Supermarkets saw a marked slowdown in the rate of growth of low & no-alcohol sales in January, according to new data.
Value sales of low & no-alcohol beers climbed just 2.8% year on year to £17.1m in the four weeks to 24 January 2026, compared to growth of 15.4% over the past 52 weeks [NIQ].
A similar pattern was evident in low & no sparkling wine and liqueurs, which grew by 5.9% and 5.1% year on year in January but 10.2% and 16.7% over the past 52 weeks respectively. Sales of low & no still wines, meanwhile, declined by 1% in January, and 1.9% over the past 52 weeks.
It comes despite Alcohol Change UK (ACUK) insisting in December that more people than ever planned to take part in the Dry January challenge.
Almost one in three Brits (32%) were preparing to take a month off alcohol in January 2026, polling data from Censuswide by ACUK showed.
While perhaps a sign of Dry January’s waning appeal, the NIQ data “should not be interpreted as a softening of the low & no market,” insisted Dave Knowles, managing director at Alpine Online.
Instead “it likely reflects a normalisation of consumer behaviour, with shoppers increasingly consuming low and no options throughout the year,” he said. “Demand is less concentrated in January, easing the traditional seasonal spike as consumption becomes more evenly distributed across the calendar.”
Guinness 0.0 ‘wins’ Dry January
From a brand perspective, Guinness 0.0 recorded more sales than any other low & no-alcohol product in January.
The market-leading alcohol-free brew recorded sales of £4.6m in the first four weeks of the year, well ahead of its nearest competitors Heineken 0.0 (£1.9m) and Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0 (£1.6m). It also added more incremental sales than any other brand, having grown by £633k versus last January.
However, there were also “strong performances” from new low & no beer launches including Estrella Damm 0.0% and Madrí Excepcional Zero, Knowles pointed out.
In low & no spirits, independent brand Mother Root was the best-selling brand in retail – and also added more sales than any other brand.
The brand, stocked in Sainsbury’s and Waitrose as well as on Ocado, posted sales of £605k – ahead of several products owned by Diageo including Gordon’s 0.0 (£487k), Tanqueray 0.0 (£353k) and Captain Morgan Spiced Gold 0.0 (£280k).
In low & no wine, Nozeco remained the category leader in absolute terms, but celebrity-endorsed brands were “performing strongly”, Knowles noted.
Kylie Minogue’s sparkling wine 0.0% ranked third for total value sales, while Elton John Zero Blanc de Blancs – launched earlier this month – posted sales of £52k.
“While January shows a modest slowdown compared with the 52-week trend, the low & no category remains buoyant,” said Knowles. “Strong brand performances across beer, wine and liqueurs underline the continued shift towards moderation, as consumers increasingly integrate low & no options into their drinking habits throughout 2026.”
It comes after Waitrose also shared data this week which it said indicated a “significant softening” of the Dry January trend.
In January 2022 the retailer’s alcohol sales were on average 42% lower than in the other months of the year. However this January the gap shrunk to just 25%, with sales in some sub-categories including Argentinian and Chilean wines up by more than 25% compared to last year.
“Damp is the new dry, as we’re seeing customers move away from the ‘all or nothing’ mentality and instead look towards more mindful, ‘damp’ moderation rather than quit entirely,” said Waitrose head of BWS Pierpaolo Petrassi.
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