It’s hard to talk about this year’s trends in beer without talking about the trends in non-alcoholic beer. Although the category comprised less than 1% of total beer sales in 2019 (as tracked by market research company IRI), there are pockets of craft breweries, like Athletic Brewing Company—led by co-founders Bill Shufelt and John Walker—on a quest to normalize alcohol-free beer.
Sober eight years, Shufelt started ABC in 2017 after mounting frustration with the lack of NA options available to him. To Shufelt, there was a penalty box for making healthy choices, and drinking Diet Cokes at a sports bar or cranberry sodas at weddings wasn’t cutting it anymore.
50% of Americans don’t drink—and among the 50% who do drink alcohol, 60% have fewer than one drink per week. To Shufelt and Walker, these populations have been largely underserved—not just in terms of non-alcoholic beverage options, but also in terms of our collective cultural acceptance of non-drinking. Through its community partnerships and associations with athletic organizations, the brewery’s broader focus is to normalize sober drinking and provide those choosing to abstain with the same opportunities to socialize and mark special occasions.
Consumers have responded positively. After maxing out its 10,000-barrel space in Connecticut in just two years, ABC purchased a former Ballast Point brewery in San Diego this year, adding 125,000 BBLs of capacity. Despite some early doubts from the craft beer community, ABC is starting to collaborate with well-known breweries like Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City, with whom it created Flying Start IPA. The beer will be sold in December and January through the Boulevard distribution network.
With the opening of the West Coast brewing space, ABC is on pace to produce five times its 2019 production, or almost 40,000 BBLs. For a brewery committed to giving back, that amounts to almost $300k in donations through its Two for the Trails trail and park cleanup program. As its portfolio grows, ABC is starting to accumulate awards, even in competition with alcoholic beers. The brewery won the “No or Low Alcohol Beer” category at this year’s International Beer Competition with its Free Wave Hazy IPA. When it was judged alongside winners in all categories, Free Wave then won the Supreme Champion prize for the entire competition.
“The appreciation for and recognition of non-alcoholic beer as a valuable and premium beverage is happening now,” Walkers says. “With the help of all the others in our category, there is now hard evidence that we are succeeding in breaking down the stigmas that surrounded non-alcoholic beers for so long. It is amazing.”
Words,Kristen Foster