Craig Carey and Ryan Kutscher co-founded Dad Strength Brewing in Washington, D.C., focusing on craft beers with lower alcohol. The two longtime friends, both new fathers, were tired of the punishing buzz of high-ABV beers and began mixing regular and nonalcoholic beers to create a drink around 3% ABV. Finding no full-flavored beer like this on the market, they decided to brew their own. Dad Strength Brewing officially launched in 2023 as a product of their shared experience, “two old friends and new dads” looking for a beer that “fits into a balanced lifestyle”.
Ryan Kutscher and Craig Carey met through mutual friends in the DC area. Kutscher is a Washington-area public relations executive (founder of the boutique agency Launch Party), and Carey is a restaurateur (he founded the Big Buns Damn Good Burgers chain). In their forties and raising young kids, both men “couldn’t throw ’em back like [they] used to,” as Axios put it. They still loved hoppy craft beer, but even session-strength brews gave them hangovers. Realizing that no traditional IPA under 3% ABV existed (Carey had been literally mixing his IPA with nonalcoholic beer to compensate), they set out to solve this “dad problem” themselves. The name “Dad Strength” nods to this concept of a beer strength suited to parents and moderation.
Dad Strength partnered with established DC brewers to develop its beers. They worked closely with Atlas Brew Works (a World Beer Cup–winning brewery) to fine-tune their recipes. For over a year they produced numerous pilot batches before settling on the final recipe. The flagship Dad Strength IPA is a West Coast–style IPA brewed at just 2.9% ABV using bold El Dorado and Mosaic hops. Despite the low alcohol, it delivers the familiar grapefruit and piney hop character of a much stronger IPA. An Axios feature notes that this IPA has “more flavor than a NA beer, but not as strong or caloric as a traditional IPA,” typically about 94 calories per can. The founders humorously admit it took “deep brewing voodoo” to achieve this balance of residual sugars and fermentables.
After the initial IPA, Dad Strength launched additional varieties. In collaboration with DC Brau they contract-brewed a 2.8% ABV Apricot IPA, and later a Juicy IPA. A Hazy IPA is also in the works. All of the brewery’s beers are pitched as “mid-strength” or “sessionable” beers – around 2.5–2.9% ABV – with about half the alcohol of a typical craft IPA and under 100 calories. In marketing materials the company emphasizes that Dad Strength gives drinkers “all the taste of a traditional craft beer without the high alcohol content”.
Dad Strength debuted its IPA in mid-2024. Initially the beers were available in local outlets; by Father’s Day 2024 the IPA was carried in roughly 300 stores across the Washington, D.C. region (DC, Maryland and Virginia). The product line later expanded distribution – the company notes Dad Strength cans can be found in Michigan as well as the Mid-Atlantic. In the DC area, Dad Strength set up contract brewing at Atlas Brew Works (in Ivy City) and also partnered with DC Brau, rather than immediately building its own brewery. (The founders have since announced plans to open a dedicated Dad Strength production facility in DC’s Anacostia area.)
Throughout 2024–2025 the brewery has received media attention for its novel approach. For example, Axios ran a profile titled “This D.C.-made IPA is like ‘micro-dosing alcohol’,” noting that the co-founders hope the beer appeals “not just for dads” but “for anyone that really wants to explore moderation”. The beers have been featured on local TV and in publications like Men’s Health (which included the Dad Strength IPA on a 2025 list of best low-calorie beers, praising its big hop flavor despite the low ABV).
