2021年经济学人 无酒精啤酒成为酒业新希望(1)

Business

商业

Alcohol-free Beer

无酒精啤酒

For the 10,000 years or so it has been around, beer has been relied upon both to refresh and intoxicate¹.

在大约1万年的历史中，人们一直依赖啤酒来提神和沉醉。

Today's brewers think it could thrive by focusing exclusively on the refreshing³.

如今的酿酒商认为，只要专注于提神这一部分，它就能蓬勃发展。

Alcohol-free beer is the booze industry's latest great hope as sales of the full-strength stuff have stagnated⁴.

无酒精啤酒是酒业最新的巨大希望，因为烈性酒的销售已经处于停滞状态。

If Heineken and other brewing⁵ giants have their way, tipplers will be knocking back pints⁶ from breakfast on.

如果喜力和其他酿酒巨头能够如愿以偿，那么酒鬼们将从早餐就开始畅饮啤酒。

Beers with no (or little) alcohol have been sold for decades.

不含(或几乎不含)酒精的啤酒已经卖了几十年了。

But even their pedlars admitted they tasted flat.

但就连小贩也承认那些酒味道平平。

They were aimed at those who craved⁷ a proper beer but couldn't indulge: the pregnant, religious or designated drivers.

他们的目标人群是那些非常想喝上一杯但又没办法在酒精中放纵的人：孕妇、宗教人士或排了班的司机。

Multinational⁸ brewers saw them as "distressed⁹ purchases" and sold them under separate brands far removed from flagship marques.

跨国啤酒商将其视为“廉价货”，并将其与旗舰产品区分开来，以独立的品牌销售。

No longer. Even before the pandemic shut the world's bars, beer-drinking was on the slide, in part owing to health-conscious millennials bingeing less often.

时过境迁。甚至在疫情让世界各地的酒吧关门之前，喝啤酒的人数就在下滑，部分原因是有健康意识的千禧一代不再那么频繁地饮酒狂欢。

Booze barons¹⁰ concerned about losing sales to soft drinks invested in ways of making alcohol-free beer taste better.

酒业大公司们担心被软饮料抢走销售额，于是投资研发味道更好的无酒精啤酒。

This has started to pay off.

这一举措已经开始有了回报。

Though nobody sober would confuse an alcohol-free brew² with the real thing, it is now a credible¹¹ draught¹².

虽然没人哪个清醒的人会将无酒精啤酒与真正的啤酒混淆，但它现在也能解一时之渴了。

The product is good enough for mega-brands, from Japan's Asahi to America's Budweiser (part of AB InBev, the world's biggest brewer), to offer a "0.0" variant¹³.

从日本的朝日啤酒到美国的百威啤酒(世界上最大的啤酒酿造商百威英博的一部分)，这种产品足以为无酒精啤酒提供多样性。

Part of the brewers' interest stems from boozeless beer's frothy margins¹⁴.

酿酒商的兴趣部分源于无酒精啤酒的泡沫利润。

Making the stuff is actually more expensive than making a straight-up Stella.

生产这种酒实际上比生产纯丝戴拉酒更贵。

The process usually involves taking a finished alcoholic¹⁵ beer and stripping away the booze (brands guard their methods closely).

这个过程通常是把已经制作好的含酒精啤酒里的酒精脱去(各啤酒品牌严格保密自己的生产方法)。

The expense is, however, more than compensated¹⁶ for by the savings¹⁷ on alcohol excise¹⁸ duties that are no longer owed.

然而，省下来的酒类产品消费税足以弥补这一部分支出，并且还有盈余。

It helps that consumers appear to be willing to pay roughly the same price whether a beer contains alcohol or not.

无论啤酒是否含酒精，消费者似乎都愿意支付大致相同的价格，这一点很有帮助。

1 intoxicate   

vt.使喝醉，使陶醉，使欣喜若狂

参考例句：

• Wine has the power to intoxicate.酒能醉人。
• Cherishing a rose means to intoxicate yourself on her beauty more than pull her throns out.喜欢玫瑰意思是要我们陶醉它的美丽，而不是去除它的刺。

2 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。

3 refreshing   

adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的

参考例句：

• I find it'so refreshing to work with young people in this department.我发现和这一部门的青年一起工作令人精神振奋。
• The water was cold and wonderfully refreshing.水很涼，特别解乏提神。

4 stagnated   

v.停滞，不流动，不发展( stagnate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The balloting had stagnated, he couldn't win. 投票工作陷于停顿，他不能得胜。 来自辞典例句
• His mind has stagnated since his retirement. 他退休后头脑迟钝了。 来自辞典例句

5 brewing   

n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• It was obvious that a big storm was brewing up. 很显然，一场暴风雨正在酝酿中。
• She set about brewing some herb tea. 她动手泡一些药茶。

6 pints   

n.品脱( pint的名词复数 )；一品脱啤酒

参考例句：

• I drew off three pints of beer from the barrel. 我从酒桶里抽出三品脱啤酒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Two pints today, please. 今天请来两品脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 craved   

渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求

参考例句：

• She has always craved excitement. 她总渴望刺激。
• A spicy, sharp-tasting radish was exactly what her stomach craved. 她正馋着想吃一个香甜可口的红萝卜呢。

8 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

9 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

10 barons   

男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨

参考例句：

• The barons of Normandy had refused to countenance the enterprise officially. 诺曼底的贵族们拒绝正式赞助这桩买卖。
• The barons took the oath which Stephen Langton prescribed. 男爵们照斯蒂芬？兰顿的指导宣了誓。

11 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

12 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

13 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

14 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

15 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

16 compensated   

补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款）

参考例句：

• The marvelous acting compensated for the play's weak script. 本剧的精彩表演弥补了剧本的不足。
• I compensated his loss with money. 我赔偿他经济损失。

17 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

18 excise   

n.(国产)货物税；vt.切除，删去

参考例句：

• I'll excise the patient's burnt areas.我去切除病人烧坏的部分。
• Jordan's free trade zone free of import duty,excise tax and all other taxes.约旦的自由贸易区免收进口税、国内货物税及其它一切税收。