From the outside looking in, the concept of THC-infused beverages was a shoo-in at becoming the next big trend in cannabis. Not only did it seem that every major beverage company from around the globe was looking to jump into the scene and rip off a piece of the action, but market analysts even came forward with reports that told the tale of riches to be had from the sale of stoner sips. Some also suggested that these drinks were for the cannabis consumer of tomorrow, and if cannabis companies weren\u2019t selling drinkable weed in the foreseeable future, they would end up bankrupt and living under a bridge. However, that was last year. Although we have seen the addition of some THC-beverages showing up in the American market (Canada still can\u2019t legally sell them until October) it almost seems that the hype has petered out and is fading away.<\/p>\n
Some of the attrition in hoopla could be because cannabis companies are finding out that there just aren\u2019t as many customers interested in sipping buds as they initially believed. To hear Aurora Cannabis CEO Terry Booth tell it, that\u2019s precisely what has happened as far as his camp is concerned.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Booth explained to analysts during an investment conference call that he and his people were starting to second-guess the enthusiasm for THC-infused beverages. Apparently, Booth just isn\u2019t convinced \u2014 at least not anymore \u2014 that this is the direction the cannabis consumer is heading. \u201cThe proven market is certainly not in beverage,\u201d\u00a0he said<\/a>, according to Yahoo Finance. \u201cThere are not going to be any cannabis bars like there are alcohol bars any time soon.\u201d<\/p>\n This has not always been Booth\u2019s opinion. You might remember that Aurora was taking meetings with several large beverage companies last year from Diageo Plc, maker of Crown Royal and Guinness Beer, right down to the queen mother of carbonated libations \u2013 Coca Cola. Or at least that was the rumor. The word on the street was that Coke was in \u201cserious talks\u201d with Aurora about creating a CBD-infused beverage, but almost as quickly as that news started to spread it was shut down by Coke\u2019s top dog. CEO James Quincey\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0back in October of 2018 that the beverage company \u201cdoesn\u2019t have any plans at this stage\u201d to get involved with the cannabis industry.<\/p>\n But other beverage-cannabis partnerships have taken place over the past year, one of which is a huge deal. The first international brewing company to go balls deep into the idea of bringing cannabis beverages to life was the maker of Corona and Modelo, Constellation Brands. The company has invested billions of dollars with Canopy Growth to become one of the first to offer such a product on the Canadian market. The goal is to test THC-beverages in the northern nation and be one of the first to jump into the U.S. market once marijuana goes legal at the national level. There is now even a\u00a0contingency deal<\/a>\u00a0in place with an American firm (Acreage Holding) that could also technically allow the brewer to become one of the largest cannabis-beer companies in the United States. Of course, all of this depends on Congressional enthusiasm for ending pot prohibition. And as far as we can tell, there isn\u2019t much. But that\u2019s another story for another time.<\/p>\n No, it\u2019s true, there is no Corona of Cannabis yet \u2013 not even a nifty brand name or any indication of whether it is close to ready for market, or how it might taste.<\/p>\n In fact, flavoring seems to be a large part of the problem when it comes to producing THC-infused beverages. A\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0from the Wall Street Journal suggests that companies are struggling to make a weed drink that doesn\u2019t taste awful, funky and in the not-so-pleasant ballpark of urine or soap. We can\u2019t see there being a huge market for something like that. Another problem is creating a THC-infused beverage that is water-soluble so it can metabolize in a person\u2019s system like alcohol. Otherwise, consumers might experience some of the\u00a0panic moments<\/a>\u00a0that they have when consuming other cannabis edibles. So achieving a\u00a010-minute onset time<\/a>\u00a0is the goal. The only problem is some of the chemicals needed to make cannabis drinks take effect quicker also contribute to the bad flavor. It\u2019s almost as though the cannabis plant just doesn\u2019t want to be liquified.<\/p>\n It could be all of these headaches associated with the production of cannabis beverages that has Aurora ready just to keep kicking it old school. For now, smoking is still the most popular form of consumption, so why mess with a good thing \u2014 right? But there are problems with smoking as well. A\u00a0recent poll<\/a>\u00a0found that even some cannabis users are bothered when they catch a whiff of marijuana smoke in public. There is also the question of where stoned socialites might eventually go to partake. Are we going to establish consumption lounges all across the country\u00a0like they\u2019re doing in Vegas<\/a>\u00a0or is a more logical option to find a way to incorporate it in with the bar scene? These questions are far from being answered, and it remains to be seen how it will all shake out. There is no doubt that marijuana needs a\u00a0social component<\/a>\u00a0for it to become as widely accepted in the same way as alcohol. And cannabis beverages seemed like the product that could take us there.<\/p>\n This is not the case, according to Booth and Aurora CCO Cam Battley. They say while there might be a customer base for wellness beverages \u2014 CBD-infused recovery drinks like Gatorade \u2014 there doesn\u2019t seem to be much interest coming from the consumer public for getting high through the consumption of weed drinks. \u201cOn the intoxication side of the fence with respect to cannabis drinks, the market is just not there. It\u2019s not proven to be a popular item anywhere,\u201d Booth said.<\/p>\n Cannabis consumers are, however, still stoked about vapes and edibles, the two cannabis executives explained. But as far as investing resources getting into cannabis drinks, it\u2019s just not worth it to them. \u201cConsidering the anticipated relatively low market share of these products, we are not rushing this,\u201d Battley said.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, would you try a drink that was infused with THC?<\/p>\n The post Cannabis Beverages Might Not Be the Next Big Thing After All<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
From the outside looking in, the concept of THC-infused beverages was a shoo-in at becoming the next big trend in cannabis. Not only did it seem that every major beverage company from around the globe was looking to jump into the scene and rip off a piece of the action,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3922,630,4445,50,7848,5611,170,10006,10007],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35400,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35399\/revisions\/35400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Cannabis Beverages Might Not Be the Next Big Thing After All<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"