On its face, a bottle of a non-alcoholic beverage might seem to be something that any customer of any age should be able to purchase without issue. But for non-alcoholic beer, the answer is not so straightforward.
However, information about non-alcoholic beer and purchasing requirements may not be common knowledge among consumers.
That’s why one Target shopper’s video is proving to be very informative.
TikToker Deven Machette (@devmachette), who has 120,000 followers, says she was surprised to learn she had to show her ID when buying non-alcoholic beer at Target’s self-checkout. In her video, she stands at the self-checkout with her ID in hand as a worker types a code into the machine’s system.
Machette describes the experience as “thrilling” in the caption.
“Me, an entire adult getting carded and holding up the entire line because I tried to buy non-alcoholic beer,” text overlay on her video, which amassed 194,000 views, reads.
Machette implied in a comment that she wouldn’t have tried to use self-checkout had she known she was going to be carded.
Several viewers shared in the comments section that they, too, were carded at Target for items they did not expect to require it.
“I got carded for cooking wine. Cooking wine!” one commenter exclaimed.
“I got carded for rootbeer… had to explain to her there’s no alcohol,” another shared.
“Target also ID’s for children’s medicine,” a third shopper said.
@devmachette Was kind of thrilling ngl
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Most non-alcoholic beer has 0.5% of alcohol. However, this tiny amount of alcohol—ripe bananas can contain 0.4% of alcohol, and bread can contain up to 1.9%—does not make it legally considered alcohol, according to Steady Drinker, which broke down why consumers are still required to show identification upon purchasing such drinks.
So what’s the reason if not the trace amount of alcohol in non-alcoholic beer? Steady Drinker notes one of the reasons you need an ID to purchase non-alcoholic beer is to avoid promoting alcohol to those who are underage, as many brands that offer non-alcoholic beer also offer alcoholic beer in similar packaging.
One other reason is “to make it easier to enforce rules regarding alcoholic drinks,” according to Steady Drinker.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @devmachette via Instagram direct message.
