Hemp Bev Is What Legal THC Looks Like
Deep Dive on the Hemp-Derived Delta-9 THC Beverage Industry
Hemp Bev is the most exciting category in cannabis right now.
And if you disagree, you're either:
A licensed operator who's mad about hemp THC getting to operate like a normal business in any other industry, or
Living in a market that made hemp THC illegal (especially markets with state-legal cannabis programs like Colorado) so you have no idea what I'm talking about.
That's ok, we're going to cover as much of the category as possible, as concisely as possible.
First, I want to tell you a story I never thought I'd tell.
This past 4/20 weekend, I paid for a cannabis product priced at $14,000 per gram.
No, I didn't buy a gram.
What I did buy was a $14 canned cocktail with 1mg of THC in it.
Why did I do this?
A few reasons:
Novelty of seeing THC on a brunch menu (not common in Colorado where it's all but illegal for hemp bev to operate)
Desire to support the movement advancing cannabis (put your money where your mouth is)
Recognized the brand (CANN) and flavor (reputation for quality flavors; I had Blood Orange Cardamom)
Wanted a fun brunch drink, that wasn't alcohol but had something to it (usually my go-to is coffee when not drinking)
Low mg meant I could have a couple and not worry about driving (even with a lower tolerance these days)
Now, I'll answer your burning question: No, I didn't "feel" it.
And I stand by that being a problem, but we'll get to that later.
This entire piece will attempt to dive into multiple aspects of the rising Hemp Beverage industry, discussed from the perspective of a hobby grower with strong DIY tendencies, as well as a ghostwriter and cannabis professional for more than a decade.
And, at the end, I've thrown in a few DIY recipes for those inclined to make their own THC beverages (especially if you live in a draconian state like CO that doesn't allow you, a legal adult, to make adult decisions and purchases that they don't approve of).
Canna Bev 2016 vs. Hemp Bev 2025
My introduction to cannabis beverages was similar to many in early licensed markets: I bought my drinks at the dispensary.
When I moved to Colorado, medical use had been around for a while, and adult-use had been legal for just under 3 years. It was still in its novelty phase. Consumers were coming out of the illicit market to explore all of the new product options that they couldn't (yet) make at home.
This included topicals, drinkables, edibles, extracts, vaporizers, and more, all in addition to dried flower.
This novelty allowed the beverage category to exist.
I say "exist" because I don't believe it ever thrived in the dispensary setting. Rather, it was an afterthought, an add-on, an upsell to the main purchase intent which was typically smokables and edibles.
In these late medical, early recreational days, products like Keef Cola thrived as the "soda" replacement (Orange Soda, Cola, Rootbeer). Others that were more niche also emerged, include infused coffees, chai teas, and high-mg options like the Sons of Sativa drinks that packed 200+mg per bottle.
Back in the day, I was able to eat 100s of milligrams at a time and remain functional.
These days, 50mg and it's lights out. 30mg and I might start to drool. I try to keep it ~10mg for a social setting these days.
With that said, the old me that was a much higher-dose consumer would probably remain skeptical of the rising Hemp Bev category, while the newer version with a lower tolerance has opened up to the idea.
I suppose I should mention, my introduction to cannabis beverages in 2015-2016 wasn't the very first time I had a cannabis drink.
Technically, we used to make Green Dragon back in college with 151 or everclear and our stems. But that was far from regulated and consistent. And was more of a special occasion option than anything you could just crack open after a long day or at a party.
Since my legal introduction to manufactured cannabis products, the landscape has changed drastically.
Most cannabis beverage brands have gone out of business, or transitioned to hybrid-hemp or hemp-only models. Keef remains the standout exception in the Colorado market, commanding most of the dispensary beverage sales. The occasional simple syrup offering has popularity, but, at the end of the day, beverages are a very small portion of a licensed store's sales.
People go to the dispensary focused on cannabis as a smokable.
Which always made edibles and drinkables a second-tier offering.
Edibles have a consumer-familiarity advantage, because we've all heard of pot brownies and space cakes. Gummies, chocolate bars, and other similar products are familiar enough to survive alongside flower and concentrate options. But drinks always struggle.
Ceria, the Blue Moon offshoot cannabeer, is a prime example.
I went to the launch of this much-hyped cannabis beer and was gifted coupons to grab a few 4-packs.
But after those samples ran out, I never went back and bought more.
Why? Because, at the time, $40 for 4x 10-mg beers seemed ludicrous. I'll just smoke pot normally and drink something other than beer.
