Athletic Brewing Proves N/A Can Be Amazing
Hi everyone (all four of you reading this first edition)! Welcome to Saturday Sips, the newsletter I’m launching to tell beverage stories across the US as the media world continues to devolve into a very strange place. I love telling stories, particularly those about beverages and how much they mean to people around the globe. I’ve been blessed to be able to do so for publications for many years now, but I want to be able to control that for the future, so, again, welcome to Saturday Sips.
And now I’ll admit this is a weird way to start a newsletter about booze, but I am starting with a nice feature on the nonalcoholic beer company Athletic Brewing and an interview with its co-founder, Bill Shufelt.
I first “met” him [we’ve never met in person] pre-COVID while working for Front Office Sports and The Manual, writing features about his startup and how it looked to disrupt the beverage space. Several years later and Shufelt and Co. are everywhere.
Also in the issue:
- What Pat’s Drinking?
- Literary Libations
Beer goes Athletic
Non-alcoholic is now a buzzy topic.
That’s exactly where Bill Shufelt, and his Athletic Brewing Co. co-founder John Walker, thought it would be when they started the strictly N/A beer company in 2017.
“We had confidence around the potential for Athletic’s size in the world,” Shufelt said. “The vision is pretty consistent. We still feel like we’re in the second inning.”
As noted in a recent Wall Street Journal story about Athletic Brewing’s success, when Shufelt was looking at the beer industry, N/A beer made up 1% of the $115 billion industry. A small change in that percentage could mean significant dollars. That same story reported Athletic Brewing is Whole Foods top selling beer brand — period.
When I started really covering the beer industry in 2012, craft beer was boarding a rocket ship and it was changing the way America looked at beer and sales were growing like crazy. But now? Beer sales are flat. But! N/A beer has taken off, particularly Athletic.
Prior to Athletic Brewing’s founding, N/A beers were nothing to write home about. So why not become a craft brewery focused on solely N/A beers and really blow some minds? It should be noted, and at least in some part a result of Athletic, big companies like Heineken, Anheuser-Busch and Guinness have worked on their N/A offerings (An aside: I am pretty big fan of Heineken and Guinness offerings).
In its first year, 2017, Athletic Brewing brewed 875 barrels of beer [a barrel is equal to 31 gallons]. Last year, the company brewed 250,000 barrels and ranked No. 13 on the Brewers Association’s list of 50 largest craft breweries.
It is likely people have seen at least two of Athletic’s beers Run Wild IPA and Upside Down Golden, but it releases approximately 50 beers a year from its breweries in Connecticut and California. Consumers in most states can order the beers through the mail, unfortunately Michigan (my home state) does not.
Overall, the N/A beer makes up 3% of the segment in grocery channels.
“Products like this didn’t exist and weren’t available,” Shufelt said. “It’s taken awhile to get across, our distribution is just getting go. There is so much opportunity.”
Others are taking note in Athletic Brewing, too. In 2022, Keurig Dr. Pepper invested $50 million in Athletic Brewing. That is a pretty big signifier of success.
But there are no plans from Shufelt to slow down.
“We’re just staying focused on what we’re good at, not getting distracted,” he said. “There are so many people out to make a quick buck, but Athletic is changing the way the world drinks beer.
“We’ve had an enormous positive impact, so rinse and repeat. We do an enormous amount of good in the world,” he said, adding Athletic Brewing has donated more than $4.5 million.
There is still a lot of room for growth for Athletic Brewing. For some of it, it will simply take people trying the product. It is also a matter of people utilizing it when they might not otherwise be able to partake in a full alcohol beer — like at the end of a sporting event.
Stadiums and arenas cut off booze with plenty of game left. Those teams and venues are leaving money on the table by not having an attractive alternative. Well, that is what Athletic provides.
“There are so many occasions, so broader availability,” Shufelt said when asked how the company continues to grow. “You can expect to see us at relevant celebrations, whether it’s sporting events, music events.
“In marketing, we’re trying to meet people all parts of the funnel.”
The “sober-curious” movement is real. Just look at the sales of non-alcoholic options. In 2020, the first four weeks of January 2020 saw $13.5 million in N/A beer sales at U.S. mass retailers. This year, that was up to $42.7 million.
