Flavor of the Month

To create compelling THC drinks, producers are taking cues from cocktails, seltzers and seasonality.

WORDS Joshua M. Bernstein

About five years ago, Jake Bullock and Luke Anderson felt that THC-infused beverages were stuck in a time warp. All those saccharine lemonades and orange sodas with high THC content seemed like “something like you’d buy at a gas station in 1995,” says Bullock. “The key commonality was that they’re very, very sweet.” 

Sugar masks the off-putting taste of some water-soluble THC emulsions that might be overly grassy or bitter. Working against this trend, Bullock and Anderson sourced a neutral-tasting emulsion complemented by herb-and-citrus combinations, such as rosemary and grapefruit, lightly sweetened with agave syrup.

In 2019, the duo debuted Cann, a drink self-described as a cannabis-infused social tonic. The low dosage—just two milligrams of THC with four milligrams of CBD—remains as enticing as the flavor profiles. 

“We’re in the business of getting rid of bad mouthfeel and aftertaste,” says Bullock. 

Pungent flavor has long gone hand-in-hand with cannabis consumption. Sparking a joint releases a heady perfume and dank, resinous flavors that are less-beloved in non-alcoholic drinks that prioritize flavorful refreshment. Seltzer and soda companies want you to crack another can, not wrinkle your nose. As THC beverages go mainstream, companies are focusing on making flavored infused beverages with broad appeal. 

Non-alcoholic seltzer is a touchstone for Kristin Rogers, cofounder and brand manager of Levia, a Massachusetts company specializing in sparkling, zero-calorie and zero-sugar cannabis beverages. 

“People really weren’t working very hard to make something that was refreshing and clean,” says Rogers, who’s also a loyal drinker of Polar seltzer. She researched top-selling seltzer flavors, settling on lemon lime, raspberry lime and a berry blend for her seltzers featuring five milligrams of THC.

“We wanted our three main SKUs to be universally accepted by seltzer lovers,” she says.

Cali Sober, a line of THC beverages that debuted last year, channels familiar cocktails like the Paloma Spritz and Ranch Water. “They’re leaning toward cocktails but still have a really seltzer-y fizz,” founder and president Flip Croft-Caderao says of the canned drinks that contain five milligrams of THC. 

Jeng cofounder John Enghauser also models his THC- and CBD-infused canned drinks after classic cocktails like the Moscow Mule and a jalapeño-infused Margarita, with twists like sea salt and juniper for “extra panache.” He likens the hemp extract’s bitter, piney qualities to another layer of flavor. 

“These are adult cocktails with the absence of alcohol,” says Enghauser.

Typically, a stronger alcoholic beverage, be it a cocktail or beer, uses big flavors to camouflage booze. Consider the Long Island iced tea or dessert-like imperial stout. THC beverages are following suit.

“As we go up in milligrams, we try to go up in intensity,” says Jack Greer, the head brewer at Modist Brewing in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 10 milligram seltzers use real fruit and spices in bold flavor blends such as raspberry, blood orange and vanilla, or a soda made with maple syrup.

Consumer interest in THC beverages is growing, but what’s shiny and new will soon become standard. Flavors will evolve as consumer preferences shift and settle. To keep customers engaged, seasonality is becoming an opportunity to stoke excitement. Last summer, Levia released a cherry lemonade THC seltzer, while Modist offered a tart apple THC seltzer for fall. During the winter holidays, Cann sells a cranberry sage selection, while ginger lemongrass is earmarked for springtime.

“From a traditional marketing standpoint, flavor news is a tactic,” says Bullock. “It can be a really interesting tool to bring people into the brand.”