Ocado stocks botanical beer that ‘blurs the lines between beer and wine’

Ocado has just started listing Binary, a light beer designed to be paired with food aimed at “wine lovers”.

(Photo: Binary)

The beer, which was created by recently-launched Good Living Brew Company, has a “tangy Prosecco-like taste”, according to Good Living’s founders, and is being marketed to drinkers who are looking for a “moderate” alcoholic beverage, but don’t enjoy the traditional bitter taste of beer.

Binary’s co-founder and head brewer Danielle Bekker said she wanted to create a product that would “appeal to wine-lovers and people who think they don’t like beer.”

“After months of development we have crafted a sophisticated lighter beer which is perfect with food and a great low alcohol cocktail mixer.”

Binary, which began listing in Ocado in May, was previously only available in independent retailers including Harvey Nichols and a number of bars and restaurants. The Ocado launch means the company has a much greater reach in UK retail.

The launch comes as a number of producers have launched light, botanical-based, low-alcohol or low-calorie alcoholic beverages in recent years to attract a new generation of consumers who moderate their drinking more than older generations.

Meanwhile in the UK, still wine consumption is in decline, according to IWSR figures, with the still wine market predicted to shed as much as 13m cases, falling from 114.3m cases (2017) to 101.1m in 2022.

In its UK Landscapes 2018 report, Wine Intelligence found that the number of people that drink wine at least once a month has fallen by one million in just three years, from 29.5 million in 2015 to 28.5 million in 2018. Wine Intelligence’s analyst Chuan Zhou also noted that wine businesses are losing market share to other drinks brands.