The booze-free boom taking over supermarket shelves

The pop of a cork, the clatter of a beer-bottle cap – both sounds we associate with the end of the day. Our habit of demarcating the transition from work to relaxation with a drink is still in place, but it has changed. Increasingly, we’re pouring drinks with no – or almost no – alcohol.

Last month, Waitrose announced that it planned to devote 60 per cent more space to no- and low-alcohol drinks. M&S is introducing 10 new no/low products this month, and Tesco is considering giving them more space in some stores from the start of 2024. Why wouldn’t they, when the appetite is so strong?

Recent research by M&S shows that one in three of its customers has already reduced, or is thinking about reducing, their alcohol intake. And according to analysis by drinks data company IWSR, half of UK adults bought a no or low drink last year.

Pierpaolo Petrassi, head of wine, beer and spirits at Waitrose, likens the shift to the move towards more plantbased eating. ‘If you’re a meat-eater, you might do a meat-free Monday,’ he explains. Similarly, with alcohol, ‘it’s about moderating consumption rather than it being a binary on-off ’.

An often-repeated myth is that the abstinence of Gen Z is driving the growth. But supermarket sales data shared with The Telegraph shows interest is fairly evenly spread across all age groups. At Sainsbury’s, it’s the 55- to 64-year-old demographic – young baby boomers and older Gen X-ers – that takes the biggest slice (23 per cent), but the 45- to 54-year-old group is only two percentage points behind.

Beer, which works really well (in that it actually tastes good) in no/low incarnations is still the most popular choice, but ‘we’re pleased to see wine and spirits increasing’, says John Storm, trading director at Majestic. The retailer has seen phenomenal growth in no/low in the past year, with no/low still wines up 32.7 per cent, sparkling wines up 75.5 per cent, beer and cider up 22.7 per cent, and spirits up 29.1 per cent.

Its Noughty Organic Sparkling Chardonnay 0% – for me, one of the most successful alcohol-free sparkling wines taste-wise – has done so well, with sales up 116 per cent, that Majestic has brought in a rosé version.

Big-brand beers such as Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0%, Guinness 0.0% and Heineken 0.0%, meanwhile, have become such a staple of our shopping trolleys that Waitrose and Sainsbury’s have introduced larger pack sizes (12s, 10s and sixes) in the past few months.

Many of those buying into no/low opt for what the trade calls ‘switchers’ – versions of alcoholic products they already enjoy. But younger drinkers tend to pick different options, says Bryony Wilkinson at M&S: ‘The ready-to-drink cans go really well at our station stores, and are very much bought by a younger demographic.’ They include a 0.5% Cola & Golden Spiced, and Grapefruit & Chilli Collins (£2). Her renovation of the M&S range also saw a 0.5% mulled wine and 0.5% Bucks Fizz hit shelves this week.

Don’t be too obsessed with finding a zero-alcohol simulacrum of your favourite drink. Yes, some of the brightest stars of the no/low firmament take inspiration from Italian bitters and vermouths. But others, such as sparkling tea-based drinks, are new inventions altogether.