Non Alcoholic beer in bars should be cheaper than alcoholic beer

As Roy Keane once said : "bars are for alcohol"

Apparently non alcoholic beers start out with alcohol in. It takes some sort of procedure to extract it. So it costs more to produce.

On what basis?

The raw ingredients of a cup of coffee probably cost 20 - 40c, yet there's no shortage of people willing to pay €4 to have it made for them.

In fairness when it comes to that bar I think COVID closures hit them hard, it didn't really recover to the same levels after.

Demand as well as the quality of non-alcoholic drinks is going one way, up. Estrella is very nice. I don't expect to pay less for a non alcoholic beer but generally you do a small bit. I don't think it's a case of publicans tolerating non alcohol drinkers, they realize there is a decent market and markup so might as well cater to them too.

Board for example (board games, non alcoholic drinks, food) is doing very well seemingly. Young people are drinking less so there is some kind of demand for spaces like that.

The soft drinks markup is indeed outrageous. If you buy the more expensive one, Redbull, from the shop, you will pay around 1.20e. This is without bulk buy discounts, wholesaler discounts, etc.

https://www.dunnesstoresgrocery.com/sm/delivery/rsid/258/product/red-bull-energy-drink-250ml-8-pack-id-100298458

In the pubs, you could be paying up to 6.20e a can (like in temple bar, below, with a lot of pubs not far behind).

I reckon the alcohol free pints are expensive for a similar reason. It’s not to do with how much they cost to produce at all, but what they can charge.

The vodka. If that is one shot for €10.65 it is like paying €199 for a 700ml.

Whatever about Temple Bar, I was in a country pub in the West of Ireland recently and paid €3.50 a 200ml bottle of Diet Coke.

That's €17.50 per litre.

All non alcoholic drinks in pubs are poor value.

On the bases that they don't have to pay the 55cents excise duty on every pint for a start.

Brewcrew sell kegs of Guinness 0.0 for 145e which works out about 2.75e per pint.
Pubs would be buying it in for a lot less.

edit: scratch that. O Briens sell it for less than 1.65e a can.

It is not in the energy generating industry interest for the consumer to use less gas or electricity, it is not in the waste disposal industry for the consumer to dispose of less waste and it is not in the alcohol industry interest for consumers to drink non alcohol drinks.

We are being conned in lots of areas to think that doing the right thing will result in cost savings for us, as individuals. The world does not work like that.

You can't make Guinness without making alcohol. It then goes through a reverse osmosis process, and the alcohol is distilled off.

It is more expensive to make Guinness Zero than it is regular Guinness which is why its a similar price.

In regard to minerals, can pubs sell cans, they could buy cheap in multi packs

The small glass bottle minerals really have nothing in them

Alcohol free beers even in cans or bottles I think are near enough the same price in Off Licences and Supermarkets

Retailers are free in Ireland to charge whatever price they like.

The Roisin Dubh pub / late venue in Galway city charges 4.00 for Guinness 0.0%, which is a fair price for 2024.