The Protein Era Is Coming for Your Happy Hour

If you were an alien beamed into an American supermarket this year, you’d be forgiven for thinking that humans could not possibly get more obsessed with protein. Since Chicago lifter Irvin Johnson began selling “Hi-Protein Food” in 1950, a soy powder advertised in “Iron Man” magazine as a miracle for “skinny” men, the supplement has come a long way. Protein leaped off the recovery shelves of local gyms and into almost every aisle of the grocery store.

If 75 years ago a chalky powder was something to choke down for your gains, today’s buffet of protein-fortified foods is just a fact of eating in this country. Enthusiasts can now slam whey-laced waffles, blueberry Pop Tarts®, or Maple Bacon flavored “Man Cereal” for breakfast. They can add 15 grams of protein-loaded banana cold foam to their Starbucks lattes. There’s pea-based instant ramen and a bag of chips loaded with egg whites and bone broth ready to pack for an easy lunch. And when dinner rolls around, don’t forget the low-carb pizza with a crust made almost entirely of chicken breast — nightcapped with a tricked-out Snickers bar boasting 20 grams of (you guessed it!) whey isolate.

Somewhere along the way, protein became the last unproblematic macronutrient in our diets. But “simply adding it to other foods and drinks does not make them healthy,” says Desiree Nielsen, a Canadian dietitian and author. “Protein added to your candy is still candy.”

That’s not stopping any of us from piling these products into our shopping carts. In a 2024 survey of 3,000 U.S. adults, 71 percent said they were trying to cram in more protein — a figure that’s up 12 points from 2022. And the number of food and drink products launched with a “high-protein” claim roughly quadrupled between 2013 and 2024, according to Mintel, a market research firm. “Right now,” says Melanie Bartelme, the firm’s associate director of food and drink, we’re “kind of just dumping it in wherever it makes sense.” So it was only a matter of time before I could raise a protein-spiked cocktail to my lips and slurp up all its promises.

The marketing appeal of combining protein and alcohol is easy to parse: Your post-workout juice can now double as your happy-hour buzz. Functional drinks have convinced us that certain liquids hold the power to hydrate better, calm our guts, sharpen our brains, or soften our stress — and their sales climbed 54 percent between March 2020 and March 2024, according to NielsenIQ. Alcohol, currently in its flop era, was always going to want in on that come-up. It’s tried before: red wine’s “heart-protective” claims to low-sugar wine brands and tequila’s once-“clean” reputation, booze has spent decades angling for a seat at the wellness table.

Whey-laced beers and pea-infused vodka waters were probably inevitable. All of these products tap into a broader American fantasy that’s taken hold over the past few years — that every choice we make, even the indulgent ones, should somehow count as self-improvement. And once we’d started expecting our drinks to “do” something for us, protein was simply the next knob to turn. But whether these bevs sound like progress or paradox depends on how convinced you are that health and hedonism need to be in the same can.

Meet the Protein Booze Pioneers

Despite the market logic pushing alcohol toward protein, the category remains more of a curiosity than a revolution. It’s not for a lack of trying. In 2015, Boston’s Mighty Squirrel Brewing Co. released a beer dosed with 5 grams of hydrolyzed whey, promoted through 5-kilometer “pub runs.” By 2021, National Pro Beer’s fortified pale ale hit the market with 15 grams per can. Then came Protochol’s Spiked Protein Drinks (8 percent ABV, 11 grams protein, with flavors like “Swoleberry”) and BUILD by Pulp Culture, billed as the “world’s first protein-boosted hard juice.” The latter raised $7 million to launch an adaptogenic, probiotic drink forified with egg protein created from fermented microbes rather than chickens.

A handful of bars around the country have apparently toyed with protein cocktails and savory “brothtails,” too. Last year, TikTok popularized collagen-jacked cocktails. (One bartender who duped the trend said they got a funk that was akin to “dirty socks.”) And for what appears to be years, Reddit users and wellness bloggers have been mixing citrus-flavored clear whey into Gin and Tonics, peppermint schnapps into chocolate protein shakes, and vanilla powder into berry smoothies. (Perhaps they were influenced by the famously ripped Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has also admitted to spiking his recovery drinks.)

