Athletic Brewing Upside Dawn
By Athletic Brewing · USA
Athletic’s easy-drinking pale ale, sold in the US as a golden. The brewery calls it “refreshing, clean, balanced, and light-bodied”, with subtle earthy and spicy notes balanced by citrusy aromas.
At under 0.5% ABV, this isn’t alcohol-free under UK guidance, which keeps the term for 0.05% or less. We list it with alcohol-free beers, as UK shops do. How UK labels work
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What is Upside Dawn?
Upside Dawn was one of Athletic Brewing’s two launch beers in 2018, with Run Wild IPA, and one of the first two to reach Tesco in October 2022. In the UK it is labelled a pale ale. Athletic’s US site calls the same beer a golden, and some UK retailers still list it as a golden ale.
It is the lower-bitterness partner to Run Wild: 13 kcal per 100ml on the UK label against Run Wild’s 17. Athletic says it is brewed with premium malts and American hops, and gives its tasting notes as pale, citrus and honey.
Upside Dawn has won medals in gluten-free and gluten-reduced categories at the World Beer Awards, but it is not a straightforward gluten-free beer. It is brewed with barley, oats and wheat, and Athletic’s UK product page makes no gluten-free claim. On its US site Athletic says the beer is “fermented from grains containing gluten and crafted to remove gluten”, that it tests every batch to make sure it is under 20 parts per million, and that the gluten content “cannot be verified”. If gluten matters to you, go by the label on the can in your hand. Our gluten-free alcohol-free beer guide covers beers that are labelled gluten-free in the UK.
Awards
- Gold and Country Winner, World Beer Awards 2023 (Specialty: Gluten Free)
- USA’s Best Gluten Reduced, World Beer Awards 2021
- Gold, International Beer Challenge 2021
- Silver, European Beer Challenge 2022
- Silver, Best of Craft Beer Awards 2020
- Silver, International Beer Competition 2019
These are the awards Athletic lists on its UK and US product pages.
Flavour Profile
A guide based on this beer’s style and Athletic’s tasting notes (pale, citrus and honey), to help you compare at a glance — not a definitive tasting.
Nutrition
| Typical values | Per 100ml | Per 355ml can |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 54 kJ / 13 kcal | about 192 kJ / 46 kcal |
| Fat | 0g | 0g |
| of which saturates | 0g | 0g |
| Carbohydrate | 2.9g | about 10.3g |
| of which sugars | 1.8g | about 6.4g |
| Fibre | 0g | 0g |
| Protein | 0g | 0g |
| Salt | 0g | 0g |
Per-100ml figures are from the nutrition table on Athletic’s UK product page, checked October 2026. Per-can figures are our own sums (100ml figure × 3.55). Athletic’s US label gives 45 calories a can.
Key facts
| Official name | Upside Dawn Pale Ale (sold in the US as Upside Dawn Golden) |
|---|---|
| Style | Pale Ale |
| ABV | Less than 0.5% |
| Can size | 355ml |
| Calories | 13 kcal per 100ml; about 46 per 355ml can |
| Carbohydrate | 2.9g per 100ml (about 10.3g per can) |
| Sugar | 1.8g per 100ml (about 6.4g per can) |
| Ingredients | Water, malted barley, oats, hops, wheat, yeast |
| Hops | American hops (Athletic doesn’t name them) |
| Vegan | Yes |
| Gluten | No UK gluten-free claim; see below (contains barley, oats and wheat) |
| Brewed | USA: Milford, Connecticut, or San Diego, California; imported to the UK |
| Awards | Gold and Country Winner, World Beer Awards 2023 (Specialty: Gluten Free); 5 more listed above |
| UK availability | Core UK range |
Source: Athletic Brewing’s UK product page, checked October 2026. The can is always the final word.
How Upside Dawn sits in the Athletic range
| Beer | Style | Per 100ml | Per 355ml can | Unhopped score | UK status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Run Wild | IPA | 17 kcal | about 60 kcal | 8.8 | Core range |
| Upside Dawn (this beer) | Pale Ale | 13 kcal | about 46 kcal | 8.5 | Core range |
| Free Wave | Hazy IPA | 19 kcal | about 67 kcal | 8.7 | Core range |
| Athletic Lager | Lager | 7 kcal | about 25 kcal | 8.2 | Core range |
| Clock End | Red Ale | 22 kcal | about 78 kcal | Not yet rated | Limited release |
| All Out | Stout | — | 90 kcal (US label) | 8.5 | Not currently in the UK |
Calories from Athletic’s UK nutrition tables (October 2026), except All Out, which uses the US label. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.
About Athletic Brewing
Athletic Brewing makes only non-alcoholic beer. Bill Shufelt and John Walker founded it in 2017 and opened their first brewery in Stratford, Connecticut, in 2018; it now brews in Milford, Connecticut, and San Diego, California. Every beer is under 0.5% ABV, and the cans sold in the UK are brewed in the US and imported.
See all Athletic Brewing beers →Read our Athletic Brewing review →Track every beer, discover your taste archetype, join the community.
Door 12 of our alcohol-free advent calendar. Athletic Brewing Upside Dawn is one of the 24 beers in the calendar you can build yourself, chosen from the highest scorers in our reviews. See the full line-up, and every ready-made calendar on sale this year, in our alcohol-free advent calendar guide. It’s also door 22 of the 24-beer calendar you can buy in one order.
