The Co. Louth-based brewer Fierce Mild is taking on Heineken 0.0 with a new lager and an advertising campaign encouraging drinkers to look beyond the default choice at the bar.
In what has the makings of David vs Goliath battle, the brewer has launched Lively Lager, its first non-alcoholic lager, backed by an “Ask for the Irish One” campaign that makes no secret of the scale of the competition.
Heineken 0.0 holds a 43.2% share of Ireland’s non-alcoholic beer market, according to Heineken Ireland’s “Always a Choice: How Socialising is Changing in Ireland” report published in 2025.
Brand awareness tells an even starker story. Research from KUBI Insights last year put awareness of Heineken 0.0 at 91%, compared with just 4% for Fierce Mild.
Rather than ducking the comparison, Fierce Mild has decided to drive straight at it armed with a few tactics drawn from the guerilla and ambush marketing playbooks.
A mobile billboard promoting Lively Lager is touring high-profile locations around Dublin, including Burgh Quay, overlooked by the giant Heineken sign on O’Connell Bridge House that has long been one of the most recognisable pieces of beer advertising in the city.
Campaign lines include “Go Dutch for Dinner. Not for Your Beer.” and “ZER0.0 Choice. Until Now.”
The underlying idea is to challenge a habit Fierce Mild believes still exists in the fast-growing alcohol-free category: consumers going to a bar and asking simply for “a non-alc” rather than specifying a particular brand.
“We’re asking people to ask what else is available – and to Ask for the Irish One,” said Fergal Carroll, co-founder of Fierce Mild.
It is an ambitious pitch from a brewery founded only four years ago and operating in a category dominated by some of the largest drinks companies in the world.
But Fierce Mild believes the rapid growth of non-alcoholic beer is beginning to change consumer behaviour and creating an opportunity for smaller brands to compete on taste and provenance rather than recognition alone.
“People will often still come to the bar and ask for ‘a non-alc’, but that’s starting to change,” said Micheál O’Brien of The Animal Collective Bar Group.
“As the category grows and there’s more choice available, we’re seeing people become much more particular about what they want to drink.”
Ireland’s alcohol-free beer market has expanded rapidly in recent years, with non-alcoholic beer sales increasing by 25% in 2024.
That growth has largely been driven by alcohol-free versions of established beer brands, with Heineken 0.0 leading the market and Guinness identified as the second-largest non-alcoholic beer brand.
Fierce Mild sees an opening for an independent Irish producer dedicated exclusively to the alcohol-free category.
“We’re focused on making a beer people genuinely want to drink – and giving them an Irish alternative when they ask for one,” said Cathal Byrne, co-founder of Fierce Mild.
He adds that Lively Lager has been developed as a standalone beer rather than an alcohol-free version of an existing alcoholic lager.
The launch also broadens a range that has until now been led by the brewery’s Extra Pale Ale, or XPA which was named Best Irish Drink at the 2026 Irish Food Writers’ Guild Awards after winning Gold at both Blas na hÉireann and the Irish Quality Food & Drink Awards in 2025.
