애슬레틱 브루잉: 무알코올 맥주 시장의 부상

### 애슬레틱 브루잉의 부상: 무알코올 맥주 시장의 변화: 변화하는 무알코올 맥주 시장
* 🍺 2020년 이후 무알코올 맥주 매출은 두 자릿수 성장세를 보이며 **2024년에는 4억 4,000만 달러를 돌파할 것**으로 예상되며, 이 성장세를 이끈 것은 **애슬레틱 브루잉(Athletic Brewing)**이었습니다.
* 📈 애슬레틱 브루잉은 지난 4년간 해당 카테고리 성장의 약 3분의 1을 주도하며 **2024년 하이네켄과 버드와이저 같은 경쟁업체를 제치고 1위**를 차지했습니다.
* 💰 이 회사는 효율성과 품질을 향상시키기 위해 모든 양조 단계에 걸쳐 **10~12번의 변화를 주는 독특한 무알코올 맥주 생산 공정**에 **1억 달러 이상**을 투자했습니다.
* 💧 평균적인 수제 맥주 양조장의 무알코올 맥주 1갤런을 만드는 데 7갤런의 물을 사용하는 데 비해 **Athletic의 생산 공정은 3.5갤런의 물만 사용**하므로 매우 효율적입니다.
* 🏭 코네티컷 시설에서 **연간 45만 배럴**을 생산할 수 있고 추가 설비를 통해 **100만 배럴을 생산할 계획**인 Athletic은 무알코올 맥주에 대한 수요 증가에 큰 베팅을 하고 있습니다.
* 🛒 소비자 직접 판매를 통해 Athletic은 고객 선호도에 대한 귀중한 데이터를 수집하여 **고객의 80%가 여전히 알코올을 소비**하고 있으며, 많은 고객이 **무알코올 맥주를 보완적인 선택**으로 여긴다는 사실을 밝혀냈습니다.
* 🌍 애슬레틱 브루잉은 전략적으로 유통망을 확장하여 커피숍, 편의점 등 전통적인 판매처가 아닌 곳까지 포함해 **7만 5천 개의 유통 지점**을 확보하며 **홀푸드의 가장 많이 팔리는 맥주**로 자리 잡았습니다.
* 🔮 이 회사는 소비자 습관이 진화함에 따라 **무알코올 옵션에 대한 수요가 계속 증가**할 것으로 보고 제품을 단순한 알코올 맥주 대용품 이상의 제품으로 포지셔닝하는 데 주력하고 있습니다.

애슬레틱 브루잉은 증가하는 소비자 수요와 혁신적인 생산 방식을 활용하여 무알코올 맥주 시장을 선도하고 있습니다.

- [Narrator] Store beer sales have gone flat, but non-alcoholic beer is growing fast. Since 2020, its sales have seen double-digit growth every year, hitting more than $440 million in sales in 2024. And in the US, Athletic Brewing is leading the way. Less than a decade old, Athletic has driven about a third of all category growth for the past four years. - When Athletic entered the category, there was basically one style of non-alcoholic beer available, very few brands, very poorly distributed. - [Narrator] And in 2024, so far Athletic has outsold its non-alcoholic beer competitors, beating out Heineken and Budweiser. But as Athletic rapidly expands its production, can it keep the buzz going? This is the economics of Athletic Brewing. - One of the advantages that Athletic has over huge beer companies is that it is able to focus exclusively on this niche of non-alcoholic beer.

- [Narrator] Since Athletic's founding, it has invested over $100 million into manufacturing and developing its own process of non-alcoholic beer production. - Non-alcoholic beer was born out of prohibition and it was a really penalty box concept, and then there was basically no innovation for 80 years. - [Narrator] Even as more companies have added alcohol-free beer to their repertoire, it's common for them to just make their original product, beer, and then remove that alcohol through additional processes. Athletic takes a different approach. Instead of adjusting just one part of the process, Athletic makes 10 to 12 changes across all brewing stages. It's a new process and a single mistake could make alcoholic beer ruining a batch. - Their process can be more complicated, but in some ways it can also be more efficient. - [Narrator] For example, for every three and a half gallons of water Athletic users,

