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Sydney Morning Herald
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Growing up, he faced poverty and addiction. Now he counts Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan as fans
Backstage at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Billy Strings – the new wonder kid of bluegrass – is about to open an early evening set ahead of his heroes. Growing up, he never thought he'd get out of his midwest Michigan hometown; now at 32, he's touring the US with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan as part of the Outlaw Festival. Wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt, jeans and his ginger hair tied back low, Strings is less bluegrass suit and big hat of the past and more psychedelic slacker instead. A jam-band camaraderie drives his modern-day narrative. He's the reason bluegrass made its way back into the Billboard charts for the first time in 22 years, thanks to his hugely successful 2024 release, Highway Prayers. The bluegrass revival sweeping contemporary music in the States is no accident. The crossover appeal of Chris Stapleton and Lainey Wilson is but one aspect of this unfolding history repeating, but Strings is bringing his own charming demeanour to a traditional sound of yesteryear in the hope of doing more than stirring nostalgia. His is mountain music and tales of rural struggles for a hip city crowd. His songs are tinged with hope as much as sadness, and battle scars aplenty. The rehearsal room backstage is choked in the damp smell of cannabis. It is LA after all, where 'California sober' is a thing. Hemp drinks and gummies are de rigeur, and getting lightly stoned takes the edge off for many gathered here. It's a crowd who has turned up for Willie and Bob, ready to lean into the stoner mood of the past. It feels like the '60s all over again, except these audiences are greyer and more withered – but there's plenty of Gen Z and Millennials here for the tune in and drop out spirit, too. Strings' wardrobe trailer is stocked with guitars. Country and western shirts hang on wire coat hangers, cowboy boots sit beneath them, and some toys – a troll wearing a sombrero hat, an illuminated ghost – and trucker caps fill the top shelf. It's a modest stash for this travelling wilbury. After Strings won two Grammys for best bluegrass album – in 2021 for Home, and in 2025 for Live Vol. 1 – it taught him to trust the process and realise he has what it takes to succeed. He's collaborated with Post Malone (M-E-X-I-C-O), written and recorded with Nelson (California Sober), and recently wrote a three-page letter to Dylan which his friend – musician T Bone Burnett – assured he had read and was impressed by. Dylan is also a fan of his music; joining the Outlaw Festival bill was not an afterthought. Strings first heard bluegrass as a four-year-old, his stepfather Terry Barber introducing him to the blues, fiddling and gospel inflected verses. 'My parents took me to the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival in Michigan, not far from where I grew up. That's when I saw bluegrass for the first time,' says Strings, who was born William Lee Apostol and acquired the nickname from an aunt who saw him learn bluegrass instruments with a never-before-seen ease. 'Seeing those old musicians on stage in their suits and big hats, playing gold-tone banjos, standing up to their mics, well, that blew me away,' he says. 'That's when I got bit by the bug.' Listening to the music of bluegrass Hall of Famers like Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Martin and the Osbourne Brothers set the mood, too. 'Bluegrass is music that's passed down over the generations in my family. My dad learned it from his folks, and I got it from him, and I will teach my son, too. It's a tradition that runs deep,' says Strings. Songs like Doc Watson's Salt Creek and Beaumont Rag and the Stanley Brothers' How Mountain Girls Can Love were on high rotation at home. Strings played with his dad until the age of 10, before swapping to the electric guitar. 'I had enough of hanging out with old men who I had little else in common with,' he says. He found his subculture with the skaters, who listened to death metal and hardcore. His eyes light up when he tells me he has collaborated with Canadian death metal band Cryptopsy. 