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Best alcohol-free beer: Beck's, Peroni and Stella Artois vs Aldi, Lidl and more
There's an ever-expanding range of low-alcohol and alcohol-free beers to choose from, but which ones will be crowd-pleasers, and which are best left on the shelf?
We asked a panel of 64 people to blind-taste and rate a selection of popular alcohol-free beers and lagers, including big brands such as Beck's, Peroni and Stella Artois, and supermarket options from Aldi, Lidl, Marks & Spencer and more.
Our tasters were impressed by two standout beers, one of which is a real bargain compared to rivals. However, some failed to impress.
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Best low-alcohol beer
Only logged-in Which? members can view our full test results below. If you're not yet a member, you'll see an alphabetically ordered list of the low-alcohol beers we tested.
To get instant access to these and all our reviews, join Which? today.
Aldi Rheinbacher Pilsner 0.0% ABV
£3.29 for 6x330ml bottles (17p per 100ml)
Can Aldi's budget beer match the popularity of the big brands on test?
Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out where this low-alcohol beer ranked overall.
Want to buy without reading our results? Available in-store at Aldi.
Beck's Blue 0.0% ABV
£4 for 6x275ml bottles (24p per 100ml)
It's one of the cheaper brands on test, so could be a good choice when you've got guests. But is it a crowd-pleaser?
Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out where this low-alcohol beer ranked overall.
Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Asda, Co-op, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
Birra Moretti Zero 0.0% ABV
£5 for 4x330ml bottles (38p per 100ml)
Does this beer offer a perfectly balanced flavour, just as its maker claims?
Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out where this low-alcohol beer ranked overall.
Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Amazon, Asda, Co-op, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
Budweiser Zero 0.0% ABV
£3.75 for 4x330ml cans (28p per 100ml)
Budweiser promises this Zero beer has the same iconic taste as its alcoholic version. What did our taste testers think?
Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out where this low-alcohol beer ranked overall.
Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Amazon, Asda, Co-op and Sainsbury’s.
Corona Cero 0.0% ABV
£4.50 for 4x330ml bottles (34p per 100ml)
Did our panel agree that this beer has a crisp, refreshing taste? That's what Corona says.
Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out where this low-alcohol beer ranked overall.
Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Asda, Co-op, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
Heineken 0.0% ABV
£5 for 6x330ml cans (25p per 100ml)
Fruity notes and a soft malty body are promised for this beer. What did our panel think?
Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out where this low-alcohol beer ranked overall.
Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Amazon, Asda, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
Lidl Perlenbacher 0.0% ABV
£2.99 for 6x330ml bottles (15p per 100ml)
Did the cheapest low-alcohol beer on test impress our blind-taste testers?
Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out where this low-alcohol beer ranked overall.
Want to buy without reading our results? Available in-store at Lidl.
Lucky Saint Superior Unfiltered Lager 0.5% ABV
£6 for 4x330ml cans (45p per 100ml)
It's one of the priciest beers on test, but is it also one of the best?
Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out where this low-alcohol beer ranked overall.
Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
M&S Low Alcohol Czech Lager 0.5% ABV
£1.80 for a 500ml bottle (36p per 100ml).
Is this beer from Marks & Spencer a good choice to serve at your summer barbecue?
Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out where this low-alcohol beer ranked overall.
Want to buy without reading our results? Available in-store at M&S and from Ocado.
Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0% ABV
£5.25 for 4x330ml bottles (40p per 100ml)
Could this pricier-than-average beer be worth splashing out on for those special occasions?
Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out where this low-alcohol beer ranked overall.
Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Amazon, Asda, Co-op, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
San Miguel 0.0% ABV
£4.25 for 4x330ml bottles (32p per 100ml)
It's described as herbal with cereal aromas and hoppy grainy flavours. But did our panel of taste testers enjoy it?
Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out where this low-alcohol beer ranked overall.
Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Amazon, Co-op, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
Stella Artois 0.0% ABV
£3.50 for 4x330ml bottles (34p per 100ml)
Has 600 years of Belgian brewing heritage helped to make this brand's alcohol-free beer something to be relished?
Join Which? to unlock our test results and find out where this low-alcohol beer ranked overall.
Want to buy without reading our results? Available from Amazon, Asda, Co-op, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
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How we tested alcohol-free beer
All the beers were blind-tasted and rated by a panel of 64 people in April 2025 at our specialist test lab.
All of our panel were regular beer buyers who were open to drinking low-alcohol or alcohol-free beer, and the group broadly represented the demographic profile of adults in the UK (age range, gender split and more).
The taste test was blind, so our testers didn’t know which brand they were trying. They tasted the beers in a fully rotated order to avoid any bias. Each tester had a private tasting booth so they couldn’t discuss what they were tasting or be influenced by others.
The tasters rated the flavour, aroma, appearance and mouthfeel of each beer, and told us what they liked and disliked.
The overall score was based on:
- 50% flavour
- 20% aroma
- 15% appearance
- 15% mouthfeel.
These weightings are based on what people ranked as the most important attributes when tasting low-alcohol beer.
All our results are checked and analysed by our in-house statistical team.
Is low-alcohol or no-alcohol beer a healthier option?
Alcohol-free beers are a good alternative for people who want to reduce their alcohol consumption. The NHS advises that drinking too much alcohol can raise your risk of stroke, high blood pressure, certain cancers and liver disease.
As well as negligible amounts of alcohol, alcohol-free beer has fewer calories than the sterner stuff. Regular beer contains, on average, 40kcal per 100ml, while alcohol-free versions tend to have about half this amount.
Low-alcohol beer is made from the same ingredients as standard beer – water, malted barley, hops and yeast. Some beer also contains maize, rice, sugar or flavourings. Most are suitable for vegans.
What's the difference between low-alcohol beer and alcohol-free beer?
Most of the beers we tested were completely alcohol-free.
You'll often see alcohol-free options labelled as low or no-alcohol, generally most are between 0% and 0.5% ABV. This proportion isn't considered enough to cause inebriation.
0% beers may state on the packaging that they contain up to 0.05%, but this is so negligible as to count as alcohol-free.
Do you need to be 18 to buy low-alcohol or alcohol-free beer?
In the UK, any drink containing less than 0.5% ABV is not legally considered alcohol and can be purchased by under-18s.
However, individual supermarkets have different policies and some, such as M&S and Tesco, state you need to be over 18 to buy their low-alcohol products.
How is alcohol-free beer made?
Retaining the flavour, look and mouthfeel of the original alcoholic beer is the aim of most manufacturers when creating a low-alcohol or alcohol-free version. This is traditionally tricky as alcohol does a lot of work to carry body and flavour in boozy drinks.
However, things have improved substantially over the years, and it is possible to get good alcohol-free options.
The standard way of producing low-alcohol beer was to boil the standard beer and evaporate the alcohol. However, some breweries now use vacuum evaporation, a method that avoids boiling, or create beer that's alcohol-free from the start.
For more food and drink recommendations based on our independent taste tests, see our guide to the best food and drink, and more about how we run taste tests.
Prices and availability checked: 25 April 2025