A summer evening in a pub garden in Gloucestershire is becoming less of a moment for a tipple that makes you tipsy: both at home and over the counter, UK-wide sales of no- and low-alcohol beer are reported to be eating into the traditional booze sector.

Retail analysts are blaming the emergence of generation Zs and millennials as health-conscious consumers who fancy a pint but are less keen on any kind of percentage that strays north of zero.

Against sales in January, when we traditionally see more abstinence than at any other time, Tesco has recorded a heady 25% June rise in sales of no- and low-alcohol beer, while Guinness says it has almost tripled production of its new zero-alcohol variant. Guinness 0.0, which was first unveiled in 2021, is now the number-one four-pack in Great Britain, according to the supermarket.

Perhaps more surprisingly, away from our living rooms, the British Beer and Pub Association says pubs are also chalking up a 23% rise in driver-friendly beer over the last year, with sales more than doubling since 2019, just before the pandemic.

The inevitable knock-on from these trends is that sales of regular beers in the UK are down 6%, according to the analysis of Circana.

Tesco's beer buyer, Jess Edmondson, said: "The current boom is down to the number of authentic-tasting products now available from brewers who are using high-quality ingredients and more advanced methods.

"This revolution has grown very quickly in the last five years, and instead of the thin-tasting alcohol-free beers that were on the market back then, shoppers can now find fuller-bodied equivalents that taste like the real thing."

In all, 85% of UK pubs are now reported to offer at least one low/no-alcohol beer. Beverage trend analysts at IWSR believe that demand for these products actually boosted sales volumes by 9% in 2022, with the result that the UK is "one of the world's most dynamic markets" for the trend.

Lucky Saint, an alcohol-free brand, said 2022 saw a volume growth of 180% - and the brand has even opened its own dry pub in London in March.

Founder, Luke Boase, said the days of apologising for not drinking are fading, adding: "we're seeing a rapid cultural shift in attitudes."

But if the rise of great tasting alcohol-free drinks is eating into the market, demand for quality local beer doesn't always have to mean strong.

Uley Brewery, which began brewing near Dursley back in 1985 and employs a team of six producing a popular range of beers that are sold both direct to the public and through pubs, says that its four percent beer has always been its most popular option.

Emily Brooks, operations manager, said: "Landlords seem to be less likely to order 5% real ales; our two 5% beers were more poplar when they were released."

The brewery has traditonally shied away from considering a low or no-alcohol product, but she said brewing methods were changing and the company was now looking into the feasibility of producing one.

In the meanwhile, it has launched a tribute Cotswold beer to the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. And perhaps given its modest 4.2% alcohol content, it lands on safe consumer ground.

After all, the overall UK sales of low- and no-alcohol beer – which covers anything up to 1.2% ABV – still represents just 0.7% of sales of UK consumption.