Big Beer’s plan for growth? Drop the alcohol

Is it really in response to changing consumer lifestyles, or is it just a secret ploy to save on excise?

Right now, the “low and no” category, as the industry calls it, has a taste and image problem, and as a result makes up only about two percent of overall beer consumption.

Despite the low base, some analysts expect that the move toward health will make “low and no” one of the fastest-growing categories in beer. The compound annual growth rate for beer overall was less than one percent between 2010 and 2016, but “low and no” beers reportedly grew at 5.2 percent.

The rate of growth of alcohol-free beers has made the category a “major priority” for the Big Brewers. AB-InBev has said it wants 20 percent of its global beer volumes to come from “low and no” by 2025 – it is currently in the mid-single digits - and now has zero-alcohol varieties of its global brands.

Earlier this year Heineken launched an alcohol-free variety of its flagship brand in Europe. Carlsberg, too, has highlighted non-alcoholic beer as a key focus, and aims to double the distribution of “low and no” brews by 2022 as part of its Together Towards Zero programme.

The fundamental question remains: why would consumers pick a “low and no” beer rather than a soft drink if they seek to avoid alcohol, or just drink water if they don’t want the calories?

Perhaps brewers will need to change the propositions of their alcohol-free beers. Maybe they should offer them as a “good tasting” alternative to soft drinks rather than a substitute for beer. But the confusion remains for as long as the alcohol-free versions come under the Big Brewers’ global labels. Here the differences in taste and flavour might continue to represent a problem.