Athletic Brewing is on the verge of a significant company milestone to close 2025: The brewery will finish the year with 500,000 barrels of NA beer produced. Co-founder and CEO Bill Shufelt shared the latest trends with Brewbound editor Justin Kendall, as well as plans to go national with 2 new brands in January 2026. 

In Monday’s Brewbound Insider Newsletter and at Brewbound.com, Shufelt shares his view on closing Athletic’s distribution gaps, staying bullish on the NA beer opportunity and combating inefficient retail assortments and “celebrity band noise.”

Insiders are also reading:

• Highlights of Circana’s latest weekly scan report;
• Cooper Spirits co-founder Katie Cooper’s view on being ahead of the curve;
• The TTB’s return to work;
• And Notch Brewing’s small beer move. 

Insiders also have access to the Brewbound Newsletter Archive, including previous newsletter-exclusive Insider content.

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After ranking as the 8th-largest craft brewery by volume in 2024, Athletic Brewing Company is on pace to cross the 500,000-barrel threshold by the end of 2025.

Even amid the “most competitive year” yet for NA beer, with hundreds of brand families and new entrants from major brewers such as Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Michelob Ultra Zero, Athletic held share as the category leader and brand family, with a 19% market share, Athletic co-founder and CEO Bill Shufelt shared with Brewbound. 

“With all the distribution earned around the category, holding share in the leadership position was a big win this year. And then with significant double-digit growth, we expect to be able to build share again next year,” he added.

Insiders can go deeper into Athletic’s 2026 plans, why the company believes inefficient assortment is the NA beer’s biggest challenge and “celebrity brand noise” strains the segment.

It would be hard to find someone working behind the bar that hasn’t heard of St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur, the elderflower liqueur used so wildly it earned the moniker “bartender’s ketchup.”

Behind the bottle is Cooper Spirits, founded in 2006 by Katie Cooper and her late husband Robert Cooper, a 3rd-generation distiller. After selling 1 of the most influential cocktail ingredients in recent history to Bacardi, the company went on to launch 1 of the first RTD brands on the market, and is now reviving another liqueur.

BevNET spirits editor Ferron Salniker chatted with Cooper about how to translate learnings from the bar to RTDs, where to spot opportunities in crowded categories, and how to be a bartender’s RTD brand even when selling off-premise.

Insiders can read the full Q&A here. 

Bev-alc had a “slight bounce” back in the latest week, with dollar sales in Circana-tracked off-premise channels increasing 1% WoW in the period ending November 16, compared to the week ending November 9, Circana EVP of BevAl Scott Scanlon reported. 

However, bev-alc sales remained in the red compared to 2024, declining 3.4% YoY. Volume, measured in case sales, was down 4.6% YoY. Additionally, beer recorded its lowest dollar sales since the first full week of March, at just below $800 million.

Insiders can dive deeper into the data, including the latest performances by wine, spirits, RTDs and top beer brand families, as well how Q3 bev-alc sales stacked up against prior quarters.

It’s a shortened week here at Brewbound HQ. We’re taking Thursday and Friday off for the Thanksgiving holiday (happy turkey day, everyone), before heading into the home stretch for BevNET Live and Brewbound Live in LA. 

A fresh Brewbound Podcast will be in your feeds earlier than usual, featuring an interview with Smog City co-founder Laurie Porter. Brewbound editor Justin Kendall caught up with Laurie at the California Craft Beer Summit earlier this month. They talk about Smog City’s expansion plans with a new concept, the life of a 10,000-barrel brewery and the challenges facing the taproom business.

Untappd has made the “beverage company” shift equivalent for the app. The formerly beer-only rating platform has added pretty much every beverage type to its ratings, including spirits, wine, ANA beverages, RTDs, THC-infused seltzers, coffee and soda. 

As Insider’s Week in Beer weekend newsletter Sean McNulty admits, check-ins aren’t what they used to be for hardcore craft drinkers. Chalk it up as another sign of the times.

Catch up on all the news that’s fit to GIF, as well as a call to action to share your best pictures of fun things you’re doing to engage consumers, including:

• Fun creative holiday-themed merch/products;
• A unique event that brings in or gives back to the local community;
• An elaborate holiday taproom installation; 
• A unique display or something else that’s eye-catching.

You can hit up Sean here: Seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com.

The Siebel Institute of Technology, one of the leading brewing schools in the country, will leave Chicago and move to Montreal on January 1, it announced Thursday.

Siebel cited “operational costs, industry trends [and] increased student visa challenges to enter the United States” as reasons for its cross-border move.

Siebel GM and director of education John Hannafan said in the release: "Recent regulatory changes in the U.S. have made it much more challenging for many of our international students, who have become the majority of our student body, to attend classes in person. This relocation of North America classroom operations to Montreal allows us to pivot without sacrificing the student experience."

New students arriving from other countries to begin education in the U.S. dropped 17%, PBS News reported. Siebel was founded in Chicago in 1868 by German immigrant John E. Siebel.

Insiders can read more about the move and how it could affect the future of Chicago’s craft scene. 

Take a look at just a few of the companies attending ^

At Brewbound Live on December 10 & 11 in LA, the value isn’t just in the sessions, it’s also in the people sitting around you. The event brings together hundreds of voices across beer and beverage-alcohol: founders, brewers, operators, retailers, distributors investors and suppliers.

Brewbound Live is in 16 days. Register now to secure your seat.

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