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BREWING
have any colleagues to call upon and say, 'Hey, you know, how do I
make this better?' "
But eventually they knew they had something special.
"As soon as we had beer to go, we started bottling it by hand and I
would drive around New England, sharing it with people from dis-
tributors to retailers," says Shufelt. "And it was amazing how many
beer buyers were like, 'people have been asking for this, I can't wait
to buy it.' "
e first big "get" for Athletic was Whole Foods, which agreed
to a test run of the beer in select stores — and found they couldn't
keep it on the shelves.
Retailers and distributors weren't their only targets — Shufelt
Continued on next page
John Walker and Bill
Shufelt are the co-
founders of Athletic
Brewing, which recently
opened a new production
facility in Milford.
PHOTOS | STEVE LASCHEVER
