Companies hope to capitalize on growing market

You can smoke it, vape it and eat it. Now as more U.S. states legalize recreational marijuana, companies are betting people will also want to drink it.

Weed-infused beverages are popping up in more places, with major drink makers including Pabst Blue Ribbon and Constellation already pushing into the market. Unlike CBD-infused drinks that have been more widely available in dozens of states, cannabis or weed drinks contain marijuana’s psychoactive component, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which gets people high and is still federally prohibited in the United States.

In recent years, new emulsion technology has made it possible to mix THC into an array of beverages. Now, drink makers are betting that people who don’t want to smoke or vape marijuana or drink alcohol because of health or social reasons can find an alternative in cannabis beverages. 

And the market is getting crowded, even in its infancy, according to Amanda Reiman, vice president of public policy research at New Frontier Data, a cannabis firm that tracks consumer habits. 

“The choice for consumers was not as wide in the past but now we’ve seen dozens of companies get involved in the cannabis beverage space,” Reiman said.

Leveraging its beer and spirits manufacturing experience, Pabst Blue Ribbon has begun selling a lineup of non-alcoholic “High Seltzers.” Each 12-ounce can contains 10 milligrams of THC, which the company says “is the right amount to have a good time.” Flavors come in pineapple, mango, strawberry and lemon. They’re sold online or at dispensaries in states where medical or recreational marijuana use is allowed. 

Other beer and spirit companies to have entered this space include Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser; Constellation Brands, which makes Modelo Especial and Corona Extra; Lagunitas Brewing Company; and Ceria. The lineup of weed drinks contains varied doses of THC — generally anywhere from 2.5 milligrams to 10 milligrams – mixed only with water-based drinks. The mixing of cannabis and alcohol is prohibited in most states that allow cannabis use. 

Brightfield Group, a cannabis research agency, estimates that cannabis beverages overall will account for $1 billion in U.S. sales by 2025.

While beverages only represent about 1% of overall legal cannabis sales in the U.S., that just means the market has a lot of space to grow, according to Travis Tharp, the CEO of Keef Brands, which makes an array of cannabis products.

“There have been multiple false starts for anointing beverages the next big thing,” Tharp said. “But I think we’ve gotten to a point where we are showing that the year over year growth is something that is substantial.”

Keef, based in New York, has expanded to eight states where recreational weed has been legalized, as well as…