Life Beyond Booze with Mark Livings

Lyres founder Mark Livings is shaking up the drinks industry with his crazy accurate alcohol-free versions of all the classic spirits. He shares his views on how the COVID pandemic is completely reshaping the hospitality industry, along with insights into how excessive alcohol consumption is conflated with an outdated model of masculinity, why he thinks Australia and the UK in particular have such a problem with binge drinking, and what he sees as the future of the booze business. In this episode we discuss:

-His mission to replace the “threshold moment” of having a drink at the end of the day.

-The Sober Curious movement being a natural result of the global wellness trend.

-Hospitality being an industry where it’s easy to hide problem drinking.

-Booze-free beverages being an important development for the drinks business as a whole.

-Excess alcohol consumption being conflated with an old-school view of masculinity.

-Having conflicted feelings about marketing alcoholic drinks.

-The impact of increased exposure to different cultural ideas about alcohol consumption.

-Why Australia, the UK, and other Anglo-Centric cultures in particular have such issues with binge-drinking. 

-How the trend for taking extended beaks from drinking is skewing drinking stats overall.

-Non-alcoholic adult drinks providing people a form of “social camouflage” to experiment with sober curiosity.

-Why we’re witnessing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to changing attitudes about alcohol and its role in our lives.

-The hardest spirit to replicate and why.

Sample Lyres for yourself when you visit Lyres.com/sobercurious where you can sign up for a special 15% discount and follow along @lyresspiritco.

Thanks also to episode partners Curious Elixirs. Get one FREE bottle on orders of $50 or more at Curiouselixirs.com with the code RUBY and follow @curiouselixirs.