Season 2, Ep. 2: Bill Shufelt, Founder, Athletic Brewing

While Athletic Brewing may today be one of the fastest-growing craft breweries, its origins were more deliberate and intentional, laying a foundation of quality and culture.

While Athletic Brewing may today be known as one of the fastest-growing breweries the craft beer industry has ever seen, its origins were more deliberate and intentional, with a rollout strategy that stayed local for as long as possible. Bill Shufelt's founder story goes back nearly a decade, and in those early years he carefully constructed a foundation that would serve the company well as it would emerge as one of the faces of a new mindset around adult drinking.

In this episode we talk with Bill on a variety of topics, including: 

• Athletic Brewing's role in today's evolving drinking habits, and how quality and culture are table stakes for the company.

• The 18-24 month process they went through to come up with the brand name (including what the backup name would have been had "Athletic" not been available). 

• The importance of Dry January in getting in front of a new audience, regardless of how consumers may choose to interact with the category.

• Which Athletic brews and seasonals Bill enjoys the most, and what's in his refrigerator at home.

• Advice for fellow NA entrepreneurs on the best way to achieve scale, balancing the need to learn from mistakes with a desire to grow quickly.

Mentioned in this episode:

Athletic Brewing
How I Built This Podcast (Bill Shufelt episode)
Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association (ANBA)