Drinks

Break out the Lucky Charms, salute your shamrock and sing classic folk songs about the “aul country” while wiping away a tear—St. Patrick’s Day is here. If you’re not au fait with the meaning behind the March 17 holiday, here’s a quick Cliff’s Notes version. The day commemorates the famed patron Saint of Ireland, Patrick, who notably brought Christianity to Ireland and, according to legend, drove the snakes out of Ireland. Even if you’re not from the Emerald Isle by birthright, you can still… Read more.

This Sunday’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas—a rematch of football’s biggest game from four years ago, pitting the defending world champion Kansas City Chiefs taking on the San Francisco 49ers—is seemingly headed to be a sure-fire classic.  If they win, the Chiefs, Taylor Swift’s favorite team (her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, is the Chiefs’ All-Pro tight end), would enter into the discussion of greatest NFL dynasties joining the ranks of the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots of yesteryear. Regardless of whether you’re… Read more.

Canada’s THC-infused beverage market is about to get more crowded. Jones Soda, the beloved soft drink company known for its quirky flavors, said on Tuesday that the arm of its cannabis business, Mary Jones, “has been approved to operate in Ontario, Canada, with additional provinces to follow.”  “Starting with their THC-infused beverages, the products are currently slated for Ontario availability in Q1 24,” the company said in a press release. Jones is eyeing an additional expansion into other cannabis categories within the Canadian… Read more.

Liquor stores in Connecticut—not licensed cannabis retail stores—are selling THC-infused drinks such as seltzers legally, due to a legal loophole regarding dosages listed on the cans. Cannabis retail stores are selling cans listed as one serving, but the same cans of cannabis-infused seltzer, usually running in sizes from 7.5 – 12 ounces, are labeled as five servings in a package at a liquor store or market. All they have to do is ensure that each serving contains less than 1… Read more.

Seattle-based Jones Soda Co. (CSE: JSDA) (OTCQB: JSDA) continued fighting to get out of the red in the third quarter of 2023. Revenue dipped across the board, including with its cannabis-infused “Mary Jones” product line, the company reported in its latest financials. Jones Soda trimmed its losses for the quarter, both sequentially and year-over-year, to $900,000 from $1 million in Q2 and $1.7 million a year ago, and operating expenditures were slashed to $2.4 million from nearly $3 million a year ago, but… Read more.

With its right hand, Tilray Brands has consolidated a swath of the Canadian cannabis market, most recently buying Hexo Corp. in its quest to grow market share. With its left hand, Tilray has gone on a beverage alcohol acquisition bender in the United States. After several alcohol acquisitions that turned Tilray into one of the largest U.S. craft brewers, the company recently announced an $85 million deal to acquire eight craft beer brands from brewing behemoth Anheuser-Busch InBev. As the dust settles on Tilray’s latest… Read more.

No matter how you pour it, beverage revenue across alcoholic drinks, non-alcoholic drinks, hot drinks, and cannabis-infused drinks has been growing each year since 2020. But no drink category comes close to the opportunity presented by the cannabis-infused segment, with an estimated compound annual growth rate of approximately 50 percent over the next five years. Industry brands like Tilray are betting big on the adult beverage category with a recent $85-million Anheuser-Busch deal that triples its beverage portfolio through the acquisition of eight new… Read more.

Tilray Brands Inc. (Nasdaq: TLRY) (TSX: TLRY) is buying the remaining 57.5% of shares in THC-infused drink line Truss Beverage Co. from Molson Coors Canada, the company said Friday. In a statement, Blair MacNeil, President of Tilray Canada, expressed excitement for the move. “In addition to acquiring full and direct ownership of a stable of high-growth brands, this acquisition further strengthens Tilray’s No. 1 cannabis market share position in Canada and positions the company at the forefront of the adult-use beverage sector,” MacNeil… Read more.

A bar specializing in nonalcoholic, cannabis-infused cocktails opened last week on South Carolina’s James Island, WCBD reports. The ‘Cannabis Dry Bar’ is within the Charleston Hemp Collective and is in partnership with High Rise Beverages. Co-owner Chris Long told WCBD that he quit drinking alcohol six years ago and after that, “wasn’t able to have some of the social…enjoyment” he had when going to bars. High Rise Beverage Founder Matt Skinner told BevNet in March that the goal of the dry bar is “to create… Read more.

Canadian megacorp Tilray Brands Inc. struck an $85-million cash deal with Budweiser parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) to purchase eight breweries in the United States. The acquisition will triple Tilray’s beverage production capacity to 12 million cases per year, making it the fifth-largest craft beer company in the country. The purchase added 10 Barrel Brewing Company, Blue Point Brewing Company, Breckenridge Brewery, HiBall Energy, Redhook Brewery, Shock Top, Square Mile Cider Company, and Widmer Brothers Brewing to a portfolio… Read more.

Cannabis company Tilray Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq | TSX: TLRY) is leaning into craft beers after buying eight beer and beverage brands from Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) in an all-cash deal. Tilray announced on Monday that it would buy Shock Top, Breckenridge Brewery, Blue Point Brewing Company, 10 Barrel Brewing Company, Redhook Brewery, Widmer Brothers Brewing, Square Mile Cider Company, and HiBall Energy. Tilray said in its presentation that its goal is to become a top ten U.S. brewer. The company also said it expects craft beer pro forma… Read more.

