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, alcohol-free 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 (well the spirits and beers) actually have a similar cost to alcoholic brands so they aren’t losing out on profit margins; if anything they are helping to promote a healthier lifestyle so should give alcohol-free drinks more shelf space.
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 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; looking at their range of wine, spirits, ciders, beers, and aperitifs.
At some point, I will get round to reviewing US stores but in the meantime, this is focused on UK stores.
FIRST PLACE
OCADO
Ocado are simply a million miles ahead of any other supermarket with over 125 alcohol-free items in stock! 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 – Caleno spirit at £18
Lowest cost product – Stowford Press cider at £1.10
# of beers
# of ciders
# of spirits
# of wines
# of aperitifs
SECOND PLACE
SAINSBURY’S
Now I knew they 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.
Although Sainsbury’s has half the number of non-alcoholic drinks that Ocado offer they still have almost triple the amount of the next the supermarket below . So, whether it’s online or in the store Sainsbury’s is a good choice for those looking for alcohol-free wines, spirits and beers.
The following alcohol-free drinks were found on Sainsbury’s site.
Highest cost product – Seedlip 42 botanical at £26
Lowest cost product – Sainsbury’s medium dry cider at £1.30
# of beers
# of ciders
# of spirits
# of wines
# of aperitifs
THIRD 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 than 20 products on offer. In fact when I went round a Tesco Extra store recently there was a pretty measly offering.
Tesco will be ok if you want some basic alcohol-free options (with the exception of wine) 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 – Clean G alcohol-free gin at £19
Lowest cost product – Koppaberg Pear Cider at £1.30
# of beers
# of ciders
# of spirits
# of wines
# of aperitifs
FOURTH PLACE
ASDA
Asda came in at a similar number of products to Tesco, just 17 and so should really be stocking more as the demand increases. That said, at least Asda had a single bottle of alcohol-free wine to choose from (which Tesco didn’t) but they also only had a single alcohol-free spirit, which really isn’t good enough.
At the end of the day if you’re after choice and a decent selection of non-alcoholic drinks then choose from the top two supermarkts above.
The following alcohol-free drinks were found on Asda’s site.
Highest cost product – Gordon’s Alcohol-Free – £12
Lowest cost product – Stowford Press alcohol-free – £1
# of beers
# of ciders
# of spirits
# of wines
# of aperitifs
FIFTH PLACE
MORRISONS
Personally, I’ve never been a fan of Morrisons. Generally speaking, their stores have a grubby feel to them and their food can be pretty grim (although the pizzas are good!) so I wasn’t surprised to see Morrisons only offer six alcohol-free products.
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 – Tanqueray alcohol-free gin – £16
Lowest cost product – Brooklyn Effects Lager – £1.30
# of beers
# of ciders
# of spirits
# of wines
# of aperitifs
Online alcohol-free stores
I did also look at Aldi and there wasn’t a single alcohol-free product that came up. Useless. Even my local corner shop had four alcohol-free beers to choose from. Aldi really needs to buck their ideas up.
Appreciate this article is about 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 have 100s of products to select, from hard to find non-alcoholic ales to premixed cocktails 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
