THE REASON WHY SOME DRINKS ARE LABELLED 0%ALCOHOL

Alcohol free, or non-alcoholic beverages, are non-alcoholic versions of typically alcoholic beverages, such as beer and cocktails. These may take the form of a non-alcoholic mixed drink (a "virgin drink"), non-alcoholic beer ("near beer") and "mocktails", and are widely available where alcoholic beverages are sold. Beverages with labels that state the actual alcohol by volume help citizens from unknowingly becoming inebriated or drunk drivers.

 

Scientific definition

Low-alcoholic beverage

Sparkling cider, sodas, and juices naturally contain trace amounts or no alcohol. Some fresh orange juices are above the UK 'alcohol free' limit of 0.05% ABV, as are some yoghurts and rye bread.

Ethanol distillation is used to separate alcoholic beverages into what are advertised as non-alcoholic beverages and spirits; distilled wine produces low alcohol wine and brandy (from brandywine, derived from Dutch brandewijn, "burning wine"), distilled beer may be used to produce low-alcohol beer and whisky.

However alcoholic beverages cannot be further purified to 0.00% alcohol by volume by distillation. In fact, most beverages labeled non-alcoholic contain 0.5% ABV as it is more profitable than distilling it to 0.05% ABV often found in products sold by companies specializing in non-alcoholic beverages.

Ethical issues

Alcohol is legal in most countries of the world where a drinking culture exists. In countries where alcohol is illegal, similar non-alcoholic beverage are permitted. The definition of "alcohol-free" may vary from country to country. The term "non-alcoholic" (e.g., alcohol-free beer) is often used to describe a beverage that contains 0.0% ABV. Such beverages are permitted by Islam and are popular in countries that enforce alcohol prohibition, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iran.

However, most beverages advertised as "non-alcoholic" or "alcohol free" sold by countries with zero tolerance with state-run liquor monopoly, actually contains alcohol. Finland has a quite high ABV regulation for non-alcoholic beverages that are classified as alcoholic beverage by most other countries. non-alcoholic beverage means a beverage which contains a maximum of 2.8 percentage by volume ethyl alcohol

In the European Union, the labels of beverages containing only more than 1.2% ABV must state the actual alcoholic strength (i.e., show the word "alcohol" or the abbreviation "alc." followed by the symbol "% vol.").

Alcohol is a psychoactive drug and some people say that the label non-alcohlic is misleading and is a threat to recovering alcoholics.

what is alcohol by volume?

Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent) It is defined as the number of millilitres of pure ethanol present in 100 millilitres of solution at 20 °C. The number of millilitres of pure ethanol is the mass of the ethanol divided by its density at 20 °C, which is 0.78924 g/ml. The ABV standard is used worldwide.

In some countries, alcohol by volume is referred to as degrees Gay-Lussac (after the French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac), although there is a slight difference since Gay-Lussac used 15 °C.

Mixing two solutions of alcohol of different strengths usually causes a change in volume. Mixing pure water with a solution less than 24% by mass causes a slight increase in total volume, whereas the mixing of two solutions above 24% causes a decrease in volume. More information on the phenomenon of volume changes due to mixing dissimilar solutions is discussed in the article on partial molar volume.

Details about typical amounts of alcohol contained in various beverages can be found in the articles about them.

Drink	Typical ABV
Fruit juice (naturally occurring)	less than 0.1%
Low-alcohol beer	0.05%–1.2%
Kvass	0.05%–1.5%
Kombucha	0.5%–1.5%
Kefir	0.5%–2.0%
Boza	1%
Chicha	1%–11% (usually 1%–6%)
Cider	2%–8.5%
Beer	2%–12% (usually 4%–6%)
Alcopops	4%–17.5%
Malt liquor	5%+
Makgeolli	6.5%–7%
Barley wine (strong ale)	8%–15%
Mead	8%–16%
Wine	9%–16% (most often 12.5%–14.5%)
Kilju	15%–17%
Dessert wine	14%–25%
Sake (rice wine)	15% (or 18%–20% if not diluted prior to bottling)
Liqueurs	15%–55%
Fortified wine	15.5%–20%(in the European Union, 18%–22%)
Soju	17%–45% (usually 19%)
Shochu	25%–45% (usually 25%)
Ruou (Vietnamese liquor)	27%-38%
Bitters	28%–45%
Mezcal, Tequila	32%–60% (usually 40%)
Vodka	35%–50% (usually 40%, minimum of 37.5% in the European Union)
Brandy	35%–60% (usually 40%)
Rum	37.5%–80%
Ouzo	37.5%+
Cachaça	38%–54%
Sotol	38%–60%
Stroh	38%–80%
Nalewka	40%–45%
Gin	40%–50%
Whisky	40%–68% (usually 40%, 43% or 46%)
Baijiu	40%–60%
Chacha	40%–70%
Centerbe (herb liqueur)	70%
Pálinka	42%–86% (legally in Hungary 48%–51%)
Rakia	42%–86%
Absinthe	45%–89.9%
Ţuica	45%–60% (usually 52%)
Arak	60%–65%
Poitín	60%–95%
Neutral grain spirit	85%–95%
Cocoroco	93%–96%
Rectified spirit	95%-96%