Health Canada is asking federally licensed cannabis producers to stop using certain words on labels and in promotions for infused beverages, warning they could appeal to young people. The words – “soda,” “cola,” “root beer” or “ginger ale” – do not comply with Canada’s strict labeling and promotions requirements for cannabis, according to an email obtained by MJBizDaily that was sent by Health Canada to companies producing the affected products. Health Canada is requesting businesses to “cease all non-compliant promotion and labelling of cannabis,”… Read more.

Packaging has been a critical component of commerce for millennia. From the earliest days of trade and barter, people have used a variety of materials to package and transport goods and effectively differentiate them from competitors. It’s thought the practice originated in the second millennium BC, when the Egyptians used reed baskets and papyrus to package products for trade, stamping the containers with images and hieroglyphics to indicate their contents and origin. Many cultures would advance the practical aspect of packaging in… Read more.

Alcoholism runs deep in both sides of my family. To prevent possibly continuing those patterns as I get older, I’ve become more interested in exploring other options for social drinking;  Alcohol-free wines and spirits have become significantly more accessible in recent years, and cannabis-based mocktails is one of the most interesting trends in this space.  Picture a zero-proof drink with all the layers of flavor we’ve come to love in a cocktail, but with a THC and/or CBD mixture that… Read more.

Perhaps more than any other consumer-packaged-goods form factor, the beverage category has a tendency to follow trends. The once-fringe sparkling water brand LaCroix capitalized on a trend away from sugary drinks by leaning into a kitschy “anti-Perrier” aesthetic and unorthodox flavors like Lemoncello and Cherry Blossom. LaCroix’s sudden surge in popularity opened the flavored seltzer category, which promptly became saturated with competitors and knock-off store brands. In cannabis, Cann is the brand that disrupted beverages. In 2019, after identifying a market opportunity for low-dose… Read more.

The company is looking to its THC-infused beverages, Mary Jones, for growth momentum. Jones Soda Co. (CSE: JSDA) (OTCQB: JSDA) had a tougher first quarter than in 2022, with revenues down by 13%, but the company also managed to decrease its rate of losses by 17% from the first quarter a year ago. According to its first quarter 2023 earnings report, Jones Soda pulled in $3.9 million for the first three months of the year, compared to $4.5 million for the… Read more.

The modern cannabis edible has changed significantly since the birth of the classic pot brownie. In today’s world, there are gourmet cannabis chefs, edible dining courses, infused dinner parties and a plethora of brands selling sophisticated edibles at dispensaries. All of the options can be intimidating for a newcomer, but making basic edibles doesn’t have to be an arduous task. Start simple, follow the advice of seasoned cannabis chefs and choose an easy recipe. If you’re following an edible recipe,… Read more.

After the extraordinary winter most of North America suffered through this year, the balmy weather of last May and June may feel like a figment of our imaginations. Fortunately, time is flying by, and friends and families soon will gather at the beach or for cookouts. There will be good music, great food, festive libations … and perhaps a new item will find its way onto the menu: infused beverages. At first glance, it is easy to overlook or dismiss the beverage… Read more.

BEST OF DENVER®  CANNABIS & MORE  2023 BEST MEDICAL-ONLY DISPENSARY Higher Grade Dispensaries that serve only medical marijuana patients are disappearing faster than a pinner, with just a handful left in Denver as recreational businesses take over Colorado. Patients across town can still rely on Higher Grade, though, thanks to the company's medical-only dispensaries in Cherry Hills and Highland. Higher Grade's in-house flower is some of the very best in Denver. In fact, we've yet to smoke better versions of… Read more.

The controversy surrounding cannabis is nothing new. However, due to its widespread legalization in many parts of the United States, the cannabis conversation has taken some interesting twists and turns in the last few years. We now see a thriving and rapidly growing cannabis marketplace coming to life in the form of edibles, candy, vaping devices, creams, oils and extracts, presented via storefronts and e-commerce, and promoted for both recreational and medicinal use. Additionally, cannabis-infused beverages are an industry growing… Read more.

Two young entrepreneurs turned their zeal for fizzy drinks and cannabis into a craft beverage brand, using tasteless full-spectrum cannabis as well as organic and simple ingredients. Canada-based Zèle (pronounced zéll) is helping to transform the cannabis beverage game, led by CEO and Formulator Callum Hanton, and National Brand Manager Jonathan Martin. Both were under the age of 20 when Hanton first developed the company’s proprietary technology, and when they launched the brand. “We have overcome many hurdles to get to where we… Read more.

Last summer, Jones Soda dipped its brightly colored soda toes into the weed market. It debuted a new soda called Mary Jones, which was exclusively available in California. Now, Jones Soda has announced it will expand its distribution of Mary Jones. Its recognizable glass bottles will slide onto dispensary shelves in Washington, the company's home state. In addition to it being the company's home, Jones says that the recreational weed market in Washington had sales totaling roughly $1.5 billion in 2021, and… Read more.