Heineken 0.0 will roll out on draught in the UK next year following a successful 12-week summer pilot in pubs across the Midlands and the North of England. It will be the first alcohol-free draught beer to sit alongside regular beer taps in any pub.
The company says the launch of draught will help address stigmas around the no and low category, which still exist despite the growth of the category.
“With Heineken 0.0 Draught sitting front and centre alongside other beer taps in pubs, and widely available in hundreds of establishments, the notion that you’re ordering something ‘different’ when opting for an alcohol free beer should become a thing of the past," says Heineken UK.
“The introduction of Heineken 0.0 Draught will give people even more choice and be crucial to normalising and accelerating the uptake of No and Low alcohol beer in the UK – something increasing numbers of people are exploring as drinking habits and attitudes toward drinking change.
"It is expected that the launch will help to make ordering alcohol free beer more acceptable, accessible and even a ‘cool’ choice for consumers.”
“Heineken 0.0 Draught brings no/low beer from the periphery into the mainstream. We’re confident it will, over time, change pubs to accommodate more occasions. And by that, I mean it won’t be unusual for people to pop down to their local for an alcohol free pint or two.
"That might sound strange now, but we’re confident in the very near future it’ll become the norm.”
James Crampton, Corporate Affairs Director for Heineken UK
The No and Low alcohol beer category is currently worth around £90m ($120m) per year in the UK: but as more and more people moderate their drinking the value of the category is set to increase.
Heineken 0.0 first hit the UK in 2017 in bottles and cans as one of the first markets for Heineken’s big push into the non-alcoholic market.
In 2019, this was followed with the launch of Heineken 0.0 Draught on the counter-top Blade system.
Heineken 0.0 launched in the US in 2019 and is now available in 94 markets globally.
In 2020 it grew 'stong double digits' globally; against flat volumes for brand Heineken (0.4%) and an 8.1% decline for the overall beer portfolio in the pandemic year.
The beverage forms the cornerstone of the Dutch brewer's ambitions to have two non-alcoholic beverages in the majority of its markets by 2023.
