Sale of NO-ALCOHOLIC beer after 10 PM and the supply of said to under 18's

Just a legal anomoly I'd like to discuss. I don't want to get into a discussion around the 10PM rule. I imagine it'd just go around in circles!



When I was in a local supermarket recently I was purchasing some non-alcoholic Erdingers at 11 PM. The girl at the checkout asked me for ID because the till told her to (I have to admit I took it as a compliment , I'm touching 28 and she was about 18 :pac:). She then scanned it, and the till would not process the sale!


I was chatting to her for a bit and she couldn't apologise enough. It wasn't her fault, I know. Out of curiosity, I grabbed some vanilla extract that was sitting beside the till conveyor belt, I asked her to scan it and see out of curiosity.... It scanned through!


So it got me thinking. People might argue that the "non-alcoholic" beer has a miniscule amount of alcohol (however small), and therefore must be subject to the 10PM rule. But, shouldn't the vanilla extract be subject to the 10PM rule too then?!(it's 40/50% alcohol), and what about Jack Daniel's sauce to? Some citrus fruits naturally ferment alcohol even! Besides, beers of less than a certain value (0.5%) are not subject to alcohol excise duty.

Certain countries in Europe define an alcoholic beverage as one in which there is >=0.5% alcohol by volume, drinks below 0.5% ABV are not considered alcoholic beverages at all.


So what's the legal situation?