The only time I ever justified a Ceria beer at $10+ each was at a social consumption lounge where (again) the novelty factor of a having a beer with a joint made the purchase desirable.
Otherwise, it's just overpriced dealcoholized beer with a drop of THC.
10x the drop that was in the Cann beverage I bought, for the record.
Seemed laughable.
But let's fast forward 8ish years:
Interpretations of 2018 Farm Bill legalizing hemp have evolved
Smart people figured out 0.3% THC is still SOME THC.
And 0.3% by weight is still enough to induce an effect
It's how licensed brands like Wyld are able to have a hybrid business.
They can offer 10mg drinks in any market, whether it's state-legal cannabis, or federally-legal hemp. And the only incentive to do both is that many states with legal programs don't allow hemp THC, and states that allow hemp THC often don't have legal cannabis programs. It allows them to exist anyways, with the same dosage, and the same recognizable brand in the same familiar formats.
And it's also a saving grace for a struggling hemp industry, sold on the promise of CBD only to have the market come crashing down on it.
Hemp producers now have other viable market options such as minor cannabinoids, cyclized cannabinoids, and hemp-derived THC. As biomass piled up, producers had no way of processing or selling it in a form that was worth anything. Now they have options.
So, short version so far:
THC Beverages started on market
Dispensaries are a bad retail outlet for them
Hemp laws changed over time
Operating hemp-derived THC opened up the playing field (more on that here)
Struggling hemp operators saw an opportunity
State operators saw national opportunity
Why I Was Wrong About (Very) Low Dose
In short: I’ve talked shit about low dose since Day 1.
As a daily medical cannabis consumer, low doses were a waste of money. If I was going to consume cannabis in any format other than inhaling, I wanted to feel it. And when you need 100s of milligrams to achieve that, 1mg, 3mg, 5mg and 10mg are all laughable serving sizes.
But even recently, I've publicly stated that <5mg is not sustainable.
Many state-legal programs regulate 10mg as the standard serving size. If my tolerance is exactly 10mg before I'm intoxicated, that still requires at least 2x 5mg servings. This is normalized by the "2 beer buzz" mentality.
Said differently, if you drink 2 beers, you feel it, the same for 5mg beverages.
The audience understands that they might not "feel it" after 1, but will be noticeably impacted after 2 (thanks alcohol).
If you're drinking 1mg drinks, that means you need 10 to "feel it."
But that assumes you want to feel it. Maybe you just want a drink with a familiar compound. You don't drink coffee by mgs of caffeine after all.
Now, if you are drinking to feel it, then 1mg at $14 each means $140 for that "2 beer buzz," hardly sustainable as a business model.
But if you're not, and you're choosing the drink for other reasons than potency in mgs, there are advantages. And that's where I admit I was wrong.
I was wrong that 1mg products don't have a place.
They do, it's just a niche (Very Low Dose) within a niche (Hemp Beverage) within a niche (non-smokables) within a niche (cannabis).
And, as evidenced by my own purchasing behavior and the reasons above, 1mg drinks can sell in certain settings.
It's worth noting here that states like Colorado have prohibited anything but very low dose hemp THC beverages.
Drinks have to have less than 1.75mg of THC and contain a high ratio of CBD to skate by the state's restrictions on intoxicating hemp.
These laws really do nothing but attempt to "protect" Colorado's state revenue generated by licensees (in both sales and regulatory oversight).
Makes very little sense otherwise, but I digress...
The Most Common Serving Formats & Flavor Profiles of Hemp Bev
Over the past few months, I've made a conscious effort to familiarize myself with a variety of Hemp Bev options, including:
Trojan Horse/High Spirits (50mg) - Arnold Palmer - Loved this, highest potency serving I tried, and it definitely laid me out.
Long Drive (5mg) - Arnold Palmer - Unique market positioning on a golf course made for a familiar flavor and setting.
Sunstone Spritz (5mg) - 3 flavors - Mango is my favorite for sure. Easy to drink as well.
Fable (5mg) - 3 flavors - Most similar to a cocktail. Orange is their mimosa, grey is the "gin" cocktail, and red gave winter cocktail vibes. Red is the best (and the WSWA judges agreed giving it a Double Gold in 2024).
Green Elevator (10mg) - 3 Flavors - The orange flavor was the best, made with real orange juice. Lime and Lemon were good for mixers but a little acidic alone.
Wyld (10mg) - Raspberry Lime - Easy-to-drink option enjoyed at Lazydaze Coffeeshop in Austin (photo above)
TBD (10mg) - Infused Tea - Decent taste, similar to a yerba mate.
