Two area fathers are proving that necessity is the mother of invention. And that necessity started with a two-beer hangover.
Craig Carey recalls that, a few years back, when he was about 36 years old, “I had two IPAs, probably like 7 percent [ABV], and I had my first two-beer hangover. I was just like, ‘What is going on?’ Yeah, biology is undefeated,” he says of his changing metabolism.
Carey, a Burke native who now lives in Clifton, shared his struggle with longtime friend Ryan Kutscher. Both had shared many a beer together back in their days at William & Mary. And come to find out, both had begun mixing nonalcoholic and alcoholic beers to achieve the taste they craved at a lower ABV.
“And that’s when the light bulb went off,” Carey says.
Brewing Up a Winner
Both men were beer lovers and entrepreneurs by nature. Carey had a background in the marketing and restaurant industry. He co-founded Big Buns Damn Good Burgers in Arlington, which Thompson Hospitality later acquired. Kutscher was living in DC and running his own marketing agency.
In 2023, the two partnered with local brewing company Atlas Brew Works to develop a low-ABV, low-calorie concept. After about a year and multiple pilots, their Dad Strength Brewing IPA — at 2.9 percent ABV and 94 calories — was born. They currently sell two beers: a West Coast IPA and a juicy IPA.
How did they settle on the Dad Strength name? “We were in our late 30s, early 40s, and we love beer, but beer stopped loving us back. And we needed a different strength of beer for these two dads,” Carey says.
Swimming with the Sharks
They officially launched the product in 2024, and the beer is now available in DC, Maryland, Virginia, and Michigan. They’re working to expand their reach and got a big boost when a 2025 appearance on Shark Tank landed them a handshake deal with three celebrity sharks: Rashaun Williams, Lori Greiner, and Robert Herjavec.
Carey says the Shark Tank appearance “was a pretty wild experience,” adding, “I think Ryan plays it cool. As for myself, I was definitely nervous.”
Building More Dad Strength
Both men have left their previous careers to focus on Dad Strength full time, and the concept seems to be going strong. “We’ve got a lot of exciting things happening right now,” Carey says, including product sales starting this month in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
The business is launching a new hazy IPA as well. “This hazy IPA is just incredible because there’s no bitterness. It’s super tropical.”
Want to give it a try? Carey says you just might score a sample from one of the two dads themselves at a NoVA beer and wine market or grocery store. “You can find us pretty much every weekend, still, at some type of grocery store, introducing people to our products.”
Carey is hoping that, once introduced, others will appreciate the benefits of a tasty, lower-alcohol beer. He’s a firm believer that it’s upping his dad game: “We were at a kid birthday party on Sunday, and I was able to have two Dad Strongs … it was midday, and I didn’t have to take a nap afterwards. It was great. So, it’s kind of this best of both worlds.”
Feature image courtesy Dad Strength Brewing
This story originally ran in our January issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
