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Nowadays is a nationally available , nonalcoholic , cannabis-infused spirit that ships directly to consumers . Available in Low Dose ( 6 mg THC per 1.5-oz . serving ) and Micro Dose ( 2 mg ), Nowadays is meant to deliver a light , buzzy experience . The lemony beverage comes in a 750-ml bottle designed to fit in at any retail store , in a future with federal legalization .

But the brand is not in retail yet , even at cannabis dispensaries . Instead , Founders Anthony Puterman and Justin Tidwell have discovered a route for cannabis beverage DTC . Nowadays launched in April and ships to certain states .

With retail sales still in the plans , this product is at the center of several key cannabis trends that affect this still-emerging market . We recently caught up with the Nowadays co-founders to chat about the brand , and cannabis beverages in general .

Beverage Dynamics : What ’ s the demographic for THC beverages ? Justin Tidwell : It ’ s still such a new thing that you can ’ t really pinpoint this product for X demo . We have customers who just turned 21 and don ’ t want to drink alcohol but want to have a good time . We have a customer who is a 70-year-old woman who wants help sleeping and wants it from something that tastes good and is fast acting . The demo is wide ranging . That ’ s why we made this brand look and feel more like an alcohol product made for the mass market .

BD : What ’ s the biggest challenge making a cannabis beverage for the mass market ? Anthony Puterman : Can you make a cannabis beverage taste good is the number-one thing . If you can ’ t do that then you can ’ t succeed . We worked with a food scientist who previously worked for Starbucks . We spent a year working on ways to mask the cannabis taste . JT : A cannabis beverage is a really bad-tasting raw product , very bitter . We did a lot of tweaking with natural flavors and eventually we got there . No matter how good your marketing is , if something tastes bad , consumers are not going to come back . AP : And we achieved the taste while still being low sugar . It ’ s easy to mask the cannabis flavor with as lot of sugar , but ours is low sugar .

The number-two thing in creating a cannabis beverage is does the product make you feel good ? Do the effects hit 80 % of consumers within 15 minutes ?

BD : Why go the DTC route ? JT : Consumers going into dispensaries don ’ t want to buy cannabis beverages . Most of the time , they ’ re going in to get the cheapest

products at the lowest prices . Whereas we built this brand for the mass-market consumer , who expects great flavors and tasting profiles . These consumers expect more and are willing to pay more . AP : We wanted to build a brand that could stand out at Whole Foods or Ralphs . JT : We realized we had to get creative with DTC . We had more than 1,000 DTC orders in our first week . We want to be able to show our success in DTC to grocery stores and large-market retailers to prove that there ’ s consumer demand for these kind of products .

BD : How are you legally shipping THC-infused beverages ? JT : The [ 2018 ] Federal Farm Bill legally defines anything with less than 0.3 % THC as hemp . And you can take the THC model and , through emulsification in licensed channels , drive down the THC to less than 0.3 %. You take that , put it in a beverage , classify it as hemp , and then you can ship it . AP : We were about to launch at retail in the California market when we discovered this shipping opportunity . So we pivoted .

BD : Why a cannabis beverage ? JT : It ’ s natural human behavior . We drink caffeine to bring us up and we drink alcohol to relax . We ’ re used to drinking things that intoxicate us . So it ’ s a natural way to get high , to get a buzz .

People my parents ’ generation , you put a joint or an edible in front of them , and they want no part of it . But if you put a cocktail in front of them , and tell them the drink contains cannabis , they think it ’ s the coolest thing ever . AP : A lot of people want to try cannabis , but they don ’ t know where to start . Cannabis beverages is an easy place to start .

www . beveragedynamics . com June 2023 • Beverage Dynamics 5