{"id":148380,"date":"2026-01-28T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/athletechnews.com\/?p=148380"},"modified":"2026-01-27T19:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T00:05:06","slug":"ceo-corner-athletic-brewing-bill-shufelt-reimagining-na-beer-exclusive-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/athletechnews.com\/ceo-corner-athletic-brewing-bill-shufelt-reimagining-na-beer-exclusive-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"CEO Corner: Athletic Brewing\u2019s Bill Shufelt on Reimagining NA Beer"},"content":{"rendered":"
Athletic Brewing has quickly become one of the biggest names in the fast-growing non-alcoholic beverage market, offering beers that closely mimic the taste of their alcohol-containing counterparts<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Nearly one decade ago, Bill Shufelt and John Walker set out to change the way people experience and enjoy non-alcoholic beer.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since founding Athletic Brewing in 2017, Shufelt and Walker have successfully done just that, reinvigorating the historically stale NA-beer space with a relentless focus on closely mimicking the taste profile of alcohol-containing brews.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, Athletic Brewing raised $50 million<\/a> to expand production capacity amid high demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the brand’s award-winning NA beers and mocktail cans can be found in a rapidly growing\u00a0list of thousands of restaurants and bars across the U.S., along with many sports stadiums and music venues. Across the pond, Athletic Brewing<\/a> struck a landmark partnership with Arsenal FC<\/a> to make its products available at the English soccer club’s matches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s good timing, too, as drinking rates reach historic lows in the U.S.<\/a> amid broader wellness shifts among Gen Z and Millennials.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shufelt sat down with Athletech News to discuss why he and Walker decided to create Athletic Brewing, how the brand has been able to create NA beers that taste like their alcohol-containing counterparts and what\u2019s next amid continued expansion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Athletech News: Can you tell us about your background before starting Athletic Brewing, and why you decided to co-found the company?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Bill Shufelt: <\/strong>I was in finance, a career I never thought I\u2019d leave. I was generally living a healthy, active, high-performance lifestyle. But I was going out to a lot of work dinners and other social events, and drinking most nights of the week at those events. I realized that alcohol was the ceiling on a lot of my life goals \u2014 my productivity, sleep, health, performance, work output and family. I stopped drinking while training for my first ultra-marathon, and it was the biggest life hack I\u2019d ever discovered.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realized the (beverage industry) was entirely missing the 50% of adults who barely drink at all. So I set out to fill that void: beer that fits in the modern, healthy-adult lifestyle. That’s how I got to quitting my job and thinking about Athletic Brewing.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s very much a two-co-founder story. Our other co-founder, John, is an incredibly talented brewmaster. We both care enormously about the quality side of it, and we knew that if non-alcoholic beer was going to be completely reimagined, it’d have to be reinvented from the ground up, too. I give total credit to John on that \u2014 he\u2019s probably the most talented person to ever focus their attention on non-alcoholic beer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John
John Walker (left) and Bill Shufelt (credit: Athletic Brewing)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n