Athletic Brewing Brand Guidelines: Non-Alcoholic Craft Beer & Its Look

Athletic Brewing leads non-alcoholic craft beer.

Athletic Brewing is a lesson in owning a category by committing to it fully. It was founded in 2017 by Bill Shufelt (a former hedge-fund professional who had stopped drinking) and brewmaster John Walker, with its first brewery in Stratford, Connecticut (a larger Milford, CT plant followed, plus a San Diego facility). It makes exclusively non-alcoholic craft beer — fully fermented, then kept under 0.5% ABV.

Crucially, it is a dedicated NA brewery, not a side line of a full-strength brewer — it built one of the first breweries designed for non-alcoholic beer — and it became the clear category leader, the top-selling NA beer in US grocery and roughly half of the NA craft segment. Its flagships are Run Wild IPA, Upside Dawn Golden Ale, Free Wave Hazy IPA and All Out Stout, wrapped in an active, outdoors brand (“Fit for All Times”) with a “Two for the Trails” conservation program giving up to $2 million a year to protect outdoor spaces.

(Honest notes: it is exclusively non-alcoholic (under 0.5% ABV), not merely low-alcohol; it is a dedicated NA craft brewery, not a big brewer’s side brand; it reached a reported ~$800M valuation in 2024 (approaching, not confirmed as, a $1B “unicorn”); and it is founder-led with minority institutional backers — including a 2022 Keurig Dr Pepper minority investment and a 2024 round led by General Atlantic — so it is not wholly independent. No official brand hex is published.)

Athletic Brewing lives in an active-outdoors palette. Click a swatch to copy the hex.

Athletic Brewing’s identity is active, outdoorsy and modern — an amber gold, a trail green, a deep navy, a warm paper, and a burnt orange. The palette reads like a trailhead: beer amber and gold set against outdoor greens and a deep, grounded navy. It signals movement, nature and craft rather than a bar stool. The honest caveat: with no published brand hex, these tones are an original, unofficial interpretation, not first-party values.

The lesson is an active-outdoors palette signals non-alcoholic craft beer for an active life. Athletic Brewing’s world reads as energetic and outdoorsy. For designers, it is a reminder that beer ambers paired with trail greens and a deep navy convey an active, adventurous craft brand, matching a brewery built for people who want beer and a run. The takeaways: pair beer ambers with outdoor greens and a grounded dark; let the active lifestyle lead; and treat any single hex as unofficial — using the deep navy for small text so the brights stay in the palette.

The wordmark spirit is a sturdy sans — active and modern.

Athletic Brewing’s identity carries an active, modern, adventurous spirit — an “ATHLETIC” wordmark whose sturdy forms match a brewery built for movement. A sturdy sans captures the mood: it is strong and legible, the register of an active, outdoors craft brand rather than a traditional brewery. Set against an active-outdoors palette, the sturdy sans feels energetic and modern — exactly the non-alcoholic, fit-for-all-times personality Athletic carries. It is robust rather than delicate, mirroring an active, adventurous drink. (Athletic Brewing’s real wordmark is a trademark we describe but do not reproduce, and the exact typeface is not something we assert.) Because the specific mark is not ours to use, the honest description is “a sturdy sans spirit,” not the Athletic Brewing logo. The type behaves like the brand: active, modern and adventurous.

Athletic Brewing stands for dedicated non-alcoholic craft beer.

Athletic Brewing is a lesson in winning a category by going all-in. Rather than adding a token non-alcoholic option, it built an entire brewery and brand around NA craft beer — dedicated facilities, a proprietary process, and flavours good enough to win over craft drinkers. That total commitment, at exactly the moment interest in drinking less surged, made it the category leader, wrapped in an active, outdoors identity that reframes non-alcoholic beer as a positive lifestyle choice. The differentiator is focus: being the brand that does only this, and does it seriously.

For designers and brand-builders, Athletic Brewing offers a clear takeaway: full commitment to a niche can create a category leader. The lessons: commit fully to an emerging space rather than dabbling; frame the product as a positive choice (active, fit-for-all-times) not a compromise; and build an identity that lives outdoors, where the customers are. It is also a reminder to stay accurate: it is exclusively under 0.5% ABV, a dedicated NA brewer, reached a ~$800M valuation, and is founder-led with minority backers — with the palette here an unofficial interpretation. Athletic went all-in on NA — proof that full commitment can be the difference.

Keep Athletic Brewing’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.