BrewDog Punk AF vs Athletic Run Wild: The AF IPA Showdown
Published May 2026 · Updated October 2026 · 6-minute read · by Rich, founder of Unhopped
Both are sold at 0.5% ABV or just under, both lean on Pacific Northwest hop varieties, both have credible craft brewing pedigree. The differences are in where the brewers come from, what they put in the recipe, and what end of the IPA spectrum they're aiming at.
Two different brewing philosophies
BrewDog Punk AF is the alcohol-free version of BrewDog's flagship Punk IPA (5.4%) — an established craft beer that's been retrofitted to alcohol-free. BrewDog brews Punk AF in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, to 0.5% from the start, with what it calls “special recipes and micro fermentation processes”, and calls it “the Punk IPA you know and love, but without the alcohol”. It includes lactose (milk sugar) and eight hop varieties.
Athletic Run Wild is the flagship of Athletic Brewing Company, founded in 2017 by Bill Shufelt and John Walker, who opened their first brewery in Stratford, Connecticut, in 2018. Athletic makes only non-alcoholic beer — it doesn't produce any full-strength beers. Run Wild is its flagship IPA, West Coast in style to our taste, brewed using what Athletic calls its proprietary brewing process, with a blend of five Northwest hops, plus oats and wheat in the grain bill.
The philosophical gap matters: Punk AF is a major brewery's AF expression of an existing flagship; Run Wild is a dedicated AF specialist's flagship. Both approaches are credible; they produce different beers.
| BrewDog Punk AF | Athletic Run Wild IPA | |
|---|---|---|
| ABV | 0.5% | <0.5% |
| Calories per 330ml | ~50 kcal (15 per 100ml) | ~56 kcal (65 per 355ml can) |
| Brewing approach | AF version of existing flagship | Built ground-up for AF only |
| Brewery location | Scotland (Ellon) | Connecticut + California, USA |
| Hop varieties | 8 (Cascade, Chinook, Citra, Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe, Hüll Melon, Ahtanum) | 5 Northwest varieties |
| Bitterness | Moderate (low for an IPA) | Higher (classic West Coast) |
| Body | Soft, oat-and-wheat enhanced | Medium, malt-led |
| Vegan | No (contains lactose) | Yes |
| Gluten-free | No | No |
| UK availability | Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose, Ocado, BrewDog’s shop, Dry Drinker | Specialist AF retailers, Ocado, Tesco |
| Origin in UK can | UK-brewed | Imported from US |
How they taste — side by side
Punk AF — softer and fruitier
Punk AF pours hazy golden with a fluffy white head. Aroma is fruit-forward — grapefruit, passion fruit, pine resin, with a hint of caramel malt. The eight-hop combination gives it more aromatic complexity than most AF IPAs.
On the palate, Punk AF has noticeable body for an AF beer — the lactose and oat-and-wheat additions do their work. Citrus and tropical fruit hop flavours dominate, with moderate-to-low bitterness compared to a traditional West Coast IPA. The finish is dry-ish but not sharply so. It drinks closer to a soft hazy IPA than to its Punk IPA namesake.
Run Wild — drier and bitterer
Run Wild pours bright golden, with a light haze and an off-white head. Aroma is Pacific-Northwest-classic — pine resin, grapefruit, lemon zest, a fresh herbal note. The hop expression is genuine craft IPA territory.
On the palate, Run Wild has medium body, defined bitterness in the middle (more assertive than Punk AF), citrus and pine hop flavours running through, and a clean dry finish with lingering hop bitterness. It drinks like a session-strength West Coast IPA rather than an alcohol-free attempt at the style.
The vegan and dietary nuance
This is the cleanest decision-point between the two beers. Punk AF contains lactose (listed in the official BrewDog UK ingredients as "water, lactose (milk), malted barley, hops, yeast, malted wheat, malted oats, lactic acid"). It is therefore not vegan, and not suitable for anyone avoiding dairy.
Run Wild is vegan. Athletic marks it vegan, and the ingredients are water, malted barley, oats, hops, wheat, and yeast — no lactose.
Neither beer is gluten-free. Both use barley malt as the primary grain.
Where each one wins
How they fit in the wider AF IPA category
These are two of the alcohol-free IPAs you're likely to come across in the UK. Another is BrewDog Hazy AF (sold as Hazy Jane at Sainsbury’s), which sits closer to the soft hazy NEIPA template than either of these two.
If you find both Punk AF and Run Wild satisfying but want to push harder on flavour intensity, the next step up is Northern Monk Faith Alcohol Free (softer, juicier hazy) or BrewDog Nanny State (much more bitter, at 50 IBU, though it wasn’t on sale when we checked in October 2026). For the wider category, see our alcohol-free IPA hub.
Beers to explore
The two beers in this comparison.
