Target Now Carding People When Buying Nonalcoholic Drinks
Many people are adding nonalcoholic drinks to their preferred beverage list. With its growing popularity, Target announced that it will be carrying a selection of nonalcoholic beverages by Sèchey, a nonalcoholic beverage retailer headquartered in Charleston that produces zero-proof still and sparkling wines. Some of their brands include Ghia, Bella Hadid’s Kin Euphorics, Surely, Katy Perry’s De Soi, Starla, Free AF, Mingle, Edna’s, and Mocktail Club, as well as Sèchey’s house brand.
Food & Wine reported that a Target spokesperson responded to an inquiry about product placement, stating that “the flavor profiles of nonalcohol products align more closely with full-alcohol items and are designed for experiences similar to, and also during, traditional full-alcohol occasions.”
Target is now carding people to buy nonalcoholic drinks.
Nicholas Bradley, a business attorney in New York City, told the outlet that Target faces the dilemma of distinguishing which of the nonalcoholic drinks on its shelves must be sold to 21+ and which can be sold to anyone. He said, “From the perspective of a big retail chain with multiple locations and hundreds of employees in New York City alone, the safest move is to be over-inclusive and to require ID for all ‘nonalcoholic’ beverages, even if that specific brand genuinely has no alcohol.”
Before making it official, a Target location gained some attention for this. Last December, a woman was carded at a Target self-checkout while trying to buy non-alcoholic beer. TikToker Deven Machette (@devmachette) said she was surprised to learn she had to show her ID when buying non-alcoholic beer at Target’s self-checkout. In her video, she stands at the self-checkout with her ID in hand as a worker types a code into the machine’s system. “Me, an entire adult getting carded and holding up the entire line because I tried to buy non-alcoholic beer,” she said in the video.
Several viewers shared in the comments section that they were carded at Target for items they did not expect to need an ID for. “I got carded for cooking wine. Cooking wine!” one commenter said. “I got carded for rootbeer… had to explain to her there’s no alcohol,” another shared. “Target also ID’s for children’s medicine,” someone said.
According to Steady Drinker most non-alcoholic beer has 0.5% of alcohol. But foods like hotdog rolls, rye bread, bananas, soy sauce, apple and grape juice, vanilla extract, and others can contain 0.2% up to 2% alcohol according to Halal Wine Cellar. This doesn’t make it legally considered alcohol.
But why are consumers still required to show identification upon purchasing such drinks?
Steady Drinker points out that one reason you might need an ID to buy non-alcoholic beer is to steer clear of promoting alcohol to underage people. After all, lots of brands that sell non-alcoholic beer also sell non-alcoholic drinks in similar packaging. Plus, as Steady Drinker mentions, it’s to streamline the enforcement of regulations concerning alcoholic beverages.
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