'I don't have anything else I can do if this fails. I'm not a carpenter, and I don't like cleaning windows.' After finishing high school in 2011, Strings moved in with a friend in Traverse City, Michigan. It was there he took to open mic nights, wooing with traditional bluegrass. The city, known for its beaches, lured him, as did the art gallery scene and microbreweries that attracted university students. There he got a sense that there was more to life than his small-town trappings, and meeting fellow bluegrass musician Don Julin inspired him to branch out and play more. In July, Strings will embark on his first tour of Australia. He's already got a few friends there, including Tommy Emmanuel and the Melbourne band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (some potential studio time has been set aside should their plans align). 'When I knew I was having a baby, Stu MacKenzie [frontman of King Gizzard] was one of the first I reached out to ask how do you manage touring and raising a family,' says Strings, who married his manager Ally Dale in 2023. The couple welcomed their son River in September. 'Having a son has put everything I do in perspective,' he says. 'Work and music are important, but my family and their wellbeing take the lead. If they're good, I am free to go sing.' Strings spent a decade on the road before success came his way. It's only in 2025 that he's lessened that gig load. Back in 2017, it was 200 gigs and 300 days away from home. 'You know there's a cornfield out there, but you can't make out the leaves because you're moving too fast,' he reflects of that time. For all his guitar-prodigy ability, Strings continues with a private guitar tutor and assignments to meet behind the scenes. He writes most of his songs on the road and is already working on a follow-up to last year's Highway Prayers. The jam-band hero teamed with producer Jon Brion (Aimee Mann, Kanye West) to make Highway Prayers, an album Rolling Stone dubbed 'funnier if you're stoned'. There's Americana pop on Gild the Lily; an a cappella harmony leads Leaning on a Travelin' Song, where the banjo gets its rock star moment; while Cabin Song fiddles its way to swamp-like rhythms. 'I don't have anything else I can do if this fails,' says Strings as he leans into his leather sofa at the Sunset Marquis on the day of the gig. 'I am not a carpenter. I don't like cleaning windows or working in the hot sun. I play music and if I don't have this, I don't know how I would provide for my family. 'I want to play the best show possible, so people will come back and see me next time. I don't want to go back to being poor,' says Strings. 'It's truly deeply ingrained in me to survive, and the way I do that is to entertain and go crazy on stage.' Strings was born and raised in Michigan by his stepfather Barber and mother Debra Apostol. His father died of an overdose when Strings was two. He thanks his maternal grandmother Connie for instilling him with kindness, and says she's the reason he carries a lot of 'Christian guilt' around to this day. She was the closest thing to an angel in his wayward upbringing. 'I grew up in a wild family, a little band of outlaws. I saw a lot of substance abuse and a lot of things happened to me when I was little, things too deep to go into,' Strings says. 'I was exposed to many people ruining their lives. We had toothless tweakers with sunken cheeks sleeping on our couch, and I didn't want to do that. If I stayed in [Michigan], I knew that was where I was headed.' School was difficult too, and with two addicted parents, finding a voice of reason was hard. 'I failed all through school because I was an asshole, but that was because I had a lot of pain at home,' he says. 'It's hard to learn about history and algebra when you don't know what you're going to eat tonight. I was looking for a break in the wall and when I found that break, I made a run for it and I didn't look back. I didn't want to end up in misery.' At 23, Strings got sober. 'I have smoked crack, tried heroin, done meth and all sorts of shit, but I knew if I did it regularly, I wouldn't be able to come back from it,' he says. I knew this wasn't a life for me.' Loading The proud family man says he's found his purpose in life – it's more spiritual than religious epiphany. Strings admits DMT therapy has helped see the proverbial light. 'I believe it's my duty to wave the bluegrass banner. I love to turn people on it and I have found my happy place,' he says. 'Bluegrass hits harder than an MP3, you know,' he smiles. 'When you hear the banjo in real life and somebody sings into a microphone, it's not enhanced by backing tracks or autotune; it's more human than that. That's where sweetness lies. That's where the songs live and how we survive this game.'
