That s a cost brewers of no-alcohol beer do not have to shoulder. Big brewers Lion and DB both said it cost more to make zero alcohol beer than alcoholic beer, but neither would say whether it cost 20 per cent more.
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Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Dr Nicki Jackson says zero alcohol beer should cost less than beer with alcohol. Bridget MacDonald from the Alcohol Beverages Council, a political lobby group for drinks makers, said it did. “Having no excise tax on a zero alcohol beer does not directly offset the additional production costs for producing that beer,” she said.