London’s latest beer crush is plastered all over various forms of public transit, from the Tube to double-decker buses. “Beer But Better,” the advert for a brand called Prime Time reads. “Next Level Taste, Easy On The Waist.”
Big claims on London buses are nothing new, but this beer is worth a second look. Prime Time is the most visible of a new breed of low-calorie British beer brands, designed to appeal to people who like a pint but also want to stay in shape. There are at least half a dozen similar beers available in pubs and supermarkets up and down the U.K. now, from big-brand options like Tennent’s Light to upstarts such as Lowrise, which claims to have two-thirds of the calories you’d find in a normal beer.
In the U.S. or Australia, beers like this would be nothing special. “Light” beer has long been a staple in most of the world’s English-speaking democracies, but in Britain it’s never caught on — despite some hefty marketing spend, which has included Bud Light’s sponsorship of the England men’s football team. And while the figures remain modest — Prime Time expects sales of £3.3 million ($4.1 million) next year — something is clearly happening.
Prime Time raised £1 million at a valuation of £13.8 million in a recent crowdfunding campaign (which paid for those adverts), and it’s now stocked in Waitrose, an upmarket national supermarket chain, alongside Lowrise. Skinny Lager, meanwhile, is available in the considerably larger (and more down-to-earth) chains Tesco, Morrisons and Asda. So what’s going on?
Show of Strength
If anyone knows, it’s Tom Bell. He founded Drinkwell, a website that sells alcoholic drinks that are lower in calories, sugar, and carbs, back in 2012, and Skinny Brands, a company producing low-calorie beer, in 2015. His lightbulb moment came in two halves: first, when he realized the beer he and his rugby pals were guzzling after games was undoing their hard work on the pitch; and, secondly, when he worked out why repeated attempts by Bud Light and similar brands had failed to crack the U.K. market.
“In the USA, Bud Light is a 4.2 percent ABV beer,” he says. “But when they came to launch it in the U.K., they made it 3.5 — they assumed that’s what British customers wanted. It’s not.” Bell says that British customers want less of the calories, but all of the alcohol. Low-calorie beer has often been conflated with no- and low-alcohol beer but it is, Bell says, a fundamentally different proposition.
His experience gives him a unique perspective — a perspective that informed the launch last year of a new beer brand, Lean Brew (which, like most of the other low-calorie brands, is contract-brewed).
2020 Vision
So who’s buying this new generation of low-cal beers?
Men in their late 30s and early 40s, with, Bell says, “high stress, [they’re] working hard, probably got young families.” There’s been a huge growth in interest since the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, Bell adds.
Sam Holmes, co-founder of Prime Time, agrees. “The consciousness of what everyone is putting into their bodies [has exploded],” he says. “Now everyone’s buying Fitbits, Apple watches, they’re tracking their steps and checking calories.”
“For a long time, the idea of a ‘light’ beer just didn’t sit well with British pint culture. It’s a cultural shift.”
Holmes and his co-founder Harvey Armstrong appeared in a popular British reality TV show, “Made In Chelsea,” which focuses on the antics of a group of affluent young people in London’s fanciest neighborhoods. (Armstrong is still in the show; Holmes appeared in a single series). It helped them to promote the brand to a younger audience, Holmes says, one that shared their focus on health. “We’re bringing a lot of new drinkers — including female drinkers — into the market,” he says.
This apparent generational shift has been matched by a cultural one. Ben McFarland, who has been writing about beer for more than 20 years, says drinkers are less tribal now, and more prepared to accept something marketed as being better for your health. “For a long time, the idea of a ‘light’ beer just didn’t sit well with British pint culture,” he says. “It’s a cultural shift.”
Much of this previous resistance was vibes-based, of course: Britain has a long tradition of low-ABV beers. But variety has replaced conservatism. Once, an average bar-top might have boasted four or five beers; now it’s common to see a dozen or more, a reflection of a more laid back, open-minded beer culture. This shift has opened up room for light beers.
“There’s a thing called ‘zebra striping,’ where drinkers jump around between low-ABV, normal strength and 0.5 percent beers,” says McFarland. “That’s something that just wouldn’t have happened 20 years ago.”
Flavor First
The craft beer movement made big (and largely accurate) claims about raising quality standards, and that’s now reflected on British bar-tops. It is easier to find a decent pint than it once was, but that also means new entrants can’t simply point to health benefits. Drinkers want their low-calorie beverages to taste nice.
Lowrise works with two of the best small brewers in the U.K.: lager specialists Utopian and, in the Midlands, Round Corner, with whom they’ve recently created a new Hazy IPA. One of Round Corner’s directors is Colin Paige, who, according to Low Rise’s Todd Nicholson, “was at the forefront of producing [low-carb beers] in New Zealand” when they came to prominence there.
“I can’t comprehend why it’s the only foodstuff that doesn’t have to have it. Consumers are unaware, they’re uneducated about how many calories are in alcoholic products.”
The company uses two enzymes to get their beer where they want it:
, which strips out all the residual sugars and makes for a really dry, crisp beer; and Clarex, which removes the gluten, allowing it to be sold as gluten-free.
Lowrise’s new Hazy IPA offers a good example of where low-calorie beer in the U.K. is going. Made with a mixture of New Zealand hops (the founders are all Kiwis), it weighs in at 84 calories, 1.8 grams of carbs, and 4 percent ABV. “It’s not super murky,” says Nicholson, “but we didn’t want it to be because we’re trying to appeal to a mass market.”
Quality is key for the new producers, according to Holmes. “Some of the big-name, low-carb beers that have come to the U.K. taste bad, so we’re constantly fighting that battle,” he says. “Our message is: ‘You can have a great tasting, low-calorie beer.’” He points to Prime Time’s success in the U.K.’s Great Taste Awards — the lager was awarded one star in 2023 — as evidence.
Interestingly, Nicholson says Lowrise’s gluten-free nature has proven more of a lure than its relative lack of calories. Holmes is in the same boat. “That’s [been] massive for us,” he says, adding that Prime Time is now served at London-based Premier League soccer team Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium because it’s gluten-free.
The market is still small, but it could soon shift into a higher gear. Bell is at the forefront of a campaign to get calorie counts listed on alcohol packaging to bring it in line with other food and drink products in the U.K.
“I can’t comprehend why it’s the only foodstuff that doesn’t have to have it,” he says. “Consumers are unaware, they’re uneducated about how many calories are in alcoholic products.”
If Bell and his fellow low-cal crusaders have anything to do with it, they won’t be for long.
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