Although alcohol-free beers have been around for several years, their consumption has changed significantly, particularly in recent months.
According to the data research firm Nielsen, sales of alcohol-free beers jumped by more than 40% worldwide at the beginning of 2020 compared to the previous year. Another report predicts that the world market for alcohol-free beer should be worth almost 29 billion dollars within 5 years.
In Europe, the market is very dynamic: in Sweden, one out of every ten beers sold is alcohol-free beer, in Spain alcohol-free beers account for 14% of the volume of beer sales. In France, non-alcoholic beers, which today represent more than 8% of the beers sold, have grown by 15% in 2020.
This success can be explained in different ways. The consumer trend towards non-alcoholic beverages is obviously an important factor, but the quality and diversity of the products is also a major factor. Although the technologies for de-alcoholisation to obtain alcohol-free beers have existed for many years, they are much better mastered today and many applications have been developed. R&D has also enabled a great deal of progress to be made on the quality of alcohol-free products, with companies such as B&S Tech contributing their expertise in the development of high-quality alcohol-free products.
In addition, the coronavirus has profoundly changed our relationship with alcohol towards more responsible drinking. Ottaway, the director of the American Brooklyn Brewery, wonders if containment has not made many of us more aware of how much alcohol we drink. The firm Shaw-Brown also revealed that 40% of those questioned on the subject said that the pandemic had made them drink less.
Finally, non-alcoholic beers have been able to benefit from greater attention from industrialists, particularly in marketing and promotion. Many brands took advantage of the Dry January craze to launch their new alcohol-free products or to create innovative marketing campaigns. Heineken, for example, created an extraordinary pack of 31 of its Heineken 0.0s to enjoy a beer every day during the month of January. Medium-size breweries have also expanded their product range and are increasingly offering alcohol-free versions of existing beers. Distributors have also participated in this craze by offering monthly subscriptions and boxes of alcohol-free beers, formerly reserved for classic beers.
The coronavirus crisis, by having upset our drinking habits, has therefore largely contributed to the boom in alcohol-free beers. This new trend benefits industrialists and brewers who can thus diversify their production while responding to a real consumer craze.