T here is nothing like discovering something for yourself to engender a fierce sense of loyalty, and that’s exactly what happened a decade ago when I fell upon the Kernel Brewery’s Table Beer , a pale ale of roughly 3% ABV. This is a brew that never fails to meet me where I am as a working parent with multiple identities but one brain, who often craves a delicious little buzz without loss of function.

Kernel brewer Evin O’Riordain tells me that sales have steadily increased over the past decade, and that 2026 has seen a tipping point. “For the first time ever, Table Beer became the thing we made the most,” he says. This is entirely consistent with the population’s collective interest in no-lo drinks, although, when it comes to beer, zero-alcohol examples are much better represented than low-alcohol ones (in the major retailers, at least).…