The first time I tried non-alcoholic beer was actually a mistake.
It was after a softball game, probably early 2000s. Every week someone was responsible for bringing the beer, and one night—clearly as a joke—someone showed up with a case of non-alcoholic Busch.
At that point in my life, I loved beer. Didn’t matter what kind—especially after a July softball game.
So I grabbed one.
Everyone else laughed it off. I didn’t.
It didn’t taste great… but let’s be honest, regular Busch doesn’t taste that great either. And for whatever reason, I actually kind of enjoyed it.
Fast forward 15–20 years.
I’m a busy dad with four kids, a packed schedule, and a life that doesn’t leave a lot of room for feeling like garbage the next day. At some point, drinking had started to feel like it was taking more than it was giving.
So I stopped for a while.
But I missed beer.
I remember reading about Athletic Brewing Company in the Boston Globe around 2018 or 2019. At the time, you had to order it online, so I took a shot—grabbed a couple six-packs of Upside Dawn and Run Wild IPA.
My first reaction?
Wow… this actually tastes like beer.
At that point I was mostly drinking IPAs and session IPAs, and Run Wild hit that note. It wasn’t “good for a non-alcoholic beer.” It was just… good.
And that was kind of a turning point.
Since then, Athletic has been a constant.
I joined their monthly subscription for a while. I’ve been to the brewery. I’ve had it on tap at bars and restaurants. I’ve probably tried 10–12 of their varieties.
And they all serve a different purpose:
- Run Wild IPA → go-to, reliable, always works
- Free Wave → honestly stands up to alcoholic IPAs in a blind test
- Upside Dawn → easy, balanced, anytime beer
- Athletic Lite → post-workout, mowing the lawn, crushable
That’s the difference. It’s not just a non-alcoholic beer—it’s a lineup.
That’s really when it clicked for me—not just that non-alcoholic beer could be good, but that it could actually be something you’d choose.
And I don’t think that shift happens without Athletic Brewing.
Before them, non-alcoholic beer felt like a compromise. It was something you drank if you had to. What Athletic did was flip that—they made it feel like a real option. Something you could reach for because you wanted to, not because you were avoiding something else.
And once that door opened, everything else followed.
What’s crazy is how much things have changed.
This used to be something you had to hunt down online. Now it’s everywhere—grocery stores, restaurants, even on tap. I was at Yard House last week and they had it on draft. I picked some up at PNC Park last year, and you’re starting to see it pop up in places like Citi Field and Oracle Park.
That wasn’t a thing a few years ago.
There’s something about grabbing one at a game that just feels… normal. Like you’re not missing anything.
And it’s not just Athletic anymore.
You’ve got brands like Sierra Nevada, Samuel Adams, Guinness 0.0, and Deschutes all putting real effort into non-alcoholic options.
That doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
It feels like Athletic proved there was a market—and now everyone’s trying to catch up.
For me, though, it comes back to something simple:
Non-alcoholic beer gives me what I actually want out of beer—without taking anything away from the rest of my life.
And that’s something I didn’t realize I needed until I found it.