![]() Fortunately, most major beer brands like Heineken, Becks Blue and Peroni offer a no-alcohol option to their mainstream range. As well as having a very similar taste profile to its alcoholic counterpart, low- and no-alcohol beer is also cheaper than alcoholic versions. "Operators need to up their game by offering variety and choice. Matt Towe, head of Bidfood's Unity wines, beers and spirits arm, makes the point that water is still the top choice cited by consumers who are limiting alcohol consumption. To help venues capitalise on this growing trend, our portfolio offers zero-alcohol options in lager with Cobra Zero and Staropramen 0.0, ale with Doom Bar Zero, and cider with Rekorderlig Alcohol Free." Stephen Groucott, on-trade sales director says: "While there are more zero-alcohol options available than ever before, consumers want drinks that still truly deliver on flavour. Molson Coors Beverage Company has launched Staropramen 0.0 and a reformulated Cobra Zero this year. That would be the game-changer – that you can go into a pub and order a pint of Guinness alongside a pint of Big Drop." Although Big Drop on draught has performed well in independents and small pub groups, "what needs to happen is for a big pubco to stick their head above the parapet and put it on draught. The typical Big Drop customer is a "moderator rather than abstainer", says Fink, likely to have a non-alcoholic beer once or twice during a session. That transition will take time, and the consumer needs to be educated and given good options, but I think that's where we should end up." Rob Fink, founder and managing director of no-alcohol brewer Big Drop, believes that "10% of on-trade beer volumes seems to be a perfectly sensible number to be gunning for over the next three to five years. An explosion of line extensions have driven this, as the choice for consumers has widened beyond the traditional soft drink choice or perhaps one dusty brand in the fridge." Paul Bolton, client director, GB Drinks for CGA by NIQ, says: "The low- and no-alcohol market category continues to be one of the stand-out performers in the on-trade. Heineken is putting 25% of brand investment into the alcohol-free category, with the aim of making Heineken 0.0 the world's largest non-alcoholic beer brand. Add to that a continuing demographic shift, with studies showing younger consumers are cutting back or cutting out alcohol, and the fact that offering low- and no-alcohol brands gives the drinks industry a counter-argument to calls for stricter alcohol legislation, the appeal of continued investment is even clearer.Īsahi Europe & International, which supplies brands including Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0%, has stated that it aims for 20% of its product portfolio to be non-alcoholic by 2030. The low- and no-alcohol category only accounted for 0.3% of on-trade drinks sales in the year to March 2023, so it effectively doubled in just six months, across a period when there was no Dry January or Stoptober campaigns to encourage abstinence. In itself that seems barely worth the bother, but the drinks players can clearly scent growth. In the on-trade, CGA figures for the year to the end of September 2023 show that the low- and no-alcohol category accounted for just 0.6% of drink sales by both value and volume, with the figures covering beer, cider, wine, spirits and ready to drink beverages. ![]() On the face of it, the huge investment in new product development and brand support going into the low- and no-alcohol sector barely seems worth the resources the drinks industry is devoting to it. Sometimes, the fiercest battles are fought over the smallest of victories. Low- and no-alcohol drinks may seem like a drop in the ocean, but the category is growing fast.
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