Is 3.4% ABV ‘the new normal’ for beer?
Australian lager Foster’s, owned by Asahi Group Holdings but distributed in the United Kingdom by Heineken UK, will see its alcohol content lowered to 3.4% from this week. The brand joins a host of other best-selling beers who have joined the 3.4% gang.
Companies are significantly lowering the alcohol content of their products in the UK in a bid to circumnavigate rising duty costs, with 3.4% seemingly the sweet spot for beer.
In February 2025 db reported that Heineken had dropped the ABV of its popular Sol brand to 3.4% (down from 4.2%) in the UK.
A couple of months later Molson Coors Beverage Company also decreased the alcohol level of its Coors beer to 3.4% (from 4%), while in October Asahi announced it, too, was lowering its Grolsch Premium Pilsner to 3.4% (from 4%) in the UK market.
Early adopters
Earlier members of the 3.4% gang include Carlsberg, who went from 3.8% to 3.4% in August 2023 for UK-based sales, and John Smith’s Extra Smooth, which made the same move to 3.4% (from 3.6%) in February 2024.
In April 2024 Rekorderlig followed suit by dropping its Strawberry & Lime cider to 3.4% (down from 4%), with new flavors like Peach-Raspberry and Blackberry-Blackcurrant also introduced at this lower strength.
New recruits
Now Foster’s has joined the ranks of 3.4% beers, with the Australian lager dropping down from 3.7% ABV. The move was first announced last November but will apply to Foster’s on shelf and on tap from this week. It follows on from Foster’s previously dropping its ABV from 4% to 3.7% in 2023.
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A Foster’s spokesperson told The Sun: “As part of our programme to realise value for customers and offer drinkers greater choice, Foster’s lager has been reformulated to 3.4% ABV (from 3.7%).In line with this change, we are reducing the Foster’s wholesale price.”
By setting their ABVs at 3.4% beer operators ensure they belong to the bracket that pays the lowest duty costs. From February 2025 UK beer duty has been calculated per litre of pure alcohol based on ABV, with rates as per below.
- Under 3.5% ABV: £9.61
- 3.5% – 8.4% ABV: £21.78
- 8.5% – 22% ABV: £29.54
- Over 22% ABV: £32.79
Draft beer benefits from a lower duty rate, with relief increasing to 13.9%.
Not just beer
The issue of plummeting ABVs is by no means limited to the beer world. In 2024, db reported that shoppers were fuming over wine brands “quietly” reducing their alcohol levels.
“I wouldn’t mind if they still offered the original formula for more money but they have taken our choice away, not told us and are now trying to pass off a watered down version of the wine we loved,” commented one consumer.
Isla Negra, Blossom Hill, Hardy’s and Gallo are among those to have dropped their alcohol content to around 10.5%-11.5%. However, Morrisons wine sourcing manager Charles Cutteridge told db that the UK is “the only country currently trying to re-engineer wines for this reason” and suggested that it doesn’t make sense for a winemaker to change its whole approach in the vineyard “for just one market.”
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