John Mulaney, Pilot Project, and the Rise of Years: How a Midwestern NA Beer Is Rewriting Drinking Culture

Pilot Project has always operated less like a brewery and more like a recording studio. Ideas come in raw. Styles get workshopped. Founders collaborate, experiment, and polish until something distinctive is ready for the world. It’s a model that’s helped turn Chicago and Milwaukee into unlikely epicenters of beverage innovation and it’s also where Years, a design-forward, culture-first non-alcoholic beer, found its voice.

That voice recently got a familiar cadence.

As Sober October kicked off, Years announced that comedian, writer, and actor John Mulaney had officially partnered with the brand, launching its first national creative campaign. It wasn’t a celebrity endorsement cooked up in a boardroom. It started the way most good things do: organically. Mulaney tried the beer through friends, liked it, kept drinking it, and eventually found himself reaching for it on set. The relationship grew from there, rooted in authenticity rather than optics.

Years is proudly Midwestern, brewed with the belief that non-alcoholic beer shouldn’t feel like a compromise. It should feel like a reward. Mulaney immediately understood that ethos.

“Years actually tastes like beer, which is a relief because that’s kind of the point,” Mulaney said. “It feels like the beer you grab out of a cooler in a driveway while someone struggles to light a charcoal grill. It’s completely and totally Midwestern, but it still works for a fancy city crowd. It feels authentic.”

That authenticity is the backbone of the brand.

Founded by Chicago-based brand builder Pat Corcoran, who is alcohol-free himself, Years was created to challenge the stigma that still lingers around non-alcoholic choices. For Corcoran, the idea wasn’t about subtraction. It was about expansion.

“I started Years to prove that alcohol-free living is about more, not less,” Corcoran said. “More fun, more connection, more life, and zero hangovers. Partnering with John felt natural. His story is real, his humor disarms people, and he brings humanity to a space that desperately needs it.”

To bring that vision to life, Corcoran partnered with Pilot Project Brewing, the rapidly growing beverage accelerator co-founded by Dan Abel. Known for incubating and scaling standout brands, Pilot Project provided both the infrastructure and creative freedom to treat non-alcoholic beer with the same seriousness as its alcoholic counterparts.

“With Years, we weren’t trying to imitate beer,” Abel said. “We were trying to make great beer. Period. From the Original Pils to the Belgian Wit, every style is built to stand on its own. This isn’t about compromise. It’s about raising the bar for what non-alcoholic beer can be.”

The new campaign reflects that philosophy with humor, warmth, and cultural fluency. Developed in collaboration with Mulaney, it reframes non-alcoholic beer as something social, joyful, and rooted in everyday life. Supported by social content, paid media, and in-store activations, the campaign leans into the brand’s guiding idea: It’s not the years in your life, it’s the life in your years.

At a moment when drinking culture is evolving, Years doesn’t feel like a trend. It feels like a correction. And with Pilot Project’s studio-style approach and Mulaney’s unmistakable voice, it’s one that’s resonating far beyond the Midwest.

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