Alcohol-free beer: Healthier but no cheaper
Why are non-booze beers and ciders so expensive when there’s no excise tax to pay? Rob Stock reports.
Sipping a beer as an antidote to the summer heat is increasingly a sober affair as sales of zero-alcohol beers boom, but there are questions about the prices being charged.
The quality of zero-alcohol beer in the shops has taken a leap forward, and in June an imported alcohol-freewheat beer took a top award at the New World Beer and Cider Awards.
But Dr Nicki Jackson from Alcohol Healthwatch called on brewers and retailers to rethink their pricing.
Although there is an extra cost to removing alcohol from beer, Jackson said about 20 per cent of the price of beer is alcohol excise tax.
That’s a cost brewers of noalcohol beer do not have to shoulder.
Big brewers Lion and DB both said it cost more to make zeroalcohol beer than alcoholic beer, but neither would saywhether it cost 20 per centmore.
Bridget MacDonald from the Alcohol Beverages Council, a political lobby group for drinks makers, said it did.
‘‘Having no excise tax on a zeroalcohol beer does not directly offset the additional production costs for producing that beer,’’ she said.
‘‘For an imported beer, the cost of the additional de-alcoholisation process and importing the beer are significantlymore than any excise savings.’’
In many shops, zero-alcohol versions of big brand beers are sold for the same price, or higher, as their with-alcohol namesakes, a practice known as line-pricing.
On December 11 at Liquor King, 12-packs of alcoholic Heineken 300ml bottles were on sale for the same price ($24.99) as the noalcohol version.
At New World Mt Roskill, Auckland, the 12-packs of 330ml bottles of Heineken cost $21.99, while the zero-alcohol version cost $22.99.
That’s not always the way. At Pak ’n Save Royal Oak, Auckland, the alcoholic version of Export Gold was selling for $19.99 compared to $16.79 for the nonalcoholic.
A lot of big-brand alcoholic beer is sold in larger packs for parties, barbecues, to stock larders, and to satisfy heavy drinkers.
Retailers discount these bulkbuys, resulting in the price-perbottle of the alcoholic versions of beers being significantly lower than the no-alcohol versions, which are not sold in these larger packs.
Natasha Gillooly, brand PR and contentmanager at DB Breweries, which brews Heineken, said retailers set the price atwhich beer was sold, but would not reveal the prices it charged retailers for alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer.
Heineken 0.0 was brewed twice, and the speciality equipment needed to gently remove the alcohol was not available in New Zealand, so the product was imported from overseas, she said.
Sara Tucker, spokeswoman for Lion, which ownsMac’s, said the retailers set prices, but agreed noalcohol beer cost more to make.
‘‘On top of all the same input costs to the beer, there is process requiring specialist imported and very expensive equipment,’’ she said.
Grant Simpson, general manager NZ Tasman & Allied Liquor, which operates the BottleO, Merchants Liquor and Liquor Centre stores, said beer manufacturers set the price to retailers.
‘‘The retailers apply a fairly standardmargin across the beer category as awhole, hence in general the pricing position is driven by the manufacturers, not the retailers,’’ he said.
Countdown spokeswoman Kate Porter said: ‘‘There are a range of factors that make up the price of a product, including the cost we are charged by a supplier or manufacturer, transport, whether a product is imported ormade locally, etc.
Zeffer Cider chief executive Josh Townsend said consumers were moderating their consumption – ‘‘they’re drinking better, but less’’.
His company’s zero-alcohol ciderwas now its best seller.
‘‘It’s a trend that’s going to continue.’’
It wasn’t only sober drivers who wanted the zero-alcohol cider, he said.
It was also in demand from pregnantwomen, and people drinking at social gatherings who wanted something between alcoholic drinks so they didn’t spend evenings ‘‘loading up’’.
The trendwas being encouraged by brewers finally getting decent product on to the shelves.
‘‘They’re getting better at making them. The technology has improved, though a lot of people keep their methods quite secret,’’ Donaldson said.
‘‘The interest people have in healthier lifestyle choices means the timing is just right for it.’’
Jackson expects to see a rise in the advertising of no-alcohol beer this summer, especially around sporting events.
But she said the advertising would still be brand-building exercises for the brewers, which continued to profit from problem drinking.
MacDonald said driving uptake of no-alcohol beverages required giving them more visibility and accessibility.
‘‘It’s really positive that no- and low-alcohol beverages are becoming increasingly popular and respected for their quality.’’
But Jackson sounded a note of warning on potential issues.
‘‘Iwas told of a child taking zeroalcohol beer to school. I had a parent email me about it the other day,’’ Jackson said.
‘‘It’s really positive that no- and low-alcohol beverages are becoming increasingly popular and respected for their quality.’’ Bridget MacDonald Alcohol Beverages Council