Athletic's Bill Shufelt is Bullish on the Future of NA Beer – and the Beer Category

Athletic's Bill Shufelt is Bullish on the Future of NA Beer – and the Beer Category

June 17, 2026 · 53 min

About this episode

Bill Shufelt discusses the future of non-alcoholic beer and the growth potential of Athletic Brewing.

Athletic Brewing co-founder and CEO Bill Shufelt is "the most excited" he's felt since founding the dedicated non-alcoholic (NA) beer brand. On the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast, Shufelt shared what's driving his hyped feeling, with a foundation he and co-founder John Walker laid about a decade ago. That foundation is built on a team of 300 co-workers, bicoastal brewing facilities, a strong distribution base for its core beers, a slate of new products hitting retailers and marketing campaigns beginning to ramp up. "I'm very bullish on the long-term health and growth of the category and our part in growing that," Shufelt said. "It was very hard to get non-alcoholic beer from zero to 2% of beer, but there are actual retailers in the U.S. [where] non-alcoholic beer is touching up against 20% of their beer sales." Those retailers lend credence to Shufelt's belief that NA beer can be a much bigger part of the beer category. Shufelt explained that consumers are very early in the NA beer discovery curve, with the vast majority unaware how the product has changed in the last decade. Even with the stage set for growth, Shufelt acknowledged that Athletic still has work to do for…

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Host: Brewbound

Guest: Bill Shufelt

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Organizations: Athletic Brewing, John Walker

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