Which is the best supermarket for alcohol-free drinks?
You may have seen that over the past couple of years, there has been an influx of alcohol-free drinks on supermarket shelves and that’s been driven by a demand by the drinkers and an increase in new drinks by suppliers.
Of course, non-alcoholic drinks take up a small percentage of the rows and rows of alcoholic drinks but they are beginning to gain traction and muscle into this real estate. Supermarkets certainly don’t mind this move given non-alcoholic drinks actually have a similar cost to alcoholic brands so they aren’t losing out on profit margins (but do have a shorter shelflife due to lack of alcohol).
The reason I wrote this article was that I found, when wandering around supermarkets, that there were varying levels of stock and choice when it came to various stores. In fact, if you go online one supermarket offered over 120 alcohol-free products and the worst-placed shop didn’t have a single choice!
Which supermarket has the most alcohol-free drinks?
Due to the inconsistency of going into a physical store and counting the number of different drinks available I’ve taken the top UK supermarkets – Tesco, Ocado, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Asda – and reviewed their alcohol-free drinks online.
My research across all supermarkets can be seen below however I did not both listiting Aldi as they only had a single alcohol-free beer option and dont deserve any exposure.
Due to my current location, this article reviews UK supermarkets. This article proved popular so I’ve updated it for 2023.
FIRST PLACE
OCADO
Ocado is simply a million miles ahead of any other supermarket with over 150 non-alcoholic items on offer! Perhaps this is due to Ocado appealing to a more affluent (and dare I say health-conscious) audience who can afford to buy online and pay a premium.
I was particularly impressed by Ocado’s alcohol-free wine and spirit collection (which is generally quite sparse from other retailers) but they could do with increasing the number of aperitifs on offer.
If you are hosting a party and need a good selection of alcohol-free drinks then Ocado should be your first port of call.
The following alcohol-free drinks were found on Ocado’s site.
Highest cost product – Wild Idol sparkling – £30
Lowest cost product – Adnams Wild Wave – £1.10
# of beers
# of ciders
# of spirits & aperitifs
# of wines
SECOND PLACE
SAINSBURY’S
Now I knew Sainsbury’s would do pretty well as I have one near where I live and they have an extensive area for alcohol-free drinks that has grown in size and variety. They even have a low and no alcohol section on their website.
That said, since I last reviewed them Sainsbury’s has sadly decided to stock less options online. However, there is still a pretty good choice on offer.
The following alcohol-free drinks were found on Sainsbury’s site.
Highest cost product – Alcohol-free Tanquerary – £17
Lowest cost product – Erdinger Alkoholfrei – £1.65
# of beers
# of ciders
# of spirits
# of wines
THIRD PLACE
ASDA
Over the past year or so Asda has increased its selection of alcohol-free drinks and as such has jumped above Tesco’s.
Although they do have some interesting and ‘rarer’ drinks on offer at the end of the day if you’re after a larger choice and a decent selection of non-alcoholic drinks then choose from the top two supermarkets above.
The following alcohol-free drinks were found on Asda’s site.
Highest cost product – Gordon’s Alcohol-Free – £15
Lowest cost product – Bud Zero – £3
# of beers
# of ciders
# of spirits
# of wines
FOURTH PLACE
TESCO
In third place comes Tesco. To be honest, given the size and buying power of Tesco I thought they would have had more non-alcoholic products to choose from. In fact, when I went round a Tesco Extra store recently there was a pretty measly offering.
They are slowly improving their offering and Tesco will be ok if you want some basic alcohol-free options but if you’re looking for variety and choice then look elsewhere.
The following alcohol-free drinks were found on Tesco’s site.
Highest cost product – Tanquerary Alcohol-free – £17.50
Lowest cost product – Koppaberg Pear Cider at £3.75
# of beers
# of ciders
# of spirits
# of wines
FIFTH PLACE
MORRISONS
Personally, I’ve never been a fan of Morrisons so I wasn’t surprised to see Morrisons only offered a handful of alcohol-free products. That said since I last wrote this article they have increased their selection and now offer a few non-alcoholic wines (they had none last time).
If you are looking for a generic non-alcoholic beer then great, go to Morrisons, if not, go someplace else!
The following alcohol-free drinks were found on Morrison’s site.
Highest cost product – Gordon’s pink gin – £16
Lowest cost product – Brooklyn Effects Lager – £1.30
# of beers
# of ciders
# of spirits
# of wines
Online alcohol-free stores
I appreciate this article is about physical supermarkets but if you really are interested in trying out a variety of alcohol-free drinks then I suggest checking out some of the online alcohol-free specialists below who stock hundreds of drinks from hard-to-find non-alcoholic ales to premixed mocktails and sparkling wines.
The Dry Drinker is a great allrounder when it comes to alcohol-free drinks with a great range of wines, beers and spirits.
Ideal for … UK AND EU CUSTOMERS
Proof No More is a great new alcohol-free retailer that brings all the latest and greatest beers, spirits and more to your door. Check out their extensive collection of non-alcoholic drinks.
Ideal for …. US and CANADIAN CUSTOMERS