Amid that backdrop, one brand seems to be steadily finding a foothold. The idea for MATE! Vodka Protein Water came, fittingly, over pizza and beer. Its Australian founder, Christopher Wolstenholme, had hit a snag trying to open Georgia’s first drive-through liquor store when his wife suggested he do something new. The ready-to-drink seltzer space was booming, and he knew he wanted to make a beverage. But how can a new venture capture market share among shelves lined with more than 300 ready-to-drink brands? “‘Everything’s got added protein,’” Wolstenholme’s wife told him. “‘Why not our alcohol?’”

“We are very confused and reaching for things that feel like they might be healthy, because confusion is a marketing opportunity.”

Launched in 2023, each 12-ounce can has 4.5 percent ABV, 3 grams of sugar, 150 calories, and 8 grams of pea protein from Minnesota legumes processed in California. Wolstenholme chose pea protein after whey made the drinks too thick and collagen “died” when heated; he also wanted something gluten-free, dairy-free, and uncarbonated for drinkers, including many GLP-1 users and bariatric patients, who can’t tolerate the bloat and burn of bubbles. I tried one of the 4-packs and texturally, MATE! is fuller-bodied than straight H₂O — closer to coconut water — but still improbably smooth. Unlike my chalky morning smoothies, I couldn’t detect the added protein at all. The lime-mint tasted like a Mojito and the pineapple had a sweet, tropical brightness that reminded me of a candy I loved as a kid.

Why Protein Became a Health Halo

Across the board, these brands’ marketing has leaned on optimization-coded language: MATE!’s website poses the question, “We all know drinking is empty calories, but what if it didn’t have to be?” And Pulp Culture’s CEO once said the company targets “educated consumers who prioritize their health and performance.” So how did protein become the kind of word that makes even alcohol sound good for you?

For starters, our bodies need it. Protein is packed with amino acids that build muscle, reinforce bone and skin, and form enzymes, hormones, and transport molecules. Parts of the world are genuinely deficient. But here, where most of us get plenty of protein, the call to down more of it has been cultural as much as physiological. Medically credentialed social media influencers warn followers that they’re protein-deficient. GLP-1 weight-loss drugs created a cohort whose doctors prescribe high-protein diets. And influential experts like physician Peter Attia, an investor in various protein companies, continue to challenge the decades-old recommended daily allowance of 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. In his book “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity,” he called current recommendations “a joke.”

Despite recent concerns over heavy metal contamination in supplements, protein’s promise is seductive: It can help with recovery and aid weight loss, and it keeps you fuller than carbs alone. Most people “know protein is good,” says Bartelme, the Mintel analyst, but they have “no idea how much they actually need.” The result is mass-market delirium. “We are very confused and reaching for things that feel like they might be healthy,” says Nielsen, “because confusion is a marketing opportunity.” And brands are cashing in on it: In a 2024 study of over a thousand U.S. adults, cereals labeled “high-protein” were perceived as healthier and more beneficial despite containing more sugar, sodium, and calories than regular versions.

“Are you going to have a couple of seltzers anyway? Then why not have some protein as well?”

Given that marketing power, you’d think protein-boosted alcohol would be printing money. But, in reality, the category has struggled to take off. Aside from MATE!, many brands mentioned above have fizzled out, and no major U.S. booze company has gambled on whey, pea, or other supplements. Yet as Americans’ appetite for protein grumbles louder, aren’t these drinks exactly what we’ve been asking for? Actually, no, snap back most of the experts I spoke to and an entire corner of Reddit I accidentally provoked with a similar question. “I like my poison poisonous and my health stuff healthy,” one user bluntly responded.

The Big Biology Problem

Protein booze’s main hurdle is a mismatch between expectations and reality. Alcohol interferes with muscle metabolism — the same process protein supports, Nielsen explains. Heavy drinking causes muscle degradation (myopathy), and the damage extends beyond alcoholics. A 12-year study of middle-aged adults found that while high protein intake significantly reduced the risk of muscle loss, alcohol consumption weakened its protective effect — particularly in women. The more you knock back, the more its benefits are compromised. Nielsen’s deeper concern? That the health halo around protein will do exactly what it shouldn’t: encourage people to drink to excess.

The contradiction isn’t lost on Reddit’s fitness crowd: “If you’re drinking enough to get drunk then you’re drinking enough to compromise your gains,” one user wrote in a popular r/naturalbodybuilding thread. Alcohol fortified with protein “does nothing for you,” Nielsen concludes — and the audience most likely to buy these products already seems to know it.

