How Breweries Are Building the Mid-Strength Beer Category | SevenFifty Daily

Fifteen years ago, as craft brewers elevated the bitterness and booziness of IPAs, Founders Brewing went low while others went high. Instead of 7% or 8% ABV, the brewery’s citrusy All Day IPA limboed in at 4.7% ABV, transforming the brawny IPA into an easygoing afternoon drink.

All Day created the session IPA category and continues to be the Grand Rapids, Michigan, brewery’s best-selling beer, spawning variants, but the alcohol “pendulum feels like it’s swinging even further now,” says Chuck Buckingham, the chief marketing officer. 

Founders’ portfolio also included an alcohol-free hop water and a non-alcoholic beer. But what about a beer cutting the difference between nothing and something? This spring, Founders released Low Profile, an 85-calorie IPA with 3% ABV. “It’s a lighter-ABV proposition for consumers looking for moderation,” Buckingham says. 

Low Profile is among the latest entrants in America’s emergent mid-strength beer category that’s defined by alcohol content—roughly between 2.5% and 3.5% ABV—and not style. They target drinkers looking to cut back but not entirely cut out alcohol. Mid-strength pilsners and IPAs deliver more flavor and less alcohol than light lagers, which are typically around 4% ABV.

Small Beer in Austin, Texas, makes a snappy 2.5% ABV lager and a tropical 3% IPA that aromatically punch above their weight. “Our IPA has fewer calories and carbs than a Coors Light,” says Jess Thomas, a cofounder. “We’re reimagining light beer.”

For SevenFifty Daily, I took a look at the rapidly evolving mid-strength beer category.