Athletic Brewing Co.

Athletic Brewing Co. is a Connecticut-based brewery that specializes in non-alcoholic beer and sparkling water. Headquartered in Milford, the company was originally cofounded in 2017 in Stratford, CT, by CEO Bill Shufelt and CPO John Walker. Athletic brews only non-alcoholic craft beer and other beverages from their two facilities in Milford and San Diego, California.

Shufelt was inspired to found Athletic while taking a break from drinking alcohol to prepare for an upcoming endurance race. Shufelt, who worked for a hedge fund at the time, struggled to find non-alcoholic options that he found tasty and would also fit in with an active lifestyle. Shufelt quit his job to found Athletic in 2017 and enlisted Walker, a longtime brewer then living in New Mexico, to help craft a non-alcoholic beer that was more palatable than those currently on the market. Walker engineered a method of brewing non-alcoholic beer that would produce a product below 0.5 alcohol by volume (ABV), differing from the traditional method in which regular beer is brewed and then alcohol is boiled off at the end.

Athletic's growth rose steadily within its first two years of brewing. In 2019, entrepreneur Jamie Lissette joined the company as Director of Strategy and Operations, being promoted to chief operating officer six months later in January 2020. Athletic grew exponentially within the next three years, going from a team of eight people to 250, raising $175 million in funding and opening up the facilities in Milford and San Diego. As of 2023, Athletic products make up 55% of the non-alcoholic beer market. In addition to non-alcoholic craft beer, Athletic also makes sparkling hop water and recently announced a pre-workout brew called Suped Up in collaboration with ready-to-drink coffee brand Super Coffee.