Athletic Brewing CEO explains why he feels the term ‘sober’ is outdated

“Why does there have to be a word for when you’re not consuming it,” Shufelt said, in reference to alcohol. He said most people are sober most of the time, and said that there wasn’t a term for people who abstain from energy drinks.

Shufelt told Business Insider that the word “sober” was in use before prohibition and it became a word to define people who never drank after that period.

“The perception is that most people are consuming alcohol anytime they leave their house for a social outing,” Shufelt said. “But it turns out that way more people rarely drink versus those who drink daily or even weekly.”

Shufelt said that in modern life, alcohol fits into fewer occasions, and many Gen Z’s are changing their drinking habits based on the availability of alternative options, not even necessarily because of a distaste for alcohol.

The term “sober” is defined as abstaining from drinking or drugs, according to Merriam-Webster, but there are several variations in the way it’s used today.

Others more recently use the term “sober curious” to refer to an exploratory period where they cut down or abstain from drinking alcohol. Others call themselves “Cali sober” for ditching alcohol but using Marijuana.

Shufelt brought up the term “flexitarian diet” in the podcast, which refers to when people eat meat occasionally on an otherwise plant-based diet. Whether people call themselves “flex sober” or say that they drink alcohol occasionally, Shufelt told Bartlett it should be a “much more flexible mindset these days.”

Shufelt has previously used the term “flex sober” to describe his consumers, 80% of whom still consume alcohol, according to a company spokesperson. Shufelt also said most adults have less than one drink per week and the alcohol-beverage industry is largely missing out on serving that cohort of people who drink alcohol minimally.

Shufelt grew up facing pressure to drink in social and work-related settings, and he eventually started to rethink his life in terms of health, fitness, and career, a spokesperson said — and he found that alcohol was holding him back. Shufelt said in the podcast that alcohol was impacting his productivity and he didn’t want to get to the point where he had children and was “blowing himself up on Friday.”

Shufelt co-founded Athletic Brewing Company right before the sober curious movement started to take off in 2018. That year, a survey from the University of Michigan indicated millennials and Gen Zers were drinking less than the last two generations.

By 2021, beverage analysts told Business Insider that they expected the non-alcoholic beverage market to expand, and it has.

The ongoing trend is about being more mindful and moderating drinking more than anything else, an Athletic Brewing Company spokesperson told Business Insider. The company doesn’t suggest that people should cut out alcohol entirely, but it’s about having an accessible option for people who may want to cut it out, or just cut back, the spokesperson said.

For Shufelt, whose business revolves around convincing people to give non-alcoholic beer a try, he said going cold turkey and abstaining completely from alcohol was right for him at that time in his life.

But, in hindsight, he wondered on the podcast if having a compelling non-alcoholic alternative to switch to after a regular beer when he was younger would have provided “an easy bridge” to moderation, and allowed for a more flexible approach.

You can watch the entire interview with Shufelt below (his remarks around moderation and sobriety start at around the 1 hour, 2-minute mark).