Stratford”™s Athletic Brewing Co. has been flying high practically since it started in 2018 ”“ and hopes to continue to do so in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.
“It”™s something we”™ve been thinking about for a while,” co-founder Bill Shufelt told the Business Journal. “We preordered six months of ingredients and are hoping we can come up with solutions to help our partners in retail.” That effort would include what he called “deep discounts” on ABC”™s cans of nonalcoholic beer, “so we can help them with their revenue stream as best as we can.”
Craft nonalcoholic beers are a fairly unusual item in today”™s marketplace ”“ and that”™s what has made ABC such a success, Shufelt and co-founder John Walker said. Since launching in 2018, its sales increased over 1,000% to over 10,000 barrels volume in 2019. And as a supplier of only nonalcoholic beer, Athletic Brewing is able to ship its beer nationally direct-to-consumer, something they said is a first in the beer world.
“The nonalcoholic beer sector had really been dead for three-plus decades,” Shufelt said. “Our thesis was that there was a huge unmet need out there, and that we could provide something that speaks to today”™s adults.”
“I was a little taken aback when we first started talking,” Walker said, noting that he”™d first connected with Shufelt through a brewing message board while he was working at a traditional brewery in Santa Fe, and his future partner was in Connecticut. “But we got to talking and it made a lot of sense, from a holistic and a philosophical point of view ”“ and there was the curiosity factor.”
A Madison native, Walker said the move back to Connecticut wasn”™t too daunting ”“ “I still have family here” ”“ while Shufelt, who lives in Greenwich, credits Stratford”™s economic development department and its general community support for making the brewery and taproom at 350 Long Beach Blvd. an immediate success.
“We grew from three teammates about 18 months ago to 50 today,” Shufelt said.
He said the other impetus behind producing nonalcoholic beer came from what he termed “pain points” in both his and Walker”™s lives.
“My life was drifting naturally to less alcohol,” he said. “I was not drinking five times a week anymore, getting more interested in fitness and diets. But I quickly found that restaurants, bars and other places didn”™t really have something viable to let you feel included in a social situation.”
“I”™d been surrounded by alcohol for practically my entire career,” Walker added. “But as a young father with two kids, when I met Bill and heard about his plan it made a lot of sense.”
ABC received early support from what Shufelt called “a really enthusiastic group of angel investors who believed in us,” as well as Connecticut Innovations and Whole Foods, which almost immediately began stocking it in seven of its Connecticut stores.
And the momentum keeps moving forward. The company was recently named to Fast Company”™s annual list of the World”™s Most Innovative Companies, and earlier in March it acquired the assets of the former Ballast Point “Trade Street” facility in San Diego for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition was made possible due to the closing of a $17.5 million Series B funding round.
Walker said the pair hopes that, after a few renovations, the San Diego operation can restart production in mid-May ”“ notwithstanding the coronavirus ”“ and that it will be able to add dozens of brewing jobs to the area.
In keeping with its healthy philosophy, ABC also donates 2% of all sales to a selected trail or park as part of its “Two for the Trails” initiative. Employees have helped clean up trails and parks in Stratford, Windsor, New Hampshire and the Berkshires, Walker said.
“We”™ve also partnered with Leave No Trace and the National Hiking Society,” Shufelt noted. “And we”™re hoping to donate a six-figure sum this year.”