The Age
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Growing up, he faced poverty and addiction. Now he counts Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan as fans
Backstage at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Billy Strings – the new wonder kid of bluegrass – is about to open an early evening set ahead of his heroes. Growing up, he never thought he'd get out of his midwest Michigan hometown; now at 32, he's touring the US with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan as part of the Outlaw Festival. Wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt, jeans and his ginger hair tied back low, Strings is less bluegrass suit and big hat of the past and more psychedelic slacker instead. A jam-band camaraderie drives his modern-day narrative. He's the reason bluegrass made its way back into the Billboard charts for the first time in 22 years, thanks to his hugely successful 2024 release, Highway Prayers. The bluegrass revival sweeping contemporary music in the States is no accident. The crossover appeal of Chris Stapleton and Lainey Wilson is but one aspect of this unfolding history repeating, but Strings is bringing his own charming demeanour to a traditional sound of yesteryear in the hope of doing more than stirring nostalgia. His is mountain music and tales of rural struggles for a hip city crowd. His songs are tinged with hope as much as sadness, and battle scars aplenty. The rehearsal room backstage is choked in the damp smell of cannabis. It is LA after all, where 'California sober' is a thing. Hemp drinks and gummies are de rigeur, and getting lightly stoned takes the edge off for many gathered here. It's a crowd who has turned up for Willie and Bob, ready to lean into the stoner mood of the past. It feels like the '60s all over again, except these audiences are greyer and more withered – but there's plenty of Gen Z and Millennials here for the tune in and drop out spirit, too. Strings' wardrobe trailer is stocked with guitars. Country and western shirts hang on wire coat hangers, cowboy boots sit beneath them, and some toys – a troll wearing a sombrero hat, an illuminated ghost – and trucker caps fill the top shelf. It's a modest stash for this travelling wilbury. After Strings won two Grammys for best bluegrass album – in 2021 for Home, and in 2025 for Live Vol. 1 – it taught him to trust the process and realise he has what it takes to succeed. He's collaborated with Post Malone (M-E-X-I-C-O), written and recorded with Nelson (California Sober), and recently wrote a three-page letter to Dylan which his friend – musician T Bone Burnett – assured he had read and was impressed by. Dylan is also a fan of his music; joining the Outlaw Festival bill was not an afterthought. Strings first heard bluegrass as a four-year-old, his stepfather Terry Barber introducing him to the blues, fiddling and gospel inflected verses. 'My parents took me to the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival in Michigan, not far from where I grew up. That's when I saw bluegrass for the first time,' says Strings, who was born William Lee Apostol and acquired the nickname from an aunt who saw him learn bluegrass instruments with a never-before-seen ease. 'Seeing those old musicians on stage in their suits and big hats, playing gold-tone banjos, standing up to their mics, well, that blew me away,' he says. 'That's when I got bit by the bug.' Listening to the music of bluegrass Hall of Famers like Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Martin and the Osbourne Brothers set the mood, too. 'Bluegrass is music that's passed down over the generations in my family. My dad learned it from his folks, and I got it from him, and I will teach my son, too. It's a tradition that runs deep,' says Strings. Songs like Doc Watson's Salt Creek and Beaumont Rag and the Stanley Brothers' How Mountain Girls Can Love were on high rotation at home. Strings played with his dad until the age of 10, before swapping to the electric guitar. 'I had enough of hanging out with old men who I had little else in common with,' he says. He found his subculture with the skaters, who listened to death metal and hardcore. His eyes light up when he tells me he has collaborated with Canadian death metal band Cryptopsy. 