"We want people to be able to hold the beer with the label out, hoping people would ask about it. Previously, with nonalcoholic beer, everyone was like, 'Man, I hope no one asks me what I'm drinking,'" Bill Shufelt, the company's co-founder, told NBC 7.The demand for Athletic’s beer has skyrocketed. It's the No. 1 nonalcoholic beer brand in the U.S. and is now the No.
But Shufelt said he believed whole-heartedly in his idea because all his research and conversations with people told him the same thing: if nonalcoholic beer tasted good and didn’t come with a big stigma, they would love to drink a good nonalcoholic beer.After hundreds of meetings with potential investors, Shufelt was finally able to secure financing to start Athletic. Then what he needed was a brewer. That’s when Athletic co-founder and award-winning brewmaster John Walker comes in.
In 2018, the pair launched the country’s first nonalcoholic beer brewery in Connecticut but quickly outgrew the building.