Alcohol-free beer: 4 insights

The Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2022 is happening again this weekend! Alcohol-free beer is clearly in the spotlight during this event. We took a closer look at the availability of alcohol-free beer and collected some striking insights.

Sales of alcohol-free beer in The Netherlands have increased by almost 500% since 2010, according to the Dutch Brewers Association. This also means that one out of fifteen beers that are drunk in the Netherlands is alcohol-free. Because of the large supply, which has more than doubled in the past five years, consumers can hardly ignore the alcohol-free variants.

1. Brand availability

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According to Roamler’s figures, the availability of non-alcoholic beer variants in the foodservice segments food, drink, sports, convenience, sleep and events is also increasing.

Currently, 57 percent of the locations in these segments have alcohol-free beer available, for lager with alcohol this is 68 percent. Roamler also sees an increasing number of different non-alcoholic variants being served per location.

Heineken and Amstel in particular are widely available with their alcohol-free beer brands. Bavaria, like Amstel, even has a better availability of alcohol-free beer than the main brand share of lager, with alcohol. Looking at the other bigger brands, we noticed that the availability of Hertog-Jan 0.0 is lower than that of their main brand of alcoholic lagers, and the availability of Grolsch is on the same level.

2. Regional differences

Regionally, we see that, relatively speaking, alcohol-free beer is present in most of the on-trade outlets in Zeeland and that the on-trade outlets in Flevoland lag behind.

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3. Differences per foodservice location

We also see major differences per type of foodservice location. The availability of non-alcoholic beer in takeaway/delivery and fast-food outlets is still low. In sports canteens the availability is now also at a high level, which is in line with the objectives of the National Prevention Agreement. However, the availability of non-alcoholic beer in sports canteens is not yet at the same (higher) level as alcoholic beer.

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4. Packaging

In general, beer is available on tap in 2 out of 3 locations and almost 40 percent of the locations serve beer in bottles. 2 out of 10 locations serve beer in cans; these are often the fast food locations but craft beer in cans is also increasingly available in pubs.

The availability of bottled beer is growing most rapidly in the on-trade and 40 percent of outlets that serve bottled beer now offer 10 or more variants. Alcohol-free beer is also most often served in bottles in the on-trade.

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Contact our experts

Are you interested in more beer insights, or looking for locations with a specific beer profile, please contact our experts. We keep track of the beer packaging that is available, the number of bottled types, the main beer brand, radler brands, non-alcoholic beer brands, the main supplier and much more in all foodservice and catering segments!