'I don't have anything else I can do if this fails. I'm not a carpenter, and I don't like cleaning windows.' After finishing high school in 2011, Strings moved in with a friend in Traverse City, Michigan. It was there he took to open mic nights, wooing with traditional bluegrass. The city, known for its beaches, lured him, as did the art gallery scene and microbreweries that attracted university students. There he got a sense that there was more to life than his small-town trappings, and meeting fellow bluegrass musician Don Julin inspired him to branch out and play more. In July, Strings will embark on his first tour of Australia. He's already got a few friends there, including Tommy Emmanuel and the Melbourne band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (some potential studio time has been set aside should their plans align). 'When I knew I was having a baby, Stu MacKenzie [frontman of King Gizzard] was one of the first I reached out to ask how do you manage touring and raising a family,' says Strings, who married his manager Ally Dale in 2023. The couple welcomed their son River in September. 'Having a son has put everything I do in perspective,' he says. 'Work and music are important, but my family and their wellbeing take the lead. If they're good, I am free to go sing.' Strings spent a decade on the road before success came his way. It's only in 2025 that he's lessened that gig load. Back in 2017, it was 200 gigs and 300 days away from home. 'You know there's a cornfield out there, but you can't make out the leaves because you're moving too fast,' he reflects of that time. For all his guitar-prodigy ability, Strings continues with a private guitar tutor and assignments to meet behind the scenes. He writes most of his songs on the road and is already working on a follow-up to last year's Highway Prayers. The jam-band hero teamed with producer Jon Brion (Aimee Mann, Kanye West) to make Highway Prayers, an album Rolling Stone dubbed 'funnier if you're stoned'. There's Americana pop on Gild the Lily; an a cappella harmony leads Leaning on a Travelin' Song, where the banjo gets its rock star moment; while Cabin Song fiddles its way to swamp-like rhythms. 'I don't have anything else I can do if this fails,' says Strings as he leans into his leather sofa at the Sunset Marquis on the day of the gig. 'I am not a carpenter. I don't like cleaning windows or working in the hot sun. I play music and if I don't have this, I don't know how I would provide for my family. 'I want to play the best show possible, so people will come back and see me next time. I don't want to go back to being poor,' says Strings. 'It's truly deeply ingrained in me to survive, and the way I do that is to entertain and go crazy on stage.' Strings was born and raised in Michigan by his stepfather Barber and mother Debra Apostol. His father died of an overdose when Strings was two. He thanks his maternal grandmother Connie for instilling him with kindness, and says she's the reason he carries a lot of 'Christian guilt' around to this day. She was the closest thing to an angel in his wayward upbringing. 'I grew up in a wild family, a little band of outlaws. I saw a lot of substance abuse and a lot of things happened to me when I was little, things too deep to go into,' Strings says. 'I was exposed to many people ruining their lives. We had toothless tweakers with sunken cheeks sleeping on our couch, and I didn't want to do that. If I stayed in [Michigan], I knew that was where I was headed.' School was difficult too, and with two addicted parents, finding a voice of reason was hard. 'I failed all through school because I was an asshole, but that was because I had a lot of pain at home,' he says. 'It's hard to learn about history and algebra when you don't know what you're going to eat tonight. I was looking for a break in the wall and when I found that break, I made a run for it and I didn't look back. I didn't want to end up in misery.' At 23, Strings got sober. 'I have smoked crack, tried heroin, done meth and all sorts of shit, but I knew if I did it regularly, I wouldn't be able to come back from it,' he says. I knew this wasn't a life for me.' Loading The proud family man says he's found his purpose in life – it's more spiritual than religious epiphany. Strings admits DMT therapy has helped see the proverbial light. 'I believe it's my duty to wave the bluegrass banner. I love to turn people on it and I have found my happy place,' he says. 'Bluegrass hits harder than an MP3, you know,' he smiles. 'When you hear the banjo in real life and somebody sings into a microphone, it's not enhanced by backing tracks or autotune; it's more human than that. That's where sweetness lies. That's where the songs live and how we survive this game.'
