athletic brewing

If a grocery store or bar carries exactly one non-alcoholic craft beer, odds are it is Athletic Brewing. The brand has become shorthand for the entire NA craft category, which makes an Athletic Brewing review feel less like reviewing one company and more like checking in on the state of non-alcoholic beer itself. After working through the core lineup, here is the honest style-by-style read.

What It Is

Athletic Brewing was founded by Bill Shufelt and John Walker in Connecticut with a premise that was unusual at the time: build a brewery that makes only non-alcoholic beer, rather than a regular brewery that dealcoholizes a side project. Everything they make stays under 0.5 percent alcohol by volume, brewed with a proprietary process designed to avoid the cooked, overly sweet character that haunts a lot of NA beer. The company also donates a portion of sales to trail and outdoor projects through its Two for the Trails program, which fits the brand’s outdoorsy positioning.

Flavor Profile, Style by Style

Run Wild IPA

The flagship, and still the best argument for the brand. Citrus and pine hop aroma, a genuinely assertive bitterness, and a light grainy malt base. The body is thinner than a full-strength IPA, no way around that, but the hop character is real and the finish is clean. One of the more convincing NA IPAs on the market.

Free Wave Hazy IPA

Softer and juicier than Run Wild, with tropical fruit and citrus and a gentler bitterness. Hazy IPAs lean on plush body at full strength, and that plushness is the one thing an NA version cannot fully deliver, so Free Wave reads a little lighter than the style promises. Still very drinkable.

Upside Dawn Golden Ale

Clean, lightly bready, mild. This is the gateway beer for people who do not want to think about hops, and it does the job without much drama. Unremarkable in the best sense.

Athletic Lite

Very light in every direction: flavor, calories, body. It is honest about being a light beer and drinks almost like sparkling water with a faint grain note. For a long afternoon of casual sipping, that restraint is the point.

Cerveza Atletica

A Mexican-style lager that all but asks for a lime wedge and a taco. Light, crisp, slightly sweet grain character. It also makes a solid base for a zero-proof michelada (a michelada is a savory Mexican beer cocktail built on lime, hot sauce, and spices).

The Dark Ones

Athletic rotates darker offerings like its All Out extra dark, and dark styles are quietly where NA beer overperforms. Roasted malt brings coffee and cocoa notes that cover a thin body far better than delicate lager flavors can, something Guinness 0.0 proved on the mainstream side. If you see a dark Athletic release, grab it.

How It Performs

The most common flaw in NA beer is worty sweetness. Wort is the sweet, unfermented malt liquid that becomes beer, and when the alcohol never shows up, that sweetness can dominate. Athletic’s hop-forward beers mostly dodge this, which is the brand’s real achievement. Compared with Heineken 0.0, which is cleaner but flavor-shy, Athletic’s lineup simply aims higher on taste and mostly lands it. The tradeoff is body: none of these have the weight of their full-strength counterparts, and the lighter styles show it most.

Best Uses

Run Wild after a run or a workout is the brand working exactly as designed. Cerveza Atletica belongs next to anything grilled, whenever the weather lets you grill. Upside Dawn and Athletic Lite are weeknight beers for when you want the ritual more than the flavor. And if you like the idea of hops without the beer entirely, Athletic’s DayPack hop water sits in the territory we covered in our non-alcoholic seltzer and RTD guide.

Verdict

Athletic Brewing is one of the safest recommendations in NA craft beer, and that is meant as a compliment. Craft drinkers cutting back will find the hop character they miss, especially in Run Wild. Drinkers hoping for a perfect replica of full-strength body will still notice the gap, because that gap has not been closed by anyone. But can for can, this is one of the most consistent lineups in the category, priced like ordinary craft beer, often somewhere in the range of 10 to 15 dollars a six-pack depending on the market. Start with Run Wild, branch out from there, and do not skip the dark releases.

Container: Can
Size: 12 fl oz
Alc Vol: Non-alcoholic (less than 0.5%)