it creates one gallon of non-alcoholic beer. Whereas the Brewer's Association estimates that the average craft brewery uses about seven gallons of water for every gallon of beer. - So, we're almost two times better than that. What we're trying to figure out is how we can squeeze every last drop of product out of every single batch. And so, we're investing in equipment that can help us do that. - [Narrator] And Athletic could tailor its process to the specific needs of non-alcoholic drinks, like pasteurization, one step traditional beer doesn't need due to its alcohol content. - It's very challenging for an alcoholic beer brewer to go into non-alcoholic beer, because there's so many food safety requirements. You're answering to different regulatory agencies, you have to have food safety plans, and it's just a lot more involved. - [Narrator] Now, Athletic's Connecticut facility

has the capacity to make 450,000 barrels a year, making it one of the largest dedicated non-alcoholic breweries in the world. And with one San Diego facility up and running and another underway, it will soon be able to make over 1 million barrels per year. - This is a massive amount of growth, and it represents a huge bet from Athletic that people are not just going to keep drinking non-alcoholic beer, but they're actually going to increase their consumption. - [Narrator] Where Athletic scales up is also strategic. Data from its direct-to-consumer sales helped guide its initial decision to build that first San Diego facility. - We were really following our e-commerce data. We right from the jump, we're selling a lot of beer in California in the Pacific Northwest, and so, we bought a brewery and quadruple the size of it in 2020 to 2021 to meet that demand. - [Narrator] And DTC sales is one arm of distribution

Athletic has that its beer counterparts don't always get. - We had the option of distributing and marketing in ways that alcohol had never been marketed before. - [Narrator] In the US, alcohol sales are heavily regulated. - With Athletic, because we're non-alcoholic, we immediately listed on our website everything for sale that we were making. - [Narrator] In 2018, over 50% of Athletic sales were direct to consumers, which let it gather actionable data on its customers. - So, we had really fast feedback loops on what kind of beer they liked, where they live in the country, what the purchasing patterns are, and that really informed our distribution and marketing strategy is like where are we resonating early and can we build on that and what are we learning from those consumers? - [Narrator] Athletic found that 80% of its customers still drank alcohol, and more than 75% are under 45 years old.

- Historically, people drank non-alcoholic beer instead of alcoholic beer. Now, they're drinking non-alcoholic beer in addition to alcoholic beer. And it suggests that as young people get older, the market is going to get even bigger. - Really, I was kind of the target consumer, someone who fashions themselves as slightly athletic, but likes to work out and stay healthy. - [Narrator] So, as Athletic explored other distribution avenues, Shufelt brought it to places he naturally went, from 5K races to Whole Foods. - The beer aisle is immensely competitive. It's really hard to get space on that shelf. - [Narrator] But at Whole Foods, about 50% of the cooler space is dedicated to craft beer. So, its customers are used to trying new brands. And the fact that Athletic was a non-alcoholic craft beer gave it a much higher chance of getting a spot.

In June of 2018, just one month after launching commercially, its beer was on Whole Foods' shelves. As Athletics scaled up its production, Whole Foods was able to distribute it across the country. [Narrator] Now, Athletic has been Whole Foods' top-selling beer across all beer for over a year, and wholesale distribution has transformed Athletic sales. In Athletics' first year, it sold 875 barrels. In 2023, it sold more than 258,000 barrels. With Athletic beating out Heineken and Budweiser in non-alcoholic beer sales in stores for the past two years. But today, the non-alcoholic beer industry is becoming increasingly competitive. The other question for Athletic is, how much non-alcoholic beer can Americans actually tolerate? The answer to that question is higher than we used to think, but it's not really clear how much higher it can go. If non-alcoholic beer turns out to be a short-term trend,