Cannabis Stellar Seltzer (2.5mg) - Peach - Incredible to be served this on draft at a Cosmic in Austin, TX.
Cann Lo-Boy (1mg THC) - Blood Orange Cardamom - Set & Setting sold me on this (2x no less) at Hampton Social in Denver.
GRAV Cannabis Spirit - incoming (had not arrived at time of print, but cannabis-focused strain-specific spirit). Been familiar with this brand since 2011 when I bought my first taster pipe, and was intrigued by the move not only into the space, but to make the cannabis profile dominant, unlike all of the other options in the category.
I'm sure I've forgotten a few, and there's plenty on my list to try that I haven't gotten to yet, but I've sampled a variety from around the country, in various markets, thanks to friends across the industry and events like Access Live 2025 by Wine & Spirits Wholesales of America.
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Across all of these options I've tried, and those I've become familiar with, there are 4 main serving formats:
#1: Native packaging - Consumer packaged goods 101; drink it in the can or bottle it comes in. No change in form factor.
#2: In a glass/on ice - Similar to a nice beer or an upscale bar, poured out of its container into a chilled glass or over ice. Slight concern is that cold temperatures used to affect suspension of THC emulsion (you'd end up with THC residue at the bottom/on the ice).
#3: Mocktail - Mixed drink replacement that allows for mocktails with a buzz, just not an alcohol buzz. This often comes in cannabis-forward formats (designed to taste the weed) and not (designed to add THC without noticeable change to taste/aroma).
#4: Polyconsumption - The addition of THC to an alcoholic beverage (cocktail, beer, or wine). Again, can be cannabis-forward as a way to merge the intoxicant profiles, or a subtle additive that mixes effect without a change in consumption experience.
Each of these leans into 2 main flavor profiles:
#1: Taste it - The goal is to taste the cannabis. These are not common, as the broader appeal of a THC cocktail to those that do not like cannabis is not having to taste or smell it. That said, these are cannabis-forward (presenting the taste, smell, and effects of dried flower) or terp-forward (relying on botanical and/or cannabis-derived terpenes as the prominent profile-driver).
#2: Hide it - The goal is to incorporate THC in a less-noticeable format. These are your sodas, seltzers, mocktails, and alcohol-replacements (dealcoholized or Non-Alcoholic wine, beer, or spirits).
Final Thoughts
It's easy to hate on Hemp Bev (and the entire intoxicating hemp segment of the industry) when you work in cannabis.
It feels unfair that these brands can operate as they do. That they aren't burdened by 280e. That they can be sold anywhere. That licensing is accessible and affordable.
But:
That's life.
This is really want we want.
When we (and even non-consumers) imagine truly legal cannabis, we see it treated like any other regulated industry (alcohol, tobacco, lottery).
We see it sold in gas stations and in grocery stores and in social establishments the same way you can pop in and buy a pack of cigs and a flask of whiskey if you so chose. We see it taxed and regulated like any other industry, not subject to burdensome criminal taxation levels.
The anger of licensees who have burned millions of dollars trying to advance this space only to feel undercut by a "loophole" is understandable.
But, shit or get off the pot.
Meaning: If it bothers you enough, hop the fence and take advantage of the "loophole" or whatever you want to call it. Or, if you want to stay put, play that game. But don't just be grass-is-greener-ing.
With all of that said, yes, hemp bev (and all intoxicating hemp) could stand to have better, more consistent regulations to protect consumers.
Bad actors are present in any industry, but they flourish without oversight. Consumers should be able to trust that a legally-purchased product is not going to have adverse effects or undisclosed intoxicants.
And that is concerning, but also a reason to only buy from reputable, recognized brands. Especially those with legal footprints who likely operate with the same standards across their hybrid model for ease of oversight.
Some takeaways before we dive into DIY:
Food & Beverage is best category for Hemp THC
Beverage is best overall due to less competition with licenses who still sell edibles but don't sell as many drinks.
If the main ingredient (THC) is compliant and clean, and no concern about bad actors or origin, then regulatory concern/focus becomes how beverage is made, is it GMP, is it safe, is the dosage accurate, etc.
There are a surplus of brands with little differentiation, which shows strong interest in category, and also amplifies the flywheel giving us faster feedback on what the market responds to.
Few who understand the plays at hand understand the long-term play of Hemp Bev and only see short-term dollar signs.
Murmurs of DIY drinks at home have begun, but VERY early stage (if very low dose is early stage, DIY is still prehistoric)
State Licensee vs Hemp - THCa flower makes sense to be skeptical (there is literally no way to know what's gone into the flower), but infusions and manufactured products reduce that risk as processed goods using only a refined portion of the plant.
