The price of dry January
Non-alcohol beer for a month? You’ll be counting cost
CUTTING back on booze for dry January is all well and good – but the rise in alcohol-free beer prices may have you reaching for the real stuff.
Supermarkets appear to be cashing in on the annual month of abstinence of Erdinger Alkoholfrei Wheat for millions by pumping
Beer jumped 75 per cent from £1 to up prices on alcohol- free £1.75. And 12-packs of Heineken versions of popular brands. 0.0 jumped 64 per cent from £7 to
Figures from analysts Assosia for £11.50 at Sainsbury’s.
The Grocer magazine showed the Many low or zero-alcohol products average price of nine brews, including are even priced on a par with Birra Moretti Zero and Guinness big brands that do contain booze Draught 0.0, rose 22.3 per cent despite not carrying duty. at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons For example, a 440ml can of and Waitrose since the start standard Guinness is £1.21 in of December. supermarkets, including duty of
The biggest single annual hike 37p. By contrast, the zero-alcohol was at Waitrose, where 500ml bottles version costs just a penny less at £1.20 without duty. There has been an average increase of 13.3 per cent for low and no-alcohol beer and cider across the same five retailers in a year.
This compares with a smaller rise of 10.4 per cent across the alcohol sector as a whole.
Some of the bigger rises reflect the fact that this year’s prices were compared with lower promotional figures at this period in 2023. For example, at Asda, bottles of Doom Bar Brewery Zero
Amber Ale (500ml) were up by some 50 per cent, 15-packs of Beck’s Blue Alcohol-Free Lager rose by 42.3 per cent, and eightpacks of Bavaria 0.0 per cent Original Alcohol-Free Beer were up 37.5 per cent.
Using a like-for-like comparison – removing promotional prices – the survey found 76 of 124 lines had increased prices by an average 15.6 per cent since last January. Guinness maker Diageo defended high prices, insisting:
‘Our non-alcoholic products have taken years of research.’
Waitrose said many of its prices had stayed flat, while Sainsbury’s cited the potentially misleading comparison to 2023’s promotional figures. The other three supermarkets did not comment.
Around 8.5 million people – or one in eight Britons – say they hope to cut back for Dry January.