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Get to Know Your Favorite Hop | Nectaron®
Discover the dank, tropical flavor of Nectaron® and why growers, brewers, AND consumers can’t get enough of this hop variety....
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The “better for you” movement is making waves in the beverage industry and consumers are increasingly interested in drinks that support their wellness goals. That can mean reduced sugar, a clean label, or fewer calories. This creates big opportunities for light beers with low calories, and the boom has already begun.
Precedence Research explains that “The global light beer market size is calculated at USD 328.87 billion in 2025 and is forecasted to reach around USD 411.02 billion by 2034.”¹ Sounds great! Brew beer with fewer calories, and it’ll fly off the shelves, right? Well… Let’s just say that light beers today need to do more than help consumers avoid beer belly bloat.
While it’s an outdated perception, the idea that light beer lacks flavor has existed for decades. Just a few years ago, delish compared light beer to “pool water” and said, “They essentially taste like beer-flavored water.”² Admittedly, cutting calories does inadvertently remove elements that infuse beer with its flavor, but that was the past!
Today’s cutting-edge flavor technology allows consumers to skip the bloat while still enjoying beer big on hop flavor. On top of that, an influx of new light beer consumers is creating opportunities for brewers willing to get creative.
Learn how brewers are infusing robust hop flavors and aromas into low calorie beer and how flavor innovation is key to staying competitive.
The Quantum Series is a suite of hop-derived, varietal-specific beverage solutions with the finest, most aromatic hop notes on the market that won't add sugar, calories, or mouthfeel. Just recognizable hop flavors and aromas are perfect for light, low calorie beers.
While today's heightened consumer interest is important, it’s worth noting that much of the messaging around light beer has stayed the same. From Gablinger’s Diet Beer in 1967 to the now-infamous Miller Lite, light beers have notoriously targeted “diet-conscious consumers.”
Early Miller Lite commercials “featured retired athletes like New York Jets 1969 Super Bowl star, Matt Snell, who touted the beer for its full flavor and feather-like fullness factor.” Snell came up with the slogan, “Everything you want in a beer. And Less,” and other ads emphasized the “lightness” of these beverages with statements like, “Only one thing will convince you Lite Beer is less filling. Your second one.”
Anheuser-Busch, Miller Brewing Company, and Coors Brewing Company fought for decades over America’s low-calorie beer money, which eventually led to the big three: Natural Light, Bud Light, and Coors Light. Marketing that tied light beer to athletes and sports appealed to male consumers, and by the 1990s, the American beer market was dominated by light beers.
By the 2000s, craft brewing began picking up steam and Americans started developing a taste for the flavors of craft beer. Jokes about light beer’s lack of flavor contributed to its dimming popularity and spread the idea that it didn’t taste good.
However, considering that beers like Bud Light are still household names, it’s obvious that the demand never disappeared entirely. More importantly, with today’s shifting consumer behaviors, there’s an opportunity for light beers to come back bigger and better than ever.
Today, the light beer buzz is re-emerging, and it’s not hard to see why. Consumer wellness trends are reshaping the beverage industry, leading to increased interest in light beers with fewer calories.
When it comes to today’s consumers, Innova Market Insights explains that their behavior “aligns with global lifestyle shifts that began during the pandemic. After basic living essentials, US consumers prioritize spending on health and wellbeing.”⁴ This makes diet a priority for health-conscious consumers, which inevitably impacts the food and beverage products they purchase. For those who don’t wish to give up the taste or experience of beer, switching to light, low calorie beers makes sense.
Low calorie beers are also usually low ABV, so they also appeal to consumers looking to reduce or moderate their alcohol consumption. Even die-hard fans of more calorically dense beers may choose to pace themselves by drinking a light beer in between heavier IPAs.
This is a win for those who wish to continue drinking without overconsumption and for taprooms who want to increase ticket sales. NA beers, which previously received some of the same negative comments that light beers experienced, are becoming increasingly popular for similar reasons.
Mintel specifies that younger demographics are increasingly interested in low-alcohol options, “where 20% of beer drinkers aged 22-34 in the US look for beer with a lower alcohol content, compared to just 5% of those aged over 55.”⁵ Since this often overlaps with low-calorie beers, it’s not a big leap to say younger consumers driven by health trends and an interest in moderation make up a significant chunk of low-calorie beer demand.
Omni Hop Profiles are created using terpenes and other compounds from sustainable botanicals to formulate, replicate, and standardize the flavor and aroma of ANY hop. No seasonal flavor drift or supply inconsistencies. Just the flavor and aroma of your preferred hop year after year.
According to a 2024 Mintel report, “When selecting light or low-calorie beers, half of consumers prioritize their trusted brands over other attributes.”⁶ Plus, there is still the perception that drinking a light beer means compromising on taste.
With this in mind, it may seem hopeless trying to break into the light beer market, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Today’s new consumers have different behaviors and preferences compared to long-time light beer drinkers, and this creates valuable opportunities.
