Are Ultra Low-Alcohol Beers the Next Big Thing in Healthier Drinking? America’s Breweries Sure Hope So.

4 min readIF YOU’VE BEEN watching out for your health, you’ve probably tried a few non-alcoholic beers, wines, or spirits within the last few years. N/A drinks as a category have exploded—growing by a full 22 percent in 2025 alone, according to Nielsen.It’s not that we Americans are undergoing a Great Teetotaling. Fifty-four percent of us still drink alcoholic beverages, according to a 2026 Gallup poll. That number is unchanged since last year, and, yes, for the last 50-some decades we hovered between 60 and 70 percent, but 1 in 2 Americans is still a lot of Americans. It’s more that we’re drinking less—13 percent of Americans reported sometimes overdrinking, way down from 35 percent in 1989. (And that’s likely because 51 percent of us believe drinking even one or two drinks daily is bad for our health.)But what you’ve probably experienced is that while a few of these N/A options are great, the broad swath of them are not great. Which might help explain why 92 percent of people who buy non-alcoholic drinks also purchase alcohol-containing products, reported that Nielsen analysis.If you read the through-line among all these stats, you could make a strong case that Americans simply want to enjoy one alcoholic drink every now and then, and maybe some N/A options in between.Some of the most influential breweries in the U.S. are proposing another option: Ultra-low alcohol beers.What are “mid-strength” beers?“MID-STRENGTH” IS AN international term for a beer that ranges from 2.5 to 3.5 percent alcohol-by-volume (ABV). “Mid-strength” beers are even lower in ABV than session beers, which shake out around 4.0 to 5.0 percent. Admittedly, it’s a confusing and ambiguous term (a “mid” term, if you will), and that’s why brewers who are making the stuff in the States aren’t even putting it on their labels. (Even if Australia is all-in.)“What we didn't want to do was limit people's willingness to try it by putting too big of a category on it,” says Pryce Greenow, CEO of Sierra Nevada, which released Go-Two, a 2.8 percent ABV IPA, roughly a month ago. The word “mid-strength” appears nowhere on the label, and the focus of the marketing centers on its minimal alcohol content.How do brewers make “mid-strength” beer?CAREFULLY.“To make a a stable, good tasting beer below 3 percent is actually very tricky,” says Greenow. “There are so many benefits of alcohol at 4 percent and above in terms of what it brings to the beer, but also its in quality and stabilization—it does require a skilled brewer.”And while breweries are cautious to divulge brewing process specifics, Greenow says Go-Two is “brewed to the alcohol level,” meaning that it’s not dealcoholized, like some N/A beers, or diluted.“It was very important to us that [GO-TWO] is a beer and it happens to be 2.8, not the other way around,” Greenow says.What do “mid-strength” beers taste like?THEY TASTE LIKE great beer.“When I tell people that we made a 2.5 percent ABV IPA that tastes great, they just kind of look at me,” says Peter Giannopoulos, president of brewery operations at Sly Fox Brewing Company. “Then they taste it and say, I thought you were full of shit!”Sly Fox launched two mid-strength beers in 2026: Soul Tone IPA and Soul Tone Pils.Both of them are powerfully crisp and refreshing. The IPA has a bouquet of Ekuanot, Simoce, and Amarillo hops, which give off a just-picked berry vibe. The Pils, also at 2.5 percent ABV, tastes clean and bright.And both of them hit on a factor that Giannopoulos says even the best N/A beers can never: satisfaction.“Alcohol elevates all the flavors of beer—and the experience of having one,” he says.Sierra Nevada’s Go-Two is citrusy and tropical, never sitting heavy on the tongue. But mid-strength beers aren’t exactly “lite” beers either. Many (though there are exceptions) contain roughly 120 calories a pop, and more carbs than you can count on two hands. But they’re definitely not the 300- to 400-gut bombs of double or triple IPAs.These beers are less “mid-strength” and more “feather-weight,” capable of delivering, just without heft of heavier classes.Is “mid-strength” the next big thing in beer?YOU MIGHT ALREADY argue it is. Beyond Sierra Nevada and Sly Fox, a bunch of other brewers are making the stuff. Saranac has Weekend Warrior. Founders has Low Profile. Dad Strength is devoting their entire line to low-low ABV beers.Giannopoulos says this style is “the only white space left in beer.”And Greenow says there’s huge potential to adapt the brewing process beyond popular styles like IPAs to stouts and holiday ales.Both Giannopoulos and Greenow told me that mid-strength beers are after the “dad” market—the guy who maybe is no longer willing to knock back a 7.5 percent IPA during his fantasy football draft because he has to work (and parent) in the morning.The next few years will determine if the ultra-low-ABV category is just crafty salesmanship or something health-conscious consumers actually want.I, for one dad, am already sold.Paul Kita is a Deputy Editor at Men's Health, where he has covered food, cooking, nutrition, supplements, grooming, tech, travel, and fatherhood at the brand for more than 15 years. He is also the author of two Men's Health cookbooks, Guy Gourmet and A Man, A Pan, A Plan, and the winner of a James Beard Award.