Hemp Beverage News

With the federal hemp ban approaching, beverage companies are facing some tough financial decisions. Do they reformulate their products? Enter state-regulated cannabis markets? Find a buyer or consider closing their doors? Each option comes with a price tag, and what looks like a good business strategy on paper may not make financial sense once you start adding up the costs.Our guest today is Gail Rand, CPA, CEO, & Founder at grand consulting, LLC. Gail has spent more than a decade working with hemp and cannabis businesses and also co-founded one of Maryland's first licensed cannabis cultivation operations.We talk about the financial realities of changing business models, from the cost of entering new markets and building distribution networks to managing inventory, cash flow, and taxes. We also discuss what companies need to consider if they're thinking about selling their business or shutting down altogether. https://www.grandconsults.com/

Craft beer has a lot to teach the hemp beverage industry about building a brand. Particularly when it comes to telling the story behind what's in the can. Breweries have spent years building relationships with local farmers, educating consumers about their ingredients, and creating communities around their products, and there's an opportunity for hemp beverages to do the same. Especially when it comes to the hemp plant itself, the farmers growing it, and the genetics and extraction methods that go into making a drink.Our guest today is Emily Hutto, Founder & CEO of RadCraft, a PR and Marketing Agency that's spent more than 16 years working in the craft beverage industry. We talk about what hemp beverages can learn from craft beer, why farmers and ingredient sourcing deserve more attention and brand storytelling, and how companies can build a strong identity before spending money on marketing and PR.Emily also shares great advice on reaching consumers, building email lists, and why distributors should be treated as some of your most important customers.https://www.radcraftbeer.com/

How do you prepare your hemp beverage business for a future when you don't know what the rules will be? With federal hemp restrictions approaching and several competing proposals in Congress, companies are facing some difficult decisions about how they'll operate in the market that looks very different from the one they've known since 2018. Direct-to-consumer sales could become far more difficult, and major banking, payroll, and payment providers have yet to publicly clarify whether they'll continue serving hemp businesses under new federal rules.Our guest today is Terry Mendez, CEO of Safe Harbor Financial, and former CEO of the multi-state cannabis operator, Nature's Medicine. Terry brings experience from both the operating and financial side of the cannabis industry.We discuss what could happen to the hemp beverage business model, the challenges of expanding into state-regulated cannabis markets, and how companies can make financial decisions when the rules are still being written.https://shfinancial.org/

Developing a THC-infused beverage is a lot more involved than manufacturing a regular beverage. Everything from the emulsion and beverage formulation to the manufacturing equipment, can liners, and pasteurization process can affect the finished product. Our guest today is Mike Hennesy, who spent 12 years at Wana Brands in product development, including work on its beverage line. Mike shares some great insights into the complexities of developing and manufacturing THC beverages, including why a formulation that works perfectly in the lab may not hold up during commercial production. We talk about potency inconsistencies, emulsion quality, shelf life testing, and what brands need to understand about their manufacturing process. We also discuss the challenges of scaling production and his interest in developing more full-spectrum beverages using minor cannabinoids and terpenes.

Julie Rhodes, founder of Not Your Hobby Marketing Solutions, spent nearly 13 years in craft beverage sales and now works with both craft and hemp beverage brands. There's a lot that goes into building a sales strategy:Where are you going to sell? How will you work with distributors? Are you ready to approach chain and national accounts? What kind of sales team can you afford? How will you manage and train them? What sales data should you be watching?Julie works with brands on all of this. From go-to-market and annual sales planning to distributor management, sales reps, chain programming, and data analysis. In this episode, she walks us through what beverage brands need to think about as they build and scale their operations, including the different sales models available and how to know what makes sense for your company.https://www.notyourhobbymarketing.com/

Our guest today is Nick Warrender. He founded Lifted Made in 2015 and has spent the past decade developing hemp-derived cannabinoid products. Most recently, he moved into beverages with Highlandia, bringing his focus on full-spectrum products into the beverage category. Highlandia uses live resin rather than a THC isolate, preserving terpenes and other plant compounds that Nick believes contribute to a more well-rounded experience. Getting all of those compounds into a stable beverage wasn't easy and required a different approach to their emulsification and formulation process. Nick also serves on the board of the American Healthy Alternatives Association and has been closely involved in the federal fight over the future of hemp. We talk about the challenges of formulating with live resin, why Nick sees a future for full-spectrum beverages, and what the changing hemp laws could mean for the hemp beverage supply chain.https://urb.shop/ https://highlandia.com/

The THC beverage market is largely focused on the high and the occasion. Drinks for socializing, relaxing, or replacing alcohol, but what about a THC drink that's good for you?Our guest today is Pat Nunn, VP of Product Development at Uprooted Extracts. A Pennsylvania company cultivating functional mushrooms, including Lion's Mane, Cordyceps, and Oyster mushrooms. We talk about what happens when you combine functional mushrooms with THC, what these ingredients can add beyond the THC experience, and the challenges of putting them into a beverage that tastes good and stays stable on the shelf.We also get into sourcing, extraction, and whether functional ingredients could open up a new direction for THC beverages without simply adding more THC.https://www.uprootedextracts.com/

Logan's Roadhouse, a Texas-based family-style restaurant chain with 90 locations nationwide recently launched a menu of THC-infused mixed drinks. We sat down with Luis Haro, VP of Culinary Innovation at Logan's, to talk about the chain's THC cocktail test at 14 of its Texas restaurants. He gives us insights into who is ordering them and what they're learning about serving THC in a restaurant setting. We also get into why Logan's chose cocktails over canned drinks, which are the best sellers, the economics behind the program, and how other restaurant and bar owners are already calling Luis to ask how it's going. If you're a beverage company trying to get into the restaurant menu, Luis shares what gets his attention and what your product needs to bring to the table.https://logansroadhouse.com/

How much do you really know about the THC that goes into a hemp beverage? Where was the hemp grown? What genetics produced it? And can you trace it all the way back to the field? Our guest today is Adam Kline, President of Indiana-based Heartland Harvest, and producer of Floral THC Beverages. Adam comes from a 4th-generation farming operation, and we talk about hemp genetics, naturally derived vs converted THC, and the track-and-trace system his company developed to follow the THC in Floral Beverages all the way back to the farm.We also get into how hemp regulations affect what farmers can grow, and the future of naturally derived THC.https://tryfloral.com/

Our guest today is Meredith Sherman. She spent two decades in fine wine and spirits distribution, including luxury brands like Moët Hennessy. In August 2024, she left that world to found the division usa, an Atlanta-based distributor specifically for craft hemp beverage brands. Her approach borrows directly from the luxury wine world. Instead of pushing a large portfolio through high-volume retail channels, the division usa keeps its roster small and focuses on building demand at the ground level through festivals, tastings, and hospitality events, before brands scale into wider distribution. Meredith is here to talk about that model, the economics that trip up new founders, and what she thinks premium means for hemp beverages. www.thedivisionusa.com