Forget the Nightcap. This New Chef-Crafted Beer Is Built for a Better Reset

The end of a shift used to mean one thing: grab a drink, shake it off, and do it all again tomorrow. But that ritual is being reimagined — and a new beer created by five celebrated chefs was created exactly for that moment.

Launched in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Aftershift is a limited-edition non-alcoholic beer by Athletic Brewing crafted in collaboration with chefs Chris Shepherd, David Chang, Ashley Christensen, Sarah Grueneberg, and Chris Cosentino. Bright and slightly tart, the beer was developed for the winding-down moment after service — and aims to support the industry in more ways than one. A portion of proceeds will go to the Southern Smoke Foundation, the nonprofit founded by Shepherd to provide mental health care and crisis relief to food and beverage workers nationwide.

Golden in color and brewed with lime leaf and yuzu, Aftershift has a clean, low-ABV finish (less than 0.5%) and just 55 calories. But what sets it apart is what it stands for.

Crafted with input from all five chefs, Aftershift underwent multiple rounds of tasting and refinement. Instead of gathering on calls, each chef sent individual notes to the brewing team — tweaking elements like hop levels, flavor balance, and finish. Though it was designed with chefs in mind, the after-shift moment isn’t exclusive to restaurant life.

“A shift can be anything,” Shepherd says. “It’s that moment when you’ve finished something — yard work, a long day, whatever — and you just want to sit back and have something delicious. People deserve that kind of personal reward.”

The shifty, reimagined

The nightly wind-down has long revolved around alcohol in restaurant culture — but that’s starting to shift. For chefs, it’s not just about one drink. It’s about trying to quiet the body and brain after a full-throttle day in a high-stress environment.

“You get done at midnight or one, you have that shifty, then hit the bar, have 12 cocktails, and wind up at home alone, wired,” says Shepherd. “Most people are done with their jobs at five o’clock and go to bed at like 10. But when you’re getting off at 1 a.m., that same five-hour wind-down puts you at 6 a.m. — and now you’re in a bad place. That’s when you need to talk to someone.”

It’s that moment that Aftershift is designed for — not just to replace the drink but to offer something that feels like care instead of a crash. “Why can’t we have a midnight kickball tournament instead of going to the bar?” Shepherd adds. “Why isn’t that the norm?”

That tension — between what’s normalized and what’s actually needed — is something Shepherd has spent years thinking about. In 2020, he helped launch Behind You, a Southern Smoke Foundation program offering free mental health care to food and beverage workers in more than 10 states and Washington, D.C. The program provides up to 20 sessions per person through partnerships with university psychology departments.

“We started it because there wasn’t anything out there for people in that moment — alone, wired, 6 a.m., and nowhere to turn,” Shepherd says. “This beer isn’t the answer to that, but it’s part of the shift.”

With $50,000 from Aftershift sales supporting Southern Smoke, the project reflects a growing awareness among chefs that change starts from within. For Shepherd, that means creating both better rituals and better support systems. “For some reason, people listen to chefs,” he says. “When you’ve got this group behind something that actually tastes good, and it’s from a brand people already trust — it’s a no-brainer.”

The beer is available exclusively through Athletic Brewing’s website while supplies last. It’s not just about flavor. It’s about shifting the conversation around what care looks like after service ends.