Non-alcoholic craft brand Athletic Brewing has signed a lease for a new facility in Milford, Connecticut, that could triple its capacity.
“Once complete, we’ll have over 150,000 barrels capacity on each coast, with the potential to triple in the new facility over time,” CEO and co-founder Bill Shufelt told Brewbound.
A limited liability company purchased the facility at 75 Cascade Boulevard in Milford for $14.9 million, and Athletic will rent it under a long-term lease, Coldwell Banker Commercial president Chris O’Hara told Food & Beverage Reporter.
News of the 150,000 sq. ft facility follows the closure of Athletic’s $50 million Series C funding round in May. Over the next two years, the company will hire an additional 100 employees for the new location, which is about 12 miles northeast of Athletic’s original brewery and taproom in Stratford. Athletic plans to keep both operations running, Shufelt said.
The expansion comes at a time of explosive growth for the non-alc craft brewer. Athletic’s volume quadrupled from 7,500 barrels in 2019, to 37,500 barrels in 2020.
“We’re committing to this investment in our brand and the category to lay the tracks for our future,” Shufelt said. “At only 7.7% weighted distribution in the U.S., we have been constantly feeling out-of-stock pressures at both facilities, and this expansion should give us room to run for the years ahead, and to continue leading the non-alcoholic category with high quality offerings.”
The Milford brewery will also help Athletic boost its profile overseas. So far this year, the company has begun shipping its beer to Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, and plans to add more international markets.
Non-alcoholic beer is long established in Europe, but its broader appeal has just begun to gather traction in the U.S. It is the fastest growing segment in the beer category, with dollar sales +27% in the latest 13 weeks, according to data Athletic shared from market research firm IRI. Year-to-date through June 13, off-premise dollar sales of non-alcoholic beer are up 28.3%, to more than $102.2 million, the firm reported. The non-alc segment now holds a .52 share of the overall beer category.
Athletic holds a 45% share of the craft non-alc segment, which has grown 367% year-to-date, according to IRI data shared by Athletic.
Before committing to the Milford facility, Athletic explored several expansion locations on the east coast, including a facility in its hometown of Stratford, the Connecticut Post reported. The developer of that facility secured a three-year tax abatement agreement for the site in April that would forgive 70%, 50% and 30% of the $573,000 property tax for the building, which does include tax on the land it sits on.
However, Shufelt said reports of a Stratford facility for Athletic were inaccurate.