INNOVATION
that, thanks to Ceria’s beers, “The THC-infused non-alcoholic craft beer consumer can join the party without feeling ostracised. (10) ” Where hops and alcohol may not attract a cannabis user, the values that have de ned beer culture for millennia just may. It may seem counter-intuitive, but the best way for THC-infused beer to attract cannabis users (whether or not they currently drink beer) may well be to treat it not as a subset of “THC- containing products” but rather as, ultimately, a beer, with all the rich mean- ing that implies. THC-infused beers could potentially open up their targeting to all 62 million marijuana users by leveraging beer’s cultural and emotional advantages. And of course this is what success- ful brewers have always done. References: 1. Brewbound.com/news/beer-institute-ex- amines-marijuana-industry-annual-meeting 2. Cannabis can refer to products with either THC or CBD. The latter is considered more medicinal and does not produce a high. For this article we’ll focus on THC-infused beers, which is arguably likely to have a much more signi cant impact on the beer business. 3. Brewbound.com/news/ blue-moon-creator-plans-release-line-thc-in- fused-non-alcoholic-beers 4. Marijuana.blogs.pressdemocrat.
60 million beer drinkers
Today
12 million who use both
23 million marijuana users
33 million who use both
Nationally legal scenario
62 million marijuana users
Figure 1: Overlap between beer drinkers and marijuana users in the United States
29 million marijuana users who don’t drink beer, in effect asking if at least some of them could become inter- ested in drinking their THC rather than inhaling it. But if co-users of beer and can- nabis are deemed unlikely to replace inhalable THC with the drinkable version, how likely is it that someone who doesn’t drink beer at all will be a prime target for THC-infused beer – especially since they already have good options in the form of inhalable or ingestible cannabis? On the surface the likelihood would seem to be approaching zero. But what all of these pessimistic arguments ignore is that the choices consumers make aren’t just about products. They’re about brands. Is it possible to build a THC-infused beer brand with attitudes and values that will resonate across categories, drawing marijuana users to drinkable THC for reasons that transcend the form in which it’s consumed? Keith Villa seems to think so. And he has an interesting take on positioning THC- infused beer that really makes a pretty strong case. Attracting cannabis users Beer is more than water, hops, malt, and alcohol. Beer is also bonding, camaraderie and community, an expression of solidarity and equality. Even the most independent-minded among us sometimes want to express those abstract group-oriented values through our choices – and the reality in our culture is that the feeling of commu- nity is strongest when everyone at the table is drinking beer. In a press release last fall, Villa pointed out that craft beer (presuma- bly more so than THC) is “democratic and socially acceptable.” He added
from 20% to 55%. This latter gure assumes that new cannabis users will be just as likely as current users to drink beer – which is not necessarily true, but in the absence of any other data it’s a reasonable assumption. In this framework there are two targeting options for a THC-infused beer. The most logical, and the easiest to target, is the 33 million-strong pool of people who use both beer and mari- juana, and in fact the existence of this group is no doubt the primary reason brewers have rushed to develop THC- infused drinks. The great unanswered question, though, is how many current canna- bis users will switch to a THC-infused beer just because they also happen to be beer drinkers? The motivations for doing so aren’t immediately clear – although we’ll come back to this question shortly. But in the hypothetical absence of any widespread preference for THC in drinkable form, introducing THC- infused beers will mostly represent a defensive strategy for North America’s brewers – keeping drinkers in the fold who might otherwise switch to inhalable or ingestible THC on some occasions. True, at least at rst there will be incremental gains for individual brewers because their new THC- drinking customers will be drawn from other brewers who don’t offer the option – which is why it’s likely most brewers will eventually develop their own THC-infused option, restoring the original equilibrium. Playing defense is, of course, smart and necessary, but it’s not as satisfying as playing offense, seeking opportunities for growth rather than simply avoiding volume declines. And so at least some brewers may turn their attention to the coming pool of
com/10674/lagunitas/ 5. Highsnobiety.com/p/
lagunitas-thc-sparkling-water/ 6. Ir.molsoncoors.com/news/
press-release-details/2018/Molson-Coors- Canada-and-HEXO-Announce-Agreement- to-Create-Joint-Venture-Focused-on-Non- Alcoholic-Cannabis-Infused-Beverages-for- the-Canadian-Market/default.aspx 7. Ab-inbev.com/content/dam/abinbev/ news-media/press-releases/12/Labatt_ Tilray_Press%20Release_12.19.18_v nal.pdf 8. First Key Calculations using adult pop- ulation data from the U. Census Bureau; incidence of marijuana use from the Center for Disease Control; beer incidence data from Kantar Futures’ Yankelovich MONITOR; and cannabis incidence, and overlap with beer, from BDS Analytics, as reported in www. brewbound.com/news/beer-institute-exam- ines-marijuana-industry-annual-meeting 9. Washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/ wp/2017/04/19/11-charts-that-show-mar- ijuana-has-truly-gone-mainstream/?utm_ term=.ccc323dd054a 10. Brewbound.com/news/ blue-moon-creator-keith-villas- rst-thc-in- fused-beer-is-a-belgian-style-white-ale
november 2019 I BREWER AND DISTILLER INTERNATIONAL ● 39
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