09/06/2022
How Athletic Brewing Company Made Moderation Cool. Hint: Tasty Beer
Bill Shufelt, 39, started his craft beer business in 2017 in a moribund segment of an otherwise booming industry: non-alcoholic brews. Shufelt bet that there were many nondrinkers like him who wanted lagers and IPAs that tasted better than water, and were fit for fancy dinners as well as the finish line. Since then, his Athletic Brewing Company, based in Stratford, Connecticut, has raised about $75 million from investors. Sales were nearly $37 million last year, and non-alcoholic brews, while still a small portion of the $109 billion global craft beer market, are its fastest-growing category. Before helping create that momentum, however, Shufelt encountered plenty of folks who found his idea for a product hard to swallow.