Low, no and mid-strength drink labelling varies widely throughout the world. If you’re in the UK, this is what you need to know:
Alcohol-Free Drinks
Any alcohol substitute drink containing no more than 0.05% ABV
(ABV stands for Alcohol by Volume, and it’s what determines how tiddled a drink can get you)
Be careful, many countries that we import from set their maximum ABV for alcohol-free drinks at 0.5% or more.
De-Alcoholised Drinks
These are drinks that did initially contain alcohol that has since been removed.
The final ABV of the drink can be no more than 0.5% ABV.
Low Alcohol Drinks
Low-alcohol drinks can be up to 1.2% ABV.
Mid-Strength Drinks
Mid-strength refers to a drink with around half the usual ABV you would expect to see for that drink type, like a 3% lager or a 6% wine.
This is an exciting new category with independent and ‘big alcohol’ brands now producing a lot more options.
Non-Alcoholic Drinks
This is where it gets a little messy:
Brands are not permitted to use the term ‘non-alcoholic’ to refer to drinks that you usually expect to contain alcohol.
So the phrases ‘non-alcoholic wine’ or ‘non-alcoholic whiskey’, for example, aren’t technically allowed, as the words wine and whiskey are so entwined with alcohol.
This is why you’ll often see drinks labelled as an ‘alternative’.
In The US
In the US, ‘non-alcoholic’ drinks can contain up to 0.5% ABV, while ‘alcohol-free’ is reserved for drinks containing no alcohol.
‘Dealcoholized’ means the drink originally contained alcohol which was later removed, although up to 0.5% ABV may remain.
Unlike the UK, there is no single official definition of ‘low alcohol’ covering every type of drink.
But It’s Not Law
These descriptors are merely guidance, not legally mandated, which means the whole practice is open to error, misuse or genuine misunderstanding from all sides.
(All except for mid-strength, which has been given no official consideration by government, and is just the label that those in the industry have collectively fallen on.)
Luckily most brands do follow the guidance, and although it’s not law, penalties can still be levied if a producer is found to be deliberately misleading its customers.
Confused?
It’s understandable if you are.
Products from Europe and further afield, such as the US and Australia, which regularly import low/no drinks to the UK, might use different terms for different ABVs altogether.
So it’s not uncommon, if you’re exploring this whole new world of low and no, to be holding two different beers in each hand with the same label but different amounts of alcohol.
A Difference of Opinion
There are some who argue that alcohol-free should be just that – 0% alcohol.
But there are others who point out the little-known but omnipresent alcohol levels in many of our daily groceries.
Laura Willoughby of Club Soda, for example, often references the alcohol content of a brioche bun, which is a surprising 2%!
Many soft drinks, ripe fruit, and many other daily products can contain around 0.5% ABV, but because they aren’t related to alcohol, it doesn’t get labelled.
Changing Labels
The conversation has been going on for some time now, but the Department for Health & Social Care is still strongly considering changing the UK descriptor for alcohol-free from 0.05% (currently one of the lowest in the world) up to 0.5% to match the majority of locations we import from.
Whether this will happen anytime soon is anyone’s guess, make sure you’re subscribed to the website and I’ll let you know when we get an update, and how it might affect your moderation efforts.
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