Best AF Beer for Easter Bank Holiday 2026

Easter bank holiday is one of the most dangerous drinking periods in the British calendar.

Not because people do anything dramatic. Just because it's four days, and four days of "yeah, go on, one more" adds up. By Easter Monday you've either got a two-day hangover already in progress or you've been sensible enough to pace yourself.

I've been drinking mostly AF stuff since January and Easter is the first real test. Bank holiday BBQ Friday. Family lunch Sunday. Pub on Monday. All of these are social drinking situations where you want to have something in your hand that isn't sparkling water.

Here's what I've found actually works for each one.

Good Friday (April 3) - The Long Afternoon

Good Friday is the start. Most people don't have strict plans. It's "pop to the pub at noon, probably leave at four, definitely leave at four, leave at seven."

For long afternoon sessions, you need something that actually tastes like beer and holds up over multiple drinks. Two options I come back to:

IMPOSSIBREW Triple Hopped IPA - This is the one I give people who say AF beer is just fizzy water with hops flavour. The IPA genuinely bites. It's not trying to be anything it isn't. After two of these on a Friday afternoon you feel relaxed in a way that's different from most 0.0% options - apparently something to do with the ashwagandha and L-theanine. I'm not going to claim it's the same as drinking. It's not. But it's the best version of not drinking I've found.

Lucky Saint - Cleaner, crisper, less character. Good when you want something that just disappears into the background. Pubs are more likely to stock it than IMPOSSIBREW, which is the main reason it makes the list.

Beavertown Lazer Crush - Only if you like IPAs on the tropical side. Some people love it, some people think it tastes like fizzy fruit salad.

What to avoid: Beck's Blue (tastes like sadness), Heineken 0.0 (fine but boring), any supermarket own-brand (you know what you are).

Easter Saturday (April 4) - The BBQ

If the weather's cooperated (don't hold your breath), Easter Saturday is BBQ territory. This is the best possible use case for AF beer because:

• Nobody's paying attention to what's in your hand
• Cold cans in the sun taste completely different from warm pints in a pub
• You want to actually taste the food
• Someone has to drive to get more ice

For the BBQ I'd go with the lager option. IMPOSSIBREW do a Lager that's perfectly fine - no pretensions, just cold and drinkable. Lucky Saint also works. Anything that doesn't taste aggressively hoppy when you're eating something with char on it.

Practical note: if you're ordering AF stuff specifically for Easter, order by Wednesday March 25. Delivery times get unpredictable around bank holidays.

Easter Sunday (April 5) - Family Lunch

The least boozy day of Easter in my experience. Everyone's at someone's parents, there are children about, someone's driving. The one pint at Sunday lunch is more social lubricant than actual drinking.

This is the day where having a decent AF option matters most for the awkward "not drinking?" conversation. My answer is usually "I am drinking" and leave it at that. Most AF beers look identical in a glass.

If you're hosting: stock a few AF options alongside the regular stuff. Cost you an extra £8 from a supermarket and it means someone at the table doesn't have to choose between driving home or having one beer they'll think about for three hours.

Easter Monday (April 6) - The Pub

Easter Monday is the big one. Everyone's free, nobody's working tomorrow (well, some people are, which is worse), and pubs are rammed.

This is also when the bank holiday hangover catches up with people who've been drinking since Friday. The pub on Easter Monday is full of people who started the weekend well and ended it less well. You can either be one of them or you can be the person who's on their second AF IPA and feeling suspiciously fine.

For the pub specifically: most pubs will have something AF on draught (usually Heineken 0.0 or Peroni 0.0). It's fine. You're there for the company, not the beer.

If you're buying a case to take to a mate's place, I'd go IMPOSSIBREW IPA. It's the one that makes the "wait, this is alcohol-free?" conversation happen, which is at least more interesting than someone handing you a Becks Blue and saying "this is the best we've got, I think it's quite nice actually."

Ordering Before Easter

If you want to have AF options ready for Easter weekend:

• Supermarkets: Tesco, Sainsbury's and M&S all stock Lucky Saint and Heineken 0.0 reliably
• IMPOSSIBREW online: Order at impossibrew.co.uk - first order gets £10 off through a referral, makes the Welcome Bundle about £18 for 6 cans. Delivery 2-3 days, so order by 25th March to be safe
• Amazon: Lucky Saint and Beavertown available for Prime next-day

The One Thing I'd Change About Last Easter

Last Easter I was still doing the thing where I'd have a couple of AF beers, decide that was going well, and then "have just a real one" at some point on Saturday. Which meant Sunday and Monday were off-brand from plan.

The difference this year is committing properly from Friday. Once you're two days in and feeling fine you stop wanting to break the streak. The bank holiday as an AF challenge is actually easier than any random Tuesday because there's a clear start and end point.

If you're thinking about trying it: commit the whole four days, have some decent AF options stocked up, and see how Tuesday morning feels compared to previous years. That's the only data that matters.

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Useful: Track your Easter drinking | Full AF beer tier list | Find your AF beer match