Athletic Brewing Company co-founder and CEO Bill Shufelt discussed the evolution of non-alcoholic (NA) beer – and the strategies the Stratford, Connecticut-based brewery has used to become a leader in the segment – during the Brewbound Live 2021 business conference in Santa Monica, California earlier this month.
Athletic launched in 2018, and has grown to claim about 50% of the NA craft beer segment, according to Shufelt. Brewbound editor Justin Kendall likened the brewery to a “quintessential Brewbound Live story,” as Athletic transitioned from a 2019 Brewbound Live Pitch Slam competitor, to a 2020 Rising Star, to this year being named Craft Brewery of the Year.
“I think [Athletic] is taking something that was so long neglected and bringing it out of the penalty box,” Shufelt said. “The word sober – and these binary words are so outdated – 80% of our customers drink alcohol at other times during the week. We really think non-alcoholic in all its forms, not only beer, is the first credible occasion growth driver in adult beverages that we’ve had in decades.”
Rather than “cannibalizing the other offerings” in beer, Shufelt said the non-alc segment provides an opportunity to grow both the overall category and the craft segment by adding a beer option for the days where alcoholic beverages might not fit.
“Now, we have a beer you can drink Sunday through Thursday and absolutely love and be psyched to pair with your weeknight meal,” he said. “Or [a beer for] the 50% of the population who barely drinks at all.”
Athletic has extended its marketing reach with several different strategies, including pop-ups with gyms, a partnership with Outside Magazine, and name, image and likeness partnerships with college athletes. Shufelt emphasized the need for beer to step up and diversify its marketing efforts in order to compete with growing categories such as ready-to-drinks (RTDs).
“We’ve heard it in presentations this week, the pendulum has swung so far away from beer where it’s hyper innovation, it’s all FMBs, its RTDs, [and] so little conversation about core beer, which is something that humans have been drinking for thousands of years,” he said. “I think the pendulum’s gonna swing back, and I think there has to be marketing that wins the battle off the shelf and getting people to the shelf. And that’s where Athletic comes in. We are driving people to the shelf. We want to make sure people know it’s not the same old dusty five offerings on the non-alcoholic shelf anymore.”
Watch Shufelt’s full conversation with Brewbound’s Justin Kendall below: