Founded in 2017, Athletic Brewing sold more than 100,000 barrels of beer last year (up from 37,500 in 2020) and was named 2021’s craft brewery of the Year by trade publication Brewbound.
Athletic Brewing Company is a leading U.S. manufacturer of non-alcoholic craft beer based in Stratford, Connecticut. Bill Shufelt and John Walker founded the company in 2017.
Bill Shufelt was a trader at a hedge fund and an ultramarathon runner who stopped drinking alcohol in 2013. However, he found non-alcoholic drinks to be unsatisfactory and sought out John Walker, a head brewer in Santa Fe to produce better tasting non-alcohol beers.
They developed a brewing method that fully ferments the beers, but only to less than 0.5% ABV, the limit at which beer can be considered non-alcoholic in the US. They started their craft beer business, Athletic Brewing in 2017 and established the first brewing facility dedicated to non-alcoholic beer in Stratford, Connecticut, which opened in May 2018.
Athletic Brewing was launched with two beers and initially began selling in seven stores in New England on a trial basis, which then expanded to all the states in the US, and then other countries around the world.
In 2020, Athletic’s Free Wave IPA won the award as Supreme Champion Beer at the International Beer Challenge, the first non-alcoholic beer to win the award, beating over 500 other entries. It was ranked the second-fastest growing food and beverage company (and 26th overall) in the U.S. in 2022 by Inc., as well as one of the 100 most influential companies of 2022 by Time magazine.
According to en.wikipedia. Source of photos: internet
