BrewDog USA teams with Sunnyside to promote NA beer and Dry(ish) January

Two-thirds of the U.S. adult population drinks alcohol, and of this population, 48% report wanting to cut back. This is one reason Dry January is catching as a trend — a monthly full-stop followed by (likely) a restart of usual drinking habits. But if one’s goal with Dry January is to cut down on alcohol consumption, seems like building more sustainable, regular habits is a better route to go?

That’s the pitch of Sunnyside — an app and program to help people build healthier habits around drinking alcohol. Sunnyside was founded to provide an alternative to the existing all-or-nothing, sobriety-focused programs that have dominated the alcohol health space up until now. Sunnyside instead hosts a Dry(ish) January campaign, a month-long challenge where users set modified drinking goals with the goal of reducing their intake as opposed to cutting out alcohol entirely.

Inspired by Sunnyside’s unique approach to mindful drinking, BrewDog USA saw it fit to collaborate with Sunnyside to both promote its healthier drinking approach and promote its growing line of NA beer.

A new collaboration beer, Bright AF, will be for sale via BrewDog’s website and be featured as a part of the January February subscription box from BrewDog’s Non-Alcoholic Beer Club, a member-based subscription service that delivers non-alcoholic beers to your door 6x per year.

Bright AF is a west coast-style Mindful IPA coming in at <.5% ABV. The Bright AF Brew will be 20 calories and 2.3g carbs per can, an industry low for nonalcoholic beers.

BrewDog has partnered with numerous breweries and innovative brands since its founding in 2007, but this partnership marks the first time a craft brewing company has partnered with a wellness app such as Sunnyside.

“Having a partner like BrewDog gives our participants a way to still enjoy beer, in a more mindful way,” says Nick Allen, CEO and Co-Founder of Sunnyside. “We’ve found that 31 days completely dry can be intimidating or unrealistic for many, so we made the Dry(ish) January challenge for members to set their own personal goals for cutting back. We’re helping people build better habits around drinking, while still being able to drink and enjoy great beer. We know that users will continue to drink our Bright AF IPA long after the month is through because it keeps them sharp and it tastes delicious.”

Dry(ish) January challenge

In 2023, Sunnyside ran a Dry(ish) January Challenge for its members, giving them options to customize their own goals for an alcohol reset, without requiring an all-or-nothing approach.

Post-challenge survey results indicated participants were more likely to stick to their goals and drink less when given customizable targets, and after the month was up, 92% of participants planned to maintain a lower consumption of alcohol going into February.

Ultimately, having more freedom over their goal allowed people to be more successful at reducing their consumption overall and made it much more likely for these habits to persist throughout the year.

“Sunnyside’s mission of mindful drinking aligns well with BrewDog’s approach to creating great craft beer, both full strength and non-alcoholic,” says John Graham, CEO of BrewDog USA. “Brewing great beer for all is our mission and we want our customers to know that we have inclusive options, no matter what the occasion. With more and more people drinking NA’s, it’s been amazing to find partners, like Sunnyside, who have a similar outlook on something for everyone, at every time.”