Athletic Brewing Co. Lite Non-Alcoholic Beer

In the last two years, I’ve tasted a very wide variety of non-alcoholic beer in what we might refer to as “craft beer styles,” and yet not a single one of them has ever been labeled as “light beer.” Those words represent an idealistic gulf, a co-opting of terminology associated for decades in the minds of beer geeks with the “enemy,” that nebulous entity known as Big Beer. And yet, those words are also potentially a valuable tool of branding. People know what a “light beer” is, or they at least believe they do, which is ultimately more important. A non-alcoholic version of that, from a craft brewery? That’s a concept that could have some serious cache. Leave it to The Athletic Brewing Co. to finally execute that idea.

Athletic is one of the biggest names in the NA-only beer space, and one of the earlier companies that came along with a focus on brewing exclusively non-alcoholic beer. I’ve tasted their wider product line before, and if I’m being honest, I typically feel as if their products fall somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of what is available in the NA beer market. Their hop-forward styles in particular have not been my favorite among non-alcoholic IPAs, but I do appreciate their pioneering work in developing styles such as their stout-like NA dark beers.

This new Athletic Lite, though? This feels like a breakthrough. This is something I legitimately haven’t had in the NA beer scene up to this point—an extremely refreshing, crisp, subtle and satisfying NA beer that is also extremely low in calories. When I tasted this beer for the first time, my initial thought was that there are probably millions of Americans out there who have been waiting for something just like this. And pretty soon, it will be widely available. Just another reason why we’re now in the golden era of non-alcoholic beer.

What is Athletic Lite, exactly? Well, this is a non-alcoholic lager, brewed with a mixed grist of organic barley, rice and wheat, along with some noble hops. Incredibly, it weighs in at only 25 calories and 5 grams of carbs per 12 oz serving, which is a level I’ve only really seen from Canada’s Partake Brewing. None of those Partake beers, though, could really stand up to this one.

From a marketing standpoint, it does make perfect sense that this brew would be pitched as “light beer,” and even use the “Lite” term first made famous by Miller Lite. That terminology is going to have a much broader appeal to the average drinker, and is most likely to get someone to try this product. The fact of the matter, though, and the thing that the craft beer geek/lager geek will want to know, is that Athletic Lite is in reality maybe the best overall approximation of non-alcoholic pilsner or helles lager that I’ve tasted to date. Whereas the name would probably make you expect an insipid American adjunct lager, the actual beer is a delicate, lightly hoppy little wonder.