Over a decade ago, Connecticut native Bill Shufelt was at a beer garden with a group of colleagues when he wanted a nonalcoholic drink — but wasn’t able to find one. Everywhere he looked, whether it was a professional setting or a sporting event, drinks with alcohol seemed to be the only opt ion. Shufelt eventually realized that if good nonalcoholic beverages existed, and were de-stigmatized, there would likely be a large market of people interested in drinking them. An idea was taking shape. But first, Shufelt — who started his career at a hedge fund on Wall Street — needed a teammate. Someone who knew how to brew craft beer. Enter John Walker. A fellow Connecticut native, he was working at a brewery in New Mexico, but looking to move back to the northeast, when he came across an ad from Shufelt looking for a business partner. In the ad, Shufelt had referenced “the most innovative sector in craft.”  “[He] decidedly neglected to say that it was a nonalcoholic brewery ad,” Walker told The Connecticut Mirror’s State Policy Editor Erica Phillips. “He was like, ‘Just, just hear me out. Give me a second. Let me explain it.’” Shufelt and Walker went on to found Milford-based Athletic Brewing Company in 2017. The story of their company was the focus of CT Mirror’s “This Could Work” event on Wednesday, the second of four conversations with successful Connecticut entrepreneurs at the Ferguson Library in Stamford. Athletic Brewing was launched with the support of both the state Department of Economic and Community Development and a group of around 70 angel investors. Ultimately, Shufelt and Walker raised $3 million to open their first brewing facility.  But in addition to raising money, they also needed to educate the public about nonalcoholic beer. The founders described its reputation as a “penalty box” product — something a person would drink only if they were a designated driver, say, or recovering from a substance use disorder. To counteract that perception, Athletic Brewing focused on two things: Making great-tasting beer through a proprietary brewing method and marketing it as an active lifestyle product. “From day one, [John] was like, ‘I’ll team up. We can try, like, try all this as much as we want, but I’m never launching the company if it’s not great beer, period,” Shufelt said. “And that made it really easy to then go confidently sample people. Because I knew, as much rejection as we were getting, that if I just got the beer in people’s hands, it would be great beer.” To raise awareness of the beer and build its branding as part of an active lifestyle, Athletic Brewing developed a presence at events like local 5K races — where, Shufelt figured, hundreds of people who just crossed the finish line would be open to trying a nonalcoholic beer. That “active lifestyle” branding is even reflected in the company name itself: “Athletic Brewing.” Shufelt and Walker wanted a name that had a positive feel, was aspirational, and, importantly, would be universally applicable regardless of geographic location. “One of the biggest mistakes we heard from craft breweries was being too, like, regionally specific in the brand, and it didn’t travel well — you know, places named after, like, a very local geographic landmark, for example,” Shufelt said. “And so we wanted something that would be known anywhere, that we could market broadly.” And their broadly recognizable name has served them well as they expand far beyond Connecticut, opening an online shop and a facility in San Diego. They’ve also partnered with both Arsenal Football Club and Live Nation as both groups’ official nonalcoholic beer partner. With their staff now up to around 300 people, Athletic Brewing continues to grow. Shufelt and Walker don’t want to cater only to people who don’t drink alcohol; rather, they believe anyone who likes good beer would enjoy their product. And that includes the cofounders themselves. Walker still drinks alcoholic beverages — but he said that since founding Athletic Brewing, “I drink a lot more beer and a lot less alcohol.” ...read more read less