DIY THC Drink Recipes You Can Make at Home
As a reminder, the simplest option is to buy a drink additive (hemp THC or state-legal THC) and add it to your favorite beverage.
But, since you're still reading, you're probably the type to tinker and want to try this at home, so here's some guidance to get you started.
I'm going to include one specific recipe that a friend was kind enough to share on LinkedIn (I have not tried it yet, just paying that share forward) as well as the tried-and-true methods I've used previously for simple, at-home drinks.
If you try any of these out, let me know how they went for you!
I suppose here is where I should also disclaim that, if you try these out and you don't get the results you're looking for, I'm not liable and this is for your education only.
RECIPE OPTION #1: LinkedIn Hemp Bev At Home (untested)
Source: Dustin Shroyer
Method 1 - DialedIn Gummies
10x Dialed In Gummies
1 cup water
2-4 teaspoons lecithin
Step 1. Melt gummies.
Step 2. Warm up water, adding sunflower lecithin, until temperature is about 115ºF.
Step 3. Throw into a blender and blend until you have a white, almost foamy soup, then blend in 10 melted gummies.
This emulsion should be water soluable and if you have a vitamix you can make a micro emulsion for better faster absorbtion. If you want to make nano, finish it off In an ultra sonic jewelry cleaner.
Store in the fridge.
Add back 10% to you favorite sparking beverage and you will have a 10mg Rosin infused drink with the flavor of the gummy you chose.
You can also just buy DialedIn Simple Syrup and add to your drink of choice.
Method 2 - Rosin
You can use decarbed rosin instead of gummies as well.
Step 1. Decarb rosin. 225ºF for 25-30 min.
100mg THC = 10x 10mg servings (20x 5mg)
Most rosin is 50-75% THC
.135-.2g of Rosin -> 100-150mg THC
Step 2. While decarbing, mix water and lecithin in vitamix until white foamy soup. Add decarbed rosin and blend evenly.
Step 3 (Optional for nano emulsion). Put mixture in ultrasonic cleaner by pouring into a sealed container and place inside cleaner. (Run until mixture is in complete suspension)
Step 4. Add to drink of choice.
Step 5 (Optional). Freeze Dry liquid out for use as a drink additive powder.
RECIPE OPTION #2: Tried-And-True At-Home Options
Source: Me over the years
Method 1 — Alcohol
The easiest way to make THC drinks at home is to use alcohol as the carrier.
High-proof liquor like 151 Rum or Everclear work great for drawing out your favorite cannabinoids. Simply soak your product in either of these, and strain to serve.
You can make them as cannabis forward as you like. Using whole flower will increase likelihood of this.
For less intense cannabis profiles, using a concentrate with a distinct terpene profile (like Tropicanna Cookies) or a low-terpene content (HCFSE) will help minimize the traditional cannabis profile.
Method 2 - Aqua Fresca
There's a few ways to go about this one, but the essence is that you are using cold water to pull out the profile of the plant with a very low THC content.
With this method, we are aiming for flavor and aroma of the plant more than anything else.
You can do this 2 ways:
If you make hash at home, save your filtered wash water. Jar it up and drink it straight, or stir into a cocktail or mixed drink. Bonus points if you're washing something with a high anthocyanin content (will turn the liquid a rosy reddish-purple). This will be a flavor and aroma forward option (as you've filtered out the trichome heads already).
Put a small amount of plant material, ice, and water in a jar (~7-10g per 8oz of water). Shake repeatedly for 10 minutes and let sit untouched for 10 minutes as trichomes settle and plant material rises to the top. Strain and serve. Essentially, you are doing a "jar test" with the intent of drinking it. This may have THCa in it depending on how well the plant performs in an ice water extraction. THCa is the nonactive form of ingestible THC, but may still have a modest effect for sensitive individuals.
Method 3 - Sugar
You can infuse sugar with cannabis in a variety of ways that can then be added to a drink or used to upgrade a drinking experience.
3 Ways I Recommend:
Alcohol & Sugar - Using a high-proof alcohol extract to create a THC sugar that can be added to drinks or used as a rim garnish.
Simple Syrup - either made from THC sugar (see #1 or #3) or made by infusion (recommend using an extract)
Crushed Candy - Make an infused batch of hard candy and then crush the candy into a powder to be used as is or turned into a syrup.
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Let me know if you end up trying these out or if you have any tweaks to improve the recipes!