Popular UK lager ‘watered down’ to save 23p per can on alcohol tax

A major UK brewery has announced it’s reducing the strength of its lager to save money on alcohol tax.

Grolsch Premium Pilsner is the latest beer to be ‘watered down’, with its strength dropping from 4% ABV to 3.4% ABV in the UK.

This will save Asahi UK about 23p in excise duty for every 440ml can sold, as sales of the Dutch beer have failed to meet expectations.

Grolsch used to be sold in the UK at 5% ABV a decade ago, the same strength as other European countries, but when it was relaunched in 2020 it was sold at 4% instead.

An Asahi spokesperson told The Grocer: ‘Following much analysis, we decided to reformulate Grolsch to a new ABV of 3.4%, which went into market earlier this year.

‘We are confident this still delivers an excellent premium beer that will appeal to a broad range of consumers.’

Alcohol duties brought in by the previous Conservative government last August have seen Asahi and other brewers lower their alcohol content just before the rules come into force.

Reducing alcohol percentages by just 0.35% could save breweries £250million in tax, the alcohol research group at the University of Sheffield said.

The act of reducing alcohol content but retaining the same price for a can of booze has been dubbed ‘drinkflation’ and follows a trend over all sorts of grocery products in recent months.

It’s thought Spitfire, Old Speckled Hen, Foster’s and Bishops Finger have also reduced their alcohol content to save some cash, while Heineken, Amstel, John Smith’s and Newcastle Brown Ale haven’t ruled out making the change.

The ‘shrinkflation’ epidemic sees manufacturers reducing the amount of product in packages without changing the original size of the packaging or reducing its price.

Research from Which? earlier this year found Kettle Chips Sea Salt and Crushed Black Peppercorns Crisps shrank from 150g to 130g at Tesco, while Yeo Valley Organic Salted Spreadable went from 500g to 400g at Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

Not even the Christmas choccies are safe, with Celebrations tubs shrinking by 38% between 2008 and 2023.

And Costa Coffee fans were left fuming after the filling of its popular sausage bap was reduced from four sausages to three, supposedly larger ones.

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