those higher ABVs for a reason. It’s no mean feat to drop a spirit’s proof without sabotaging its flavor, which is why there are actually very few lower-alcohol spirit choices on the market. “Most people don’t realize alcohol does a lot,” Robitschek says. “It carries aroma … it provides body and texture, it carries length on the palate.” This was the biggest challenge for Second Sip: Cutting the alcohol in half but achieving the same level of flavor, body, and texture. Solving this took a significant amount of research and development. “The lower the proof, the less texture there is, so you need to find ways to make up for that,” says Carlos Flores, a bartender at New York City’s Diamond Dogs and Ligaw, of no- and low-ABV spirits. “You have to make up for viscosity with syrups, change your ratio of citrus … turn to some tools you have like an iSi canister to bring in different textures.” The Second Sip team was targeting drinks like the martini where there’s nowhere to hide—no syrups, no foams, no carbonation. The spirit itself had to work at half the booze. This is where most no- and low-ABV spirits that have hit the market have fallen flat, literally and figuratively. (The misleadingly named, actually relatively thin Body Vodka, for example, made headlines when it launched in 2022 but has seemingly vanished, while Quarter Proof has faced legal troubles over its gin and tequila, which are so low-ABV they don’t meet the necessary guidelines to be labeled as such.) There are a few routes a distiller can take to hit a lower ABV on a spirit: controlling fermentation so less alcohol is created at that stage; distilling to lower strengths, which is often done in tandem with vacuum distillation (this reduces pressure in the still and lowers ethanol’s boiling point, so alcohol vaporizes off the liquid but more volatile flavor compounds remain); removing alcohol via centrifuges; and/or creating botanical-and-spirit macerations that are then diluted. It takes serious expertise and exhaustive research and development to find the right process for the right spirit. That’s why most bartenders have grown more accustomed to crafting low-ABV cocktails by pulling levers other than already low-proof spirits. Ligaw currently only has a soft liquor license. This largely limits venues to beer and wine, but as it allows up to 24 percent ABV, they can serve lower-strength spirits like shochu. Ligaw’s martini doesn’t have gin or vodka; instead, it’s made with iichiko shochu and yuzu sake. Shochu has always been a low-ABV spirit that still has flavor and body, so it’s a popular base for cocktails intended to have a lower proof. Herbal liqueurs and amari as well as fortified wines are, too. Sean Hoard, partner and beverage director at Pal’s, Suttle Lodge, and the upcoming Hotel Reynard in Oregon, uses these to meet what he calls “a ton of demand for lower-ABV stuff.” One of his most popular drinks is a spritz variation with the wine-based Cappelletti Mazzura aperitif. Spritzes are a “top seller and an easy win in the low-ABV space” at Periscope at the S&W Market in Asheville, North Carolina, too, says operations manager Spencer Schultz. He also serves “shims,” cocktails that have no more than half an ounce of full-strength spirits, like inverted martinis and Manhattans that have more vermouth than gin or whiskey. “These are popular with more educated drinkers … but they simply don’t have the same following as the full-ABV versions,” Schultz notes. “It’s still a niche, but a growing one.” This points to another obstacle in dialing down cocktail ABVs: customer education. The average bar guest who orders cocktails knows a spritz has lower alcohol. But beyond that, it’s typically only more in-the-know patrons who have a grasp on shims, low-ABV spirits and why they’re so rare, and cocktails with bases split between full- and no- or low-proof spirits. In cocktail bar–dense cities like New York and Miami, bartenders can get a little more creative and use innovative products like Second Sip. In other regions, it may not pay off to reach past mocktails, low-ABV spritzes, and full-strength classics. “Frankly, in Portland, I’m still getting people to engage with gin, let alone low-ABV gin,” Hoard says. “In an industry that’s shrinking right now, low-ABV spirits are another thing I’d need to buy. I’m already buying less gin, less rum, less everything.” People are drinking less, but do want to drink a little. Bars still want to sell those drinks. Low-ABV spirits feel like a happy medium. But these spirits are hard to make, so there may not ever be a selection of them wide enough to stock a full-complement, low-ABV speed rack at your local watering hole. And plenty of bars have been getting on just fine serving those seeking lower-ABV options with spritzes. Still, having even just one good example of a low-ABV spirit like Second Sip feels necessary nowadays. “The biggest benefit is flexibility,” Resler says. If full-flavor spirits simply couldn’t be done at a lower proof, bars would survive. But when a brand proves it’s in fact possible, that gives bartenders yet another tool. Depending on their city and their customer, they can tout that they have the rare lower-alcohol martini, or split a base to bring down a drink’s overall ABV, or just use it as a solid gin. Bars are where consumers discover and start to like new products. That’s why Second Sip’s efforts so far have been focused on the on-premise channel—it’s often easier and more effective for bartenders to interest guests in products than for store shoppers to blindly choose them on store shelves. Going forward, though, Klaus says that off-premise, as in at-home occasions, will be key for Second Sip, too. Which is good, because the home bar may be where low-ABV spirits make even more sense. Strip away menus, ordering decisions, and more complicated recipes. You like a martini at home before dinner, but you don’t want to be sauced before the kids’ bedtime. You’ve got a gin you know is half the booze. All it takes is a stir—or a shake, if that’s your style—just like the martini you know, love, and would happily welcome, with less of a punch. Get the best of news and politics Sign up for Slate's evening newsletter. Drink Restaurants