I'm Drinking the Hemp Kool Aid

Welcome to our third installment of the Yak newsletter! 

Before we begin, I want to make sure that you download the Green List. It's the all in one compendium of events happening in cannabis for the rest of the year, in collaboration with my good friends the Beard Brothers. 

March was a marathon. April vanished. It’s been a blur. One thing stood out…

Beverages!

To start there was the So Curious Social Beverage Conference, where the energy was high, the ideas were flowing, and the room was packed with people who get it. 

This category isn’t a trend. It’s a revolution. And if you’re not paying attention, you’re already behind. 

Leaders showed up, shared ideas, and I know that change/growth is happening from it. That’s what it’s all about. 

The data is overwhelming…

Have a look at the estimates in the chart below.

— It took cannabis 10 years to reach $30 billion in revenue.
— Beverage has reached $3 billion in 3 years…

And it keeps growing and growing and growing…why ?

Because of the complex and intertwined relationship with the social use of two major product segments - specifically alcohol and tobacco. 

My friends at Alliance Global Partners and Aaron Grey published some research on this topic on April 7.

It highlighted:

• The use crossover of all these segments in Gen Z

• How alcohol users in the young adult category are now switching away from alcohol

• That those users are moving to cannabis

• Highlighting that half of all alcohol users aged 21-29 could be consuming cannabis by 2033

• How they expect cannabis use to increase over time amongst this age group

What’s next?

Well, as long as the intoxicating hemp beverage opportunity remains open, I think we’re only going to see growth and excitement in this category.

Capital is gradually backing these products and major distributors are stepping in to bring them to market via traditional brick-and-mortar channels.

Once that happens in earnest and these drinks can penetrate the biggest mainstream grocery stores in America, it’s game on.

People LOVE intoxicating hemp drinks and are increasingly choosing them over alcohol.

But what’s clear is that alcohol has built the rails that these trains can travel on.

Exciting stuff.

I’d love to hear what YOU see in the data.