For example, breweries willing to experiment with innovative flavors can appeal to younger consumers who are fresh to the market. “Loyalty is less important for younger beer drinkers, leading to more exploration of different beers. While older consumers have refined their tastes, younger adults are still discovering what they enjoy.”
When Mintel polled beer drinkers aged 22+ about words they associated with light/low-calorie beer, 37% said “easy drinking,” 31% said “casual,” 22% said “tasty,” and 20% said “trendy.” This seems somewhat at odds with the idea that light beer drinkers value brand preference over flavor, but again, new consumers are bringing new preferences to the market.
For example, Precedence Research explains that much of the category growth is driven by a “rise in fitness awareness among beer consumers” and that marketing strategies directed toward younger consumers have “resulted in a boost of growth in the light beer market.”
Lastly, if you’re wondering why we haven’t listed the idea that “light beer has no flavor” as a hurdle, that’s because it’s not a hurdle. While the perception may exist, the reality is that modern flavor solutions allow brewers to infuse BOLD hop flavor into low calorie beer. Plus, brewers can easily use various terpene brewing solutions to craft innovative flavors that meet all of the “tasty” and “trendy” flavor demands from consumers.
There are several methods of brewing low calorie beer, but the end goal is to create a beverage that’s light on calories but still contains desirable flavors and textures.⁷ This is where things get tricky.
The majority of beer calories are from alcohol content and carbohydrates left over after fermentation. While reducing these things also reduces calories, it also dilutes desirable flavors and can create a texture some describe as "watery.”
While this contributed to the lackluster taste experiences of decades past, today’s brewers don’t have this issue. Optimized Hop Extracts (OHEs), like our Quantum Series and Omni Hop Profiles, offer varietal-specific hop flavors and aromas without adding calories, sugars, or bittering acids. That means brewers can add the exact hop flavors they want while maintaining the light, low calorie status of their beer.
What’s the difference between our Quantum Series and Omni Hop Profiles? Get all the details here!
While they can be used at any time during the brewing process, brewers can add OHEs to the brite tank after they’ve already achieved their desired ABV and caloric content. This enables precise flavor control in the final beer, while eliminating the risk of aromatic compound loss from additional processing.
OHEs also offer big benefits for brewers needing to supplement hop flower or pellets due to issues with supply chain, flavor/aroma consistency, or shifts in consumer preferences. For microbreweries without hop contracts, OHEs allow them to brew with hop flavors and aromas they might never have had access to otherwise. If that wasn’t enough, they also provide the following benefits:
With recent hop market volatility, OHEs are the ideal solution for breweries looking for a competitive advantage in the light, low calorie beer category.
Skyfarm is built with terpenes so you can brew with recognizable fruit flavors without adding sugar, calories, or mouthfeel. There are no “off flavors,” potpourri, or floral junk. Just high-amplitude fruit flavor top notes that are perfect for light, low calorie beverages.
While Optimized Hop Extracts let brewers infuse beers with desirable hop flavors and aromas, brewers can also appeal to new consumers entering the market with innovative fruit flavors.
Aseptic fruit purees are often used to add fruit flavors, but they also add calories and sugar. Sure, seeing “real fruit” on an ingredient list has its perks, but the extra calories and sugar don’t really jive with the whole “low calorie” feature of light beers. On top of that, the process of creating aseptic fruit purees can “mute” the flavor and give them a jam-like quality that isn’t always desirable.
Fortunately, terpene brewing solutions like the Skyfarm Series, don’t come with any of those issues. Just big fruit flavors and aromas without the drawbacks of whole fruit, fruit purees, or traditional fruit extracts.
These TTB-approved fruit flavors have been built from the ground up using isolated terpenes. We extract, purify, and rebuild them into the brightest flavor expression possible. This precise control allows us to create repeatable natural flavors and aromas without the added sugar or calories. Each blend is shelf-stable, and the flavor is ALWAYS consistent. But these blends go way, way further in terms of flavor, aroma, and handling.
Want to add the juicy flavor of stone fruit to the candy-like zest of Eclipse®? Combine the flavor and aroma of that popular hop with the luscious taste of Peach! Want a light, low calorie beer that’s big on dank hop flavor with an exotic, tropical twist? Try Strata® with Guava!
Endlessly combine OHEs with different terpene brewing solutions to create unique low calorie beer flavors consumers won’t be able to resist.
Formulating beverages is no easy task, and getting the flavor just right in a light beer requires no small amount of creativity and patience. Fortunately, our Optimized Hop Extracts take out some of the guesswork and provide a much needed competitive advantage.
Not only are they cost-effective (Quantum is half the price of T90s), but these collections provide an unprecedented level of efficiency. From recipe development and production timelines to ingredient sourcing and COGs, Quantum and Omni are turning the brewing paradigm on its head and making it possible to brew bold hops flavor into light, low calorie beers.
Contact us today, and let’s create the best-tasting light beer with flavors your customers will love.
The Oxford Companion to Beer Definition of Light Beer. Craft Beer & Brewing. (n.d.). https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/U6QcLmncMP/
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