Still, Wolstenholme believes there’s room in the market for his vodka protein waters. In his view, moderate alcohol consumption doesn’t halt protein synthesis entirely but merely slows it. Some studies do suggest that consuming 0.5 grams of alcohol per kilogram of body weight (roughly two drinks for a 120-pound person) won’t significantly impair muscle recovery. Beyond that threshold, however, the interference becomes measurable. For health-conscious consumers, Wolsenholme argues that a drink with added protein, no carbonation, and minimal sugar simply makes more sense. “Are you going to have a couple of seltzers anyway?” he asks. “Then why not have some protein as well?”

Brands Can’t Say the Quiet Part Out Loud

There’s another problem, though, and it’s existential: U.S. regulators prohibit brands from implying booze is beneficial. The Food and Drug Administration explicitly states that it does “not consider it appropriate to add vitamins and minerals to alcoholic beverages,” and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau considers health claims misleading without full nutritional disclosure. Wolstenholme can’t even mention MATE!’s protein content on the can — federal law forbids it — so the word appears all over the box instead, which falls under state oversight. He tried to fight it, spending months in negotiations over what could appear on the label.

The risk of litigation is real, says Erica Duecy, founder and co-host of Business of Drinks, a drinks-industry podcast and advisory service. Molson Coors agreed to pay $9.5 million to settle a lawsuit over Vizzy Hard Seltzer’s “antioxidant vitamin C” label, which plaintiffs argued misled consumers into thinking it was healthy, she notes. And Flying Embers faces similar claims over its “live probiotics” and “adaptogens” labels implying that such additions outweigh alcohol’s negative effects. “Protein plus alcohol sends mixed signals,” says Duecy. For an industry built on a health-based point of difference, the inability to legally make such claims is a fatal constraint.

“We just want to be told what to do and the internet is telling us to buy all this stuff.”

While protein is trending up, alcohol is declining. A 2025 Gallup poll found that just half of adults under 35 drink at all — down from a 71 percent high a few decades ago. The reasons sound like wellness, Bartelme explains: better sleep, clearer skin, fewer blurry nights immortalized online. Duecy adds that health-oriented “shoppers are shifting toward lower-calorie, functional non-alcoholic options, not alcohol.” Big retailers may hesitate to stock protein-fortified upstarts. “The broader alcohol set is already pressured, so shelf space is competitive,” she explains. “Brands would need to show proven velocity to get into accounts.”

The Fantasy We’re Really Buying

Most experts I spoke with see protein-spiked alcohol as a clever experiment, not the next major drinks category. But some emerging data suggests consumers are curious. Tastewise, a food and beverage intelligence firm analyzing millions of social media mentions, reports that conversation about protein alcohol has climbed steadily. According to a custom data pull it sent VinePair, mentions rose 24 percent across generations over the past year — based on 119,098 consumer interactions — and unlike Reddit’s skepticism, sentiment is largely positive. Wolstenholme says MATE! grew over 460 percent between 2023 and 2024, with another 130 to 230 percent projected for 2025. Among retailers who stock the product, 86 percent reorder.

If the science is shaky, the marketing risky, and drinking trends point the other way, what is protein booze actually selling? To focus only on the quantitative is to miss the point of pea-laced vodka water entirely. “We’re in a world of optimizing everything we do,” says Michael Bortinger, a marketing director at Tastewise. Even treats need to “work hard for me.” Nielsen thinks it’s because we’re living at breakneck speed, burning the candle at both ends with little time for real self-care. “We just want to be told what to do and the internet is telling us to buy all this stuff,” she says. In other words, protein booze exists to make us feel well.

We love “an eat-more message,” Nielsen says. Unlike carbs or sugar, protein is one of the few nutrients our culture celebrates without suspicion. But there’s a cost to chasing grams alone. Downing protein-fortified snacks and drinks can crowd out whole foods, the ones that deliver fiber, vitamins, minerals, and the volume of food that keeps us full and satisfied. And beyond a certain threshold, extra protein becomes wasted energy and wasted resources. One 2021 study found that producing highly refined protein isolates requires more energy and chemicals than growing the crops themselves. What truly makes us healthy are factors like financial security, time, rest, and safe housing. But those are impossible to bottle. So we sip on, hoping anyway.

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