Sales of non-alcoholic beer jumped 35% to 26 million litres in 2014, according to the annual national beer survey.

A quarter of beer drinkers say they drink low or non-alcoholic beer at least once a month, many of them because they have to drive.

The taste of non-alcoholic beer is also catching on. Last year 36% said taste was the reason they drink it, compared with 21% in 2013.

‘The taste has improved,’ Cees-Jan Adema of Dutch Brewers told broadcaster Nos. ‘There’s a world of difference compared with ten years ago. There is also a greater variety and brewers are advertising it.’

In the same period, sales of alcoholic beer dropped slightly, down from 69.6 litres per head to 68.4 litres. Calculated per head of the population, non-alcoholic beer is only 1.5 litres.