The Montgomery Alcohol Beverage Services. The Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority.
The Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority, Vermont Division of Liquor Control and Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
ject, moderator Harrison Martingayle, NABCA Associate General Counsel, mentioned the ubiquity of the products among younger consumers.“ Go to any college tailgating event in America right now and students 21 and up are all drinking these products,” he said.
Naturally, the demo is larger than that, with one audience member remarking how her 80−year-old mother was a fan of THC drinks. A panelist observed how his father-in-law, who abstains from alcohol, has become a frequent consumer of cannabis beverages. During a down period in the industry, here is an area where new consumer interest has driven growth.
Minnesota has become a hotbed for THC innovation in beverage alcohol retail stores, led by the Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association. Executive Director Paul Kaspszak said during the panel that some liquor stores have begun selling edibles as well, everything from gummies to cookies. Edibles now represent about 27 % of THC sales for Minnesota beverage alcohol stores that carry them. But the big draw remains drinks.
“ Liquor stores have become the largest seller of THC drinks,” Kaspszak said.“ You can still buy them at dispensaries, but people gravitate towards the liquor stores because you have the larger selection there.”
“ It’ s a very profitable category,” he said. Kaspszak highlighted one store that reported a $ 150,000 gain in year-overyear sales after they began stocking cannabis beverages.
“ THC beverages have a good markup,” he added. Some stores marked them up by 30 % like beer, while others went as high as 50 % or even 100 %.“ People will continue to buy these products no matter what the markup is,” Kaspszak said.
“ In Minnesota, you’ re going to see liquor stores that have lower sales but higher profits because of these THC drinks.”
The category has proven so successful that the Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association has even canned their own house brand, Muni Sota. Additionally, consumers can now buy THC beverages at certain on-premise businesses.
“ It’ s not widespread yet, but it has saved numerous craft breweries,” Kaspszak said.“ A lot of them have started to produce THC drinks. It’ s keeping them afloat.”
Kaspszak believes that this burgeoning industry still has a long runway ahead.
“ Public opinion on this is so far ahead of everyone in this room,” he said.“ The public opinion is that drinking alcohol is bad, but drinking THC is good.”
“ This is just like after Prohibition,” he added.“ In 10 years, we won’ t be talking about this like we are today, because every state system will have figured out what is best for them, whether that state is control or private.”
Which is to say that the category is growing fast, but would benefit from better, uniform regulations. This could help protect public safety and keep out bad actors. Echoing this sentiment was panelist Josh Miller, founder of the cannabis beverage brand Daizy’ s Social Soda.
“ We want more regulations and procedures across the board,” he said.“ We want something that’ s scalable, checks and balances that everyone can feel comfortable with.”
After a closing banquet that featured local Irish step dancers, NABCA Admin 2025 wrapped up, with next year’ s conference slated for Mississippi. •
www. stateways. com Winter 2025 • StateWays 7