COLUMBUS, Ohio – BrewDog USA reaches a new milestone as the brand announces it has become the first alcohol-free & non-alcoholic (AFNA) certified sales team in the country through the AFicioNAdo Certification Program.
As the world’s first professional training and certification program focused on alcohol-free and non-alcoholic adult beverages, AFicioNAdo’s educational tools strive to raise awareness and enhance the experience of AFNA beer, wine and spirits for consumers.
As a focus product category, BrewDog celebrated strong growth within the alcohol-free sector in 2023. The new certification further demonstrates the brand’s commitment to serving all customers high-quality, flavorful beer no matter their drinking habits and elevates the brand’s knowledge of the AFNA category, truly engraining the team in brewing trends and evolving customer needs.
“We are heavily invested in taking a leadership position in this category,” shares Eric Franco, Vice President of Sales, BrewDog USA. “Education around the AFNA segment is critical for continued and sustained growth with our wholesalers, retailer partners and the buyers of non-alcoholic beer.”
On the heels of a successful Sober October, BrewDog’s AF Mixed Pack continues to perform above the national trend as the #1 AF Beer Variety Pack in the country in a category that has grown 32 percent to $447 million year over year (Nielsen IQ, Sept. 2023). The coveted box includes three non-alcoholic version of BrewDog’s core beers – Punk, Elvis Juice and Hazy – along with Nanny State, BrewDog’s golden AF ale that launched the brand’s foray into non-alcoholic beer.
Regarding Nanny State and BrewDog’s expansion in the non-alcoholic space, Meagen Anderson, founder and CEO of the AFicioNAdo Certification Program, shares, “BrewDog’s non-alcoholic brewing program in the United States precedes most of the recent growth in non-alcoholic beer offerings, which many people do not know. BrewDog’s story of creating Nanny State as one of the lead craft AFNA offerings in the early days showed their breadth and range as a global producer. They have always shared their brewing process in hopes of seeing the AFNA category develop further, and this commitment by Eric Teodoro Franco to training and education of his team as well as distributor and retail partners, demonstrates their continued commitment to long term growth, sustainability and quality as a recognized global brand. We are very proud to be included in their focus to increase BrewDog AF presence in the market.”
About BrewDog
Since 2007, BrewDog has been on a mission to make other people as passionate about great craft beer as they are. From the Headliner series, which includes bold, uncompromising pack leaders like the flagship Punk IPA and Elvis Juice, to the Amplified range (beer, but turned up to 11), BrewDog brews beer that blows people’s minds and has kick-started a revolution.
In addition to becoming the first carbon negative brewery in the world in 2020, BrewDog is also a Positive Planet partner. This is all part of its mission to become the world’s most sustainable drinks brand, showing that business can be a force for good.
BrewDog shook up the business world in 2010 with the launch of pioneering crowdfunding initiative Equity for Punks, an initiative that has seen the company raise more than $100M over seven rounds, with its latest round open until April 2020.
The funds and the community of Equity Punk shareholders (217,803) has enabled the Scottish craft brewery to scale up without selling out. With over 100 bars across the globe, export into 60 countries, and a brewery in Ohio that launched in 2017, BrewDog continues to take the craft beer revolution stratospheric, while continuing to push the boundaries, invest in people, put the beer first and champion other small breweries in its venues.
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