Charlie Sheen is the latest celebrity wading into the non-alcoholic (NA) beer business.
The Hollywood star has teamed up with Barrel One Collective’s Harpoon Brewery and “innovation brand shop” The Silent Group to create Wild AF Brewing.
Ryan Perry, CEO of The Silent Group, told Brewbound that the project has been in the works for more than two years and described his firm’s partnership with Harpoon on Wild AF as a joint venture.
The Silent Group created the Wild AF brand and will manage it going forward along with Sheen, who is listed as a co-founder. Harpoon will serve as its brewing partner.
Perry described Sheen as an active participant in the creation of Wild AF and the brand’s flagship Cold Gold NA lager, including sampling test beers with now-Barrel One CEO Nathainel Davis at Harpoon’s Boston brewery.
“Charlie has been sober, coming on eight years in December, and so he’s had a lot of NA beer and tasted a lot of samples,” Perry said. “We wanted to get it exactly right with the product profile. So it’s what we call the ballpark beer, which is a crafty golden lager.”
In a press release, Sheen said: “Now that I’ve been alcohol-free for eight years, I’ve tried every non-alc beer on the market and was left wanting more. So, I decided to find someone who could help create my own, leaving nothing on the table. Wild AF is for people who believe the morning belongs to the night before!”
Wild AF’s initial roll out plan is to “build proof of concept” through direct-to-consumer e-commerce sales on the brand’s website before entertaining traditional distribution, Perry told Brewbound.
“We plan to go to bricks-and-mortar, more traditional retail sometime next year,” he said.
Pre-orders for Cold Gold lager are now open on the Wild AF website. The beer is available in 6- ($13.99), 12- ($26.99) and 24-pack cans ($51.99) with shipping costs varying by region. Orders are slated to ship in mid- to late-November in order to have the beer in consumers’ hands for the holiday and prior to Dry January, Perry said.
Cold Gold is described as a “golden craft lager with a hint of citrus, toasted malt and a clean finish.”
The 68-calorie NA lager is “non-GMO, vegetarian, vegan and brewed with no additives, preservatives or artificial anything.” Each 12 oz. can contains 15g of carbs, 1g of protein and 0g of fat.
Wild AF’s launch comes as Sheen returns to the spotlight following the release of his memoir, “The Book of Sheen,” and a two-part Netflix documentary, “aka Charlie Sheen,” which covers the 60-year-old’s career and personal life, including his battle with substance abuse and his sobriety.
Sheen brings additional starpower to an NA beer segment, which saw British actor Tom Holland enter with Bero last year. Like Sheen, Holland has also shared his sobriety journey publicly.
The NA segment has grown to 1.32% share of beer category dollar sales (+0.27%) in Circana-tracked off-premise retailers year-to-date (YTD) through September 7. Dollar sales through early September have topped $408.7 million (+22.6%), while volume increased 24.2%.
In a promo video titled “The Case,” Sheen drives up to a house in a car with the license plate “Cold Gold.” He narrates the video talking about how in films, moviegoers never get to find out what’s inside mysterious cases.
“But in real life, the best plot twist is actually opening it,” he says in the video, which was posted to YouTube nine days ago. “Sometimes the twist isn’t what’s in the case, it’s what’s not.”
Sheen opens the case to reveal cans of Wild AF Cold Gold NA lager on ice.
“Yeah, a lot’s changed. But my love for great tasting beer hasn’t,” Sheen says. “That’s why I made my own.”
This isn’t the first time Sheen has partnered with an NA beer brand. In 2012, Sheen was featured in an ad for Bavaria 0.0 that aired overseas.
In addition to Sheen and Harpoon, Wild AF’s partnership includes The Silent Group, which describes itself as an “operator-led brand builder and commercialization partner for consumer products.” The firm’s previous bev-alc clients include primarily spirits companies, such as Bardstown Bourbon Company, High West Distillery, Bluegrass Distillers, Frank August, Tennessee Distilling, Seelbach’s, Happenstance Whiskey, Southern Distilling and Statesville Contract Distilling.
Former Eight co-CEO and Brewery Ommegang president Doug Campbell is a partner in The Silent Group, Perry shared. Campbell will help guide the Wild AF brand as head of commercialization and set its go-to-market strategy.
Wild AF gives Haproon and Barrel One its first major NA beer play. Previously, Harpoon debuted Open League NA IPA in 2022.
Barrel One formed at the end of 2024 as a bev-alc platform with the combination of Mass. Bay Brewing and Finestkind Brewing. The platform united Harpoon, Smuttynose, Wachusett, Five Boroughs, Long Trail, Otter Creek, The Shed, Clown Shoes, UFO and Catamount, as well as Dunkin’ Spiked, Right Coast Spirits, Island District Cocktails, and Crystal Light Vodka Refreshers.
Greater Good Imperial Brewing was added to the Barrel One portfolio in June.
In July, Davis took the reins as Barrel One’s CEO from Harpoon founder Dan Kenary, who transitioned to the role of president.
The New England-centric platform was the 15th largest craft brewery by volume in the country in 2024, according to data from the Brewers Association. Its craft beer brands produced a combined 125,400 barrels of beer, a 9% year-over-year increase.