It’s all probably for good reason. At least in modern times, there has always been some form of knowledge about the health hazards of alcohol. Now, medical research is showing increasingly the dangers of any alcohol consumption. And anecdotally, when I wear fitness trackers and, really, just pay attention, my sleep is so much better when I don’t imbibe the day before… and we all know how important sleep is to a healthy life.
“With so much data available at fingerprints, people are making more informed choices about in-puts,” Shufelt said.
Will that stop most people? Unlikely. People have drank for millennia and it does add a certain zest to life. One of the reasons my wife and I travel is simply to see the food and drink culture of countries… and booze is a big part of that across the globe.
People are still drinking. Eighty percent of Athletic Brewing’s customers still drink. In 2022, a National Survey on Drug Use and Health found 68.2% of people over 21 had at least one drink the previous year. That was down just over 2% from 2017’s 70.7%. Of note, the desire to drink less alcohol is driven by younger generations, as noted in this Penn State extension report.
(And another aside: this NYT piece talks minors ordering mocktails… is that not a signifier they might be interested in alcoholic cocktails later? It’s a conflicted feeling I have as alcohol could very well go the way of the cigarette.)
Yes, I have made a good percentage of my life earnings writing about booze. And sometimes that pains me — and it pains me sometimes how much I love it. I have written before how the craft beer movement can be a cover for alcoholism in the name of culture.
And that is why when I first chatted with Shufelt about Athletic Beer while a reporter at Front Office Sports and The Manual, I really enjoyed the concept. I had doubts that N/A beer could become what they have built. Now, I think it is safe to say it is here to stay.
For a lot of people, myself included, drinking is not about getting buzzed — but it is easy to let that spiral when you are surrounded by people you love and having fun. No, it is more about the ritual of having something non-sweet and flavorful to sip on after an event or a stressful day, or maybe to crush while hanging out with friends playing yard games on a hot summer Saturday.
That is where the companies like Athletic Brewing are filling this new niche and it is just getting started.
“A lot of breweries when they get bigger, they lose focus, or get distracted,” Schufelt said. “Our beer gets better in quality of every year. We’ve attracted talented people.”
What Pat’s Drinking?
This week, I popped a few samples I got from Lipton. They tasted just like their packaged Lemon Iced Tea and Half & Half products. The only difference? They were 5% ABV.
More companies are releasing their products in hard versions, brands like Sunny D, Arizona Iced Tea and Dunkin’. But most of those have not hit me in a way like the Lipton products.
I missed sending this debut issue out in time for the Kentucky Derby, but boy did Jim Beam hit a home run with its Kentucky Coolers. Those canned cocktails are crushers, with multiple flavors like Blueberry Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade, Orange Crush and Peach Crush.
Also crushing it are the Superbird Tequila’s canned beverages. Some of the best things I’ve had recently.
Literary Libations
Welcome to Literary Libations! Alyssa here. Each week, I will share a drink pairing to go with whatever book I’m reading at the moment because a good reading session deserves to be accompanied by a good drink. If you have any books you’d like featured in this section, reply and let us know! I promise to keep everything spoiler-free.
Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez
This novel (a Reese’s Book Club Pick!) features a dual timeline from the perspectives of Anita de Monte, a rising artist in New York City in 1985, and Raquel, a college student studying art history in 1998. Anita is a proud Cuban-American, and this dark story is rich with Cuban culture as she reflects on her childhood on the colorful yet wrought island.
While reading this book, I naturally can’t stop thinking about my trip to Havana in 2016. Throughout the long weekend, we drank more than our fair share of mojitos made with Havana Rum (for $3 each). So for this pairing, I’m sharing the recipe for a Cuban Mojito, opting for a dark rum because this book gets dark. If you’ve already read it, you know what I mean.
Anita’s Cuban Mojito
10 fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon raw sugar
1 lime
2 ounces dark rum
Club soda
Crushed ice
Method:
In a glass, muddle sugar, mint, and juice from half a lime until the mint is fragrant but not bruised.
Add rum and stir.
Fill with ice then top with soda and a lime wedge.
Read up and drink up!
-Alyssa