that's not a huge deal for alcoholic beer companies. But Athletic exclusively focuses on this one product, and that's usually an advantage for Athletic, but it's also a huge risk. - [Narrator] Athletic says it's focusing on getting customers to view its product as more than just a substitute for beer, especially since beer is less popular than ever before. So, while Athletic's 75,000 points of distribution are mostly places like grocery stores and bars, about 5% of these places aren't licensed to sell alcohol. - It could be anything from coffee shops to convenience stores to state park beaches, things like that. Every year we branch out more and more, so we have our beer trucks going to stores they've never considered going to before. - [Narrator] Athletic says that over 50% of its customers are buying Athletic in places they would normally have grabbed water or a soda. And if that number continues to grow,

the chances of alcohol-free beer being just a trend could diminish. They believe that there are more times in the day, more opportunities for people to drink non-alcoholic beer than alcoholic beer. You wouldn't have an alcoholic beer for lunch when you're at work, or, you know, at 5:00 PM when you're still stuck at work, but you might drink a non-alcoholic beer then. So, they think that there are opportunities here that just don't exist in other parts of the beer market. (upbeat music)

Whole Foods’s Top-Selling Beer Is Actually Non-Alcoholic | WSJ The Economics Of

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무알코올 맥주와 애슬레틱 양조의 성장

무알코올 맥주 판매는 2020년 이후 급증했으며, Athletic Brewing이 이 카테고리 성장의 3분의 1을 주도하고 있습니다.

모든 양조 단계에 걸쳐 10~12번의 변화를 주는 Athletic의 독특한 생산 방식은 기존 맥주 회사와 차별화됩니다.

제조에 1억 달러 이상을 투자한 애슬레틱은 2024년 하이네켄과 버드와이저 같은 주요 경쟁사를 제치고 판매량 1위를 달성했습니다.

애슬레틱 브루잉의 무알코올 맥주 생산

애슬레틱 브루잉은 일반 수제 맥주 양조장보다 적은 양의 물을 사용하여 1갤런의 무알코올 맥주를 만듭니다.

이 회사는 제품 생산량을 극대화하고 무알코올 음료의 고유한 요구사항에 맞게 공정을 조정하기 위해 장비에 투자하고 있습니다.

연간 45만 배럴을 생산할 수 있고 100만 배럴 이상을 생산할 계획인 Athletic은 소비자 직접 판매 데이터를 기반으로 전략적으로 사업 규모를 확장하고 있습니다.

무알코올 맥주에 대한 애슬레틱의 독특한 접근법

Athletic은 무알코올 제품이라는 점을 활용하여 혁신적인 방식으로 유통 및 마케팅을 진행했고, 그 결과 2018년 매출의 50% 이상이 소비자로부터 직접 발생했습니다.

이 회사는 귀중한 고객 데이터를 수집하여 고객의 80%가 여전히 술을 마시고 있으며 75% 이상이 45세 미만이라는 사실을 밝혀냈습니다.

5K 레이스와 홀푸드 등 다양한 유통 경로를 탐색함으로써 Athletic은 경쟁이 치열한 맥주 매대에서 진열 공간을 확보할 수 있는 기회를 늘렸습니다.

애슬레틱 브루잉의 성공과 도전 과제

애슬레틱 브루잉의 맥주는 빠르게 인기를 얻으며 홀푸드에서 가장 많이 팔리는 맥주가 되었고, 출시 첫해 875배럴에서 2023년에는 258,000배럴 이상으로 생산량을 크게 늘렸습니다.

이 브랜드는 하이네켄과 버드와이저 같은 주요 경쟁업체를 제치고 무알코올 맥주 판매 1위를 차지했습니다.

그러나 무알코올 맥주 산업은 경쟁이 치열해지고 있으며, Athletic이 이 제품에 독점적으로 집중하는 것은 장점과 위험을 동시에 안고 있습니다.

무알코올 맥주의 성장하는 매력

무알코올 맥주는 하루 종일 알코올 맥주 대신 선택할 수 있는 기회가 많아지면서 단순한 트렌드가 될 수 있습니다.

무알코올 맥주는 업무 시간이나 알코올이 적절하지 않은 다른 시간대에 마실 수 있습니다.

이러한 독특한 포지셔닝으로 무알코올 맥주는 전체 맥주 시장에서 경쟁 우위를 점할 수 있습니다.