For some England fans it would be unthinkable to watch the Euro 2024 final without a beer in hand, but with the prospect of work in the morning, many will be dodging a hangover by switching to alcohol-free booze.
Retailers have seen huge sales of no- or low-alcohol (nolo) beer, cider, wine and canned “mocktails” in the past few days, as hosts get ready for Sunday night’s viewing parties.
They are catering for the UK’s growing number of non-drinkers as well as guests who embrace the increasingly common tactic of alternating between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks – called “zebra striping” – to avoid a headache in the morning.
While early adopters balked at beer or wine substitutes that tasted nothing like the real thing, those wanting to keep a clear head while also enjoying a drink on Sunday can have no such objections. Brands including Heineken, Peroni, Corona and Guinness have all entered the fray, while fans of a gin and tonic can have alternative no-alcohol spirits from Gordon’s and Tanqueray.
Waitrose says its sales of alcohol-free beer are up by a third this year, with demand picking up during the tournament as fans kept their midweek drinking in check.
“With the match being on a Sunday evening we expect this trend to continue,” said Pierpaolo Petrassi, Waitrose’s head of beer, wine and spirits.
Nolo drinks are becoming big business. A recent report by the hospitality research organisation KAM said that 5.2 million fewer adults drank alcohol on a weekly basis in 2023 than in 2021.
Although a drop in the ocean compared to traditional booze, shoppers spent more than £300m on nolo drinks in supermarkets last year, with Lucky Saint, Heineken 0.0, Guinness 0.0 and Beck’s Blue among the big sellers.
“When we launched in 2018, the world was a very different place,” said Luke Boase, the founder of Lucky Saint, which claims to be the UK’s bestselling independent alcohol-free beer. “Alcohol-free used to be a dry January thing, but now it’s year-round.”
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This social acceptance, Boase told The Grocer magazine, was thanks to better products and advertising that sought to make it an aspirational lifestyle choice.
Indeed, big brands are spending millions on ads and sports sponsorships aimed at young, fashion-conscious consumers. Last year, an ad for Heineken 0.0 featured world champion driver Max Verstappen driving friends home after a night out, while Corona Cero is an official sponsor of the Olympics.
Online retailer Ocado says it is seeing the same effect, with sales of nolo drinks up by a fifth since the tournament got under way in mid-June. It has also seen a rise in demand for alcohol-free wine and mocktails, with cans of Marks & Spencer’s “peach sunset” and “pink passion star” cocktails among the favourites.
In response to rising demand, Ocado has expanded its range to 210 drinks, with its buyer Oscar Biggs suggesting the higher sales pointed to a “shift toward mindful consumption, with customers opting for more conscious choices while enjoying the football this summer”.