Alcohol-free 101
What 0.0% and 0.5% ABV mean
What's the difference between 0.0% and 0.5%?
Short answer
On a US label, "non-alcoholic" means a drink has less than 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV), and the label has to say so. "Alcohol free" and "0.0%" mean no alcohol at all. The label tells you which one you have.
Non-alcoholic: under 0.5%
For beer and other malt beverages, the federal labeling rules come from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). A brewer may call a malt beverage "non-alcoholic" only if the words "contains less than 0.5 percent (or .5%) alcohol by volume" appear right next to it, in legible print on a contrasting background. There is no tolerance: a non-alcoholic beer can't contain more alcohol than its label says. Below 0.5%, the alcohol content may be stated to the tenth or the hundredth of a percent, such as 0.4% or 0.05%.
Alcohol free and 0.0%: none at all
"Alcohol free" may be used only on malt beverages that contain no alcohol, again with no tolerance. A malt beverage may be labeled 0.0% alcohol by volume only if it is also labeled "alcohol free" and contains no alcohol.
Low alcohol is something else
"Low alcohol" and "reduced alcohol" are allowed on malt beverages with less than 2.5% ABV. A beer labeled with 0.5% or more must actually contain at least 0.5%, so a low-alcohol beer isn't a non-alcoholic one.
Wine with the alcohol removed
Because dealcoholized wine has less than 7% alcohol, its label falls under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rather than TTB's wine rules. FDA's guidance puts "dealcoholized" or "alcohol-removed" right before the word "wine", followed by "contains less than 0.5 percent alcohol by volume". FDA doesn't treat "non-alcoholic" and "alcohol-free" as the same thing: "alcohol-free" is only for a drink with no detectable alcohol.
Reading the label
If you want no alcohol at all, look for "alcohol free" or "0.0%". "Non-alcoholic" allows a trace, up to just under 0.5%. These are US federal rules. Other countries use different words and limits, so an imported bottle may read differently.
Labeling and legal details here apply to the United States (federal rules).
Sources
- Malt Beverage Labeling: Alcohol Content, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)
- 27 CFR 7.65, Alcohol content (malt beverage labeling), Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
- CPG Sec. 510.400 Dealcoholized Wine and Malt Beverages: Labeling, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Checked against its sources on October 11, 2026. We recheck every explainer at least every six months. This isn’t health advice: for questions about pregnancy, medication or your health, ask your own clinician.