Optimum Nutrition, the sports-supplement brand behind the tub of whey powder sitting in half the gym bags in America, just started selling beer. Not a partnership, not a sponsorship. It’s an actual can with its own name, ChampionSips, brewed with real malted barley and hops and carrying a protein count on the nutrition panel instead of just an ABV.
It is a limited-edition test, it is US-only, and it is banned outright in seven states. Here is what is actually in the can, why a supplement company is the one making it, and why this fits into a much bigger shift already happening across non-alcoholic beer.
What ChampionSips Actually Is
ChampionSips is a non-alcoholic brew, under 0.5% ABV, brewed in partnership with Wisconsin Brewing Company. Each 16 fl. oz. can carries an American pils-style profile: the brand describes it as citrus and hops with a crisp, familiar finish, alongside a nutrition panel that would not look out of place on a protein shake:
| Per 16 fl. oz. can | Amount |
|---|---|
| Protein | 10g, from pea and rice |
| Calories | 90 |
| Carbohydrates | 11g |
| Fat | 0g |
| ABV | Under 0.5% |
Wisconsin Brewing Company president Kevin Zerman said the partnership pushed the brewery to rethink what a non-alcoholic beer could even be. “When Optimum Nutrition came to us with ChampionSips, it challenged us to think differently about what a non-alcoholic brew could be,” he said. “The partnership may seem unconventional, but that’s what made the challenge so interesting to us. We were able to approach the brew differently while still delivering the crisp, refreshing taste and familiar drinking experience people expect from a cold one.”
Why a Supplement Brand Is Making Beer
Optimum Nutrition is turning 40 this year, and this is being framed internally as an innovation-anniversary project rather than a permanent pivot into beer. “For 40 years, our approach to innovation has been consumer-led,” said Jeff Schoenfield, Director of Innovation at Glanbia, Optimum Nutrition’s parent company. “We’re constantly looking at how consumers’ needs and routines are evolving and where we can create something new. ChampionSips reflects that mindset, opening up an entirely new occasion for Optimum Nutrition and challenging expectations of where the brand can show up.”
A Glanbia spokesperson told Just Drinks the launch is deliberately small: “The launch is designed as a small-scale test that allows Optimum Nutrition to learn from consumers, better understand where the brand has permission to stretch and evaluate potential in a new adult social occasion. We’ll look at consumer response, engagement, sell-through and what we learn from the launch before determining any next steps.” Two numbers stood out in their reasoning: non-alcoholic beer dollar sales in the US grew more than 16% last year, and almost two-thirds of Gen Z say they plan to drink less alcohol going forward.
If you want to try a non-alcoholic beer tonight without the protein angle:
Where to Buy It, and Where You Can’t
ChampionSips is sold directly through OptimumNutrition.com in 4-packs of 16 fl. oz. cans for $14.99, while supplies last. You need to be 21+ to buy it even though there is effectively no alcohol in it, and it currently only ships within the United States. It is not available at all in Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska or South Carolina, where state rules around malt-beverage-style non-alcoholic drinks make the direct-to-consumer model harder to run.
Do You Really Need a Protein Beer?
The obvious objection writes itself: why not just drink your usual post-workout shake and then have a regular beer afterward if you want one? Ten grams of protein is a rounding error next to a real shake, and if you actually wanted the beer experience, a good hazy or a lager would arguably taste better than a beer engineered around a macro count.
But that misreads what ChampionSips and beers like it are actually selling. Nobody is going to hit their daily protein target on 10g from a can of beer. The pitch is closer to occasion-replacement than nutrition: something to hand a gym-goer or a “no thanks, I’m training” friend at a tailgate or after a run that still feels like a normal drink, rather than a seltzer or a soda. Optimum Nutrition’s own framing backs this up: their spokesperson called the real comparison “the broader adult social occasion,” not the protein shake aisle.
A couple more worth trying from the wider non-alcoholic shelf:
The Bigger Trend Behind ChampionSips
ChampionSips is not appearing out of nowhere. We track the wider non-alcoholic beer market in our beer statistics guide, and the numbers explain exactly why a nutrition brand would want in: the global protein beer market was worth about $107 million in 2025 and is forecast to more than double to roughly $256 million by 2034, a compound growth rate near 10% a year. That is still a small slice of the overall beer market, but it is growing far faster than beer as a whole, which is exactly the kind of pocket a supplement company built around nutrition claims would want to plant a flag in early.
It also lines up with everything else happening in functional non-alcoholic beer right now. We covered the wider wave of NA beers adding electrolytes, adaptogens, fiber and other functional ingredients in our piece on non-alcoholic beer’s next wave, and if you search our own archive for non-alcoholic beer you will find we have been tracking this shift for a while: a market that started as “beer without the alcohol” is turning into “beer with something else added instead.”
Our best protein beers guide already covers the two beers built specifically around a protein claim, Gym Beer by Iguana and Barbell Brew, alongside functional picks like Erdinger Alkoholfrei and low-calorie options that nutrition writers keep recommending as sensible post-workout picks even though they were never marketed as fitness beers. ChampionSips’ 10g per can slots in well above Gym Beer’s roughly 1.65g, though still short of Barbell Brew’s 21.8g. If a protein count that high is not the point and you just want something light, our best low-calorie beers guide is the better starting point.
Non-Alcoholic Beer Now Has Its Own Competitions
Non-alcoholic beer has gotten big enough to run its own dedicated competitions rather than get folded into general craft beer awards. Craft Beer & Brewing’s NANA Cup puts NA-specific entries through blind tasting from certified judges, and the International Non-Alcoholic Competition just wrapped its third annual edition.
Athletic Brewing, the market leader in US non-alcoholic beer, was named 2026 Brewery of the Year at that International Non-Alcoholic Competition, with its lineup picking up eight individual medals: one Double Gold, three Golds, two Silvers and two Bronzes. That is the kind of recognition a category needs before big consumer brands like Optimum Nutrition feel comfortable wading in, since it signals there is now a real, judged, competitive craft standard to be measured against, not just a health halo to borrow.
What to Expect Next
Optimum Nutrition is explicit that ChampionSips is a test, not a permanent line extension, so its long-term future depends on how the four-week drop actually sells. But the direction of travel across the category is not really in question. Non-alcoholic beer is growing while regular beer volume shrinks, protein beer is a small but fast-doubling market, and mainstream wellness and nutrition brands are watching both trends closely. Expect more crossover attempts like this one, from both directions: supplement and wellness brands testing beer, and breweries adding more functional ingredients to compete for the same health-conscious drinker.
Curious whether it is actually worth trying? Read our full Optimum Nutrition beer review, where we cover the nutrition facts, what early tasters say it tastes like, and how it compares to other protein beers.
