Mat Fraser Visits Athletic Brewing’s Newest Facility
CrossFit Games Champion Mat Fraser recently came to visit our newest facility and brewery. We couldn’t wait to meet the King of CrossFit, as well as share the progress of our brewery construction project over in Milford, CT. This 80,000-square-foot facility will soon be home to producing our award-winning non-alcoholic beer.
Along with Fraser came Sammy Moniz, his fiancé. Fraser has known sobriety since he was 17 years old, and he was always on the hunt for a delicious beer and wholesome foods that won’t compromise his hard work and recovery time. When Moniz discovered our IPAs, Fraser, at last, felt like he could enjoy a real, delicious beer after a workout and not feel like he was compromising his hard work or recovery.
Sammy and Mat are truly a traveling team. While Mat may capture most of the headlines with his workouts, it’s longtime significant other Sammy Moniz who has been handling the recovery and daily nutrition side of things. This year, Moniz was finally able to share this knowledge with the world by publishing her own book, Feeding the Frasers.
Always on the move to the next big project, Fraser is consistently driving toward progress. He’s diligent about striving toward perfection, whether it’s in competitions or a new business venture that combines his two passions. You don’t win an assortment of medals and bragging rights as a five-time consecutive winner of the CrossFit Games without having the perseverance to go above and beyond the standard.
A Family Legacy
One thing you might not know about Mat is that his parents were performers. Fraser’s parents, Don Fraser and Candace Jones, were partners in competitive figure skating. Winning medals seems to be a family trait, and these competitors are good at their acquired passions.
Mat began his Athletic career as an Olympic weightlifter. While training for the 2009 Jr. World Championships in Romania, Mat suffered two breaks in his lower back. Through the lengthy and painful rehab process, Mat ultimately decided not to pursue weightlifting and instead gravitated toward the unique challenge that CrossFit had to offer. Originally he thought CrossFit would be a great way to stay in shape, but he quickly realized that he could be competitive in this new type of sport. Mat competed competitively in CrossFit from 2014 to 2020. He won the World Championships five times and finished second the other years.
Taste of Progress
As one of the largest craft breweries in the country – the 27th largest – Athletic Brewing is pioneering the non-alcoholic beer space to be the tastiest. And we’re not talking about just non-alcoholic beer – it’s great beer, period. That's why Athletic has been winning awards over beers with alcohol, including Brewbound’s Craft Brewery of the Year in 2021 and countless gold and silver medals from International Beer Challenge 2021. We are proud to boast a TIME 100 Most Influential honor, which is a testament to the team’s perseverance.
Growing from working on only 100 batches of homebrew equipment to working on filling over 100,000 barrels of brews is a story of progress. A lot of the new brewery build has been in the works for about two years, and we broke ground on Aug 1, 2021. This year, the team cannot wait to be up and running to fill up numerous tanks of delicious brews. The canning line will fill 450 cans per minute to keep up with the flow of delicious non-alcoholic beer!
Interested in this news? Follow along for our official opening in June!
Rolling Up Your Sleeves
We like to think we know something about committing to challenging ourselves in the non-alcoholic craft beer industry. And, Fraser definitely understands that sometimes a little elbow grease leads to progress. His “Hard Work Pays Off” motto has extended to a Training Program. He’s even launched an app to track, train and meet your all-time personal bests. Living, breathing, and accelerating towards his mantra, he is always looking for the next challenge. This time it’s challenging and preparing elite athletes for CrossFit Games.
Jason Leydon, the owner of the local CrossFit in Milford, hosted our team, Fraser, Moniz and some local ambassadors to give us a taste of the workouts that Fraser has been leading. We accepted the challenge of trying one of his new workouts from the app called “Sweat”, and it lived up to its name.
As we persevered through the workout, we felt an overwhelming sense of community. Teaming up with people of different backgrounds, occupations, and love for getting in a good workout will be a memorable experience for all who attended.
Cheers to a Challenge
And, after a strenuous workout, what’s better than a refreshing brew? We learned that Fraser enjoys an ice-cold IPA the most. During their visit, we hosted a beer tasting with the co-founders to get to know all our brews. While sipping on our classic flagships, Run Wild, Upside Dawn and Free Wave, Fraser was also intrigued to learn more about Athletic Lite, our newest and crispest light brew, yet. This lineup of non-alcoholic craft beers doesn’t compromise on taste.
Fraser’s visit was special in a lot of ways. It was not only really cool to meet the King of CrossFit in person, but to participate in a workout, share a few brews, and spend some time with Mat was a truly special experience.
Not only are we grateful to spend some time with one of our athletes and friends (and humbled by a tough workout), but we’re also incredibly grateful to be able to expand our brewery in order to produce more great-tasting non-alcoholic craft beer throughout the world.
