A six pack of beer that costs less than a bag of crisps is currently available in stores in Atherstone all throughout Britain, and for some reason, it has surpassed brewers who have spent decades perfecting the alcohol free pint. That is the peculiar, perhaps implausible tale of Rheinbacher 0% Pilsner from Aldi, which quietly sold for £2.99 per pack while winning Gold at the 2024 World Beer Awards. It’s the kind of information that stops you from scrolling. A budget store that produces legitimately competitive goods in a market dominated by brands like Heineken and Lucky Saint, but is primarily renowned for its own label products and knockoff branding.
This wasn’t always the case. If you were to visit an Aldi in January 2021, you would have discovered a few tentative attempts, such as Sainte Etienne, a French produced beer named after a small German town but strangely isn’t even brewed in Germany. After five years, the selection has grown to be truly expansive, including pilsners, IPAs, IPLs, Karlskrone, a German style lager, gin substitutes under the Greyson’s brand, and even alcohol free cocktail cans targeted directly at twenty somethings who would prefer not to drink at all. It’s probable that no one at Aldi anticipated this would become a mainstay of their drink section. Here we are.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Retailer | Aldi UK |
| Flagship product | Rheinbacher Pilsner 0% Alcohol Free 6-Pack |
| Price | £3.29 (1.98L) — approx. 55p per 330ml bottle |
| Award | Gold, World Beer Awards 2024 |
| Independent rating | 77/100, Good Housekeeping Institute Best Value, 2026 |
| Other key product | Sainte Etienne Alcohol Free Lager, 500ml, 89p |
| ABV | 0% (Sainte Etienne, Rheinbacher, Karlskrone); 0.5% (Hop Foundry range) |
| Headquarters | Atherstone, Warwickshire, England |
It’s worth taking a moment to consider the pricing since it conveys its own tale. A bottle of Rheinbacher 0% costs about 62p. Sainte Etienne costs 89p and is offered in an exceptionally generous 500ml container, which most UK brands have abandoned in favor of the regular 330ml. Compare that to Beck’s Blue, which costs about 80p for a smaller pour, or Heineken 0.0, which costs closer to £1.25 per bottle. It’s not a subtle difference. Aldi has effectively undercut the whole market for alcohol free beer by roughly 30 to 40 percent, and it has managed to gain recognition from the industry in addition to the loyalty of budget conscious consumers.
Beyond the spreadsheet math, this is important for a reason. During the first two weeks of the campaign, 40,000 bottles and cans of 0% beer passed through tills every day, making Dry January 2025 what Aldi’s own press office dubbed its greatest yet. Sales of the company’s alcohol free sparkling wine, Zerozecco, increased by about 190% annually. It seems that Greyson’s new 79p cocktail cans were selling for over 100 per hour. It’s difficult to say with certainty whether this is due to actual quality improvements or merely the reality that affordable, accessible, and adequate have always been a winning mix at the register. Most likely both.
It’s important to note that reviewers have been less consistently impressed than the sales numbers indicate. The Rheinbacher received a decent 7.2 out of 10 from Tom Hallett’s Steady Drinker, which praised its “lovely drop with some great flavours” but noted that it had an excessively lemony edge. The evaluations from Untappd users have been much harsher, averaging 2.7 out of 5. In early 2026, one reviewer wrote “ain’t nothing gold about this.” The gap between expert tasting panels and regular drinkers opening a can after work seems to still exist. Perhaps it won’t be, at least not completely.
The cultural change that lies beneath all of this is more difficult to argue against. Just a few years ago, less than one third of UK drinkers said they occasionally drank low alcohol or non alcoholic beverages; today, nearly four out of ten say they do so. Nearly two out of every five people between the ages of 18 and 24 do not use alcohol at all. This is no longer a minority trend; it’s changing the way supermarkets stock their shelves, and Aldi has always opted to compete on price rather than status.
Ironically, a Reinheitsgebot breaking pilsner manufactured in France under a German sounding name has become one of the most talked about alcohol free beers in Britain, both in grocery aisles and on Reddit. Aldi’s ascent to category leadership in this case, pursuing value over virtue, seems almost accidental. It’s truly unclear if that recipe will hold as the no and low market develops and rivals improve their own products. The 62p pint is currently taking home gold medals, which speaks volumes about the future of British drinking habits.
i) https://www.aldi.co.uk/products/alcohol/beers-ciders/k/1588161416978055001
ii) https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/aldis-perfect-alternative-alcohol-free-9899669
iii) https://groceries.aldi.co.uk/en-GB/new-year/drinks/alcohol-free-drinks
iv) https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/tried-five-low-alcohol-beers-25923982