UPI
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- UPI
Look: Lainey Wilson, Ella Langley perform at CMA Fest
1 of 5 | Lainey Wilson performs on Day 1 of CMA Fest at Nissan Stadium in Nashville on Thursday. Photo by Camden Hall/UPI | License Photo June 6 (UPI) -- Lainey Wilson and Ella Langley were among the performers during Day 1 of the 52nd annual CMA Fest, which airs on ABC June 26. The festival kicked off Thursday and winds down Sunday in Nashville. The television special spans three hours and will be hosted by Cody Johnson and Ashley McBryde. Wilson wore a beige cowboy hat and vest, while Langley wore a one-shouldered black dress with matching gloves. Other performers during the event's first day included Darius Rucker, Jason Aldean, Brooks & Dunn, and Nashville actor Charles Esten. "CMA Fest is more than a festival -- it's a celebration of the connection between artists and fans, featuring hundreds of performances and collaborations across multiple stages, once-in-a-lifetime moments, and the vibrant energy of Nashville, all fueling something bigger than the event itself," an official synopsis reads. The television special will stream on Hulu June 27. CMA Awards: Chris Stapleton, Post Malone rock the stage Chris Stapleton (L) and Post Malone open the 2024 CMA Awards with a performance of their song "California Sober" in Nashville on November 20, 2024. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
THC drinks are flying off shelves. Can it last?
In June 2023, Jon Halper started selling THC beverages at Top Ten Liquors, his chain of Minnesota stores. The drinks, which contain the main intoxicating chemical compound found in cannabis, were a massive hit. 'Immediately, the sales took off,' said Halper. 'We've never seen anything explosive like this.' After just two years, THC beverages make up about 15% of overall sales, he said. 'It's hard to believe this growth isn't going to be astronomical.' The time is right for a THC beverage boom. Many Americans are embracing a California sober lifestyle — drinking less alcohol, which they see as harmful to health, and trying out marijuana instead. A study published in 2024 found that a higher number of Americans reported using cannabis every day than drinking alcohol daily. And thanks to what many consider to be a loophole in the 2018 farm bill, THC beverage makers have been able to rapidly launch their products across the country with little oversight. Now, states are trying to make sense of the bill's language, setting up their own regulations and raising questions for the future of the fast-growing industry. For years, beverage companies toyed with the idea of using THC in drinks. But cannabis is a tricky business. Marijuana is a 'schedule I controlled substance' in the United States, meaning companies that sell marijuana products legally don't get certain tax benefits. The classification also makes it hard for those firms to get funding from financial institutions wary of breaking federal laws. So drink makers avoided cannabis. Then the 2018 farm bill changed the game. The lengthy document governs a wide range of agricultural and food assistance programs, and it includes a few pages that legalized the production of hemp, defined as a cannabis plant that has no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis (cannabis plants with higher concentrations of THC are classified as marijuana). That language spawned a fast-growing market of technically legal THC beverages that are still potent enough to make you feel something. At the time, 'these drinks did not exist,' said Frank Colombo, managing director of Viridian Capital Advisors, which specializes in cannabis. 'Nobody anticipated this whole category of hemp-based intoxicants, let alone hemp-based THC drinks.' In 2020, the US market for hemp-derived THC drinks amounted to about $400,000, according to Brightfield Group, a consumer insights and market research firm that has been tracking the THC drink industry. By 2024, the market had grown nearly 10 times bigger, reaching $382 million dollars. This year, it will grow to $571 million, Brightfield predicts, with more expansion to come. THC beverage makers have been exempt from the onerous regulations that apply to marijuana companies. But some entrepreneurs seek a Goldilocks zone for regulation: Too little could allow bad actors — those who market to children or sell high-dosage products made with synthetic ingredients — to proliferate, encouraging bans. Too much would constrain growth. But the right amount would legitimize their businesses, putting them on a path to skyrocketing growth. Companies are betting that things will go their way. Experts are not so sure. 'I do not think it's going to go perfectly,' said Hilary Bricken, an attorney with Husch Blackwell who focuses on the hemp and cannabis industries. She can 'appreciate the confidence' of young companies trying to forge a path, but 'it's still going to be a bumpy road.' When Cann first launched in 2019, the THC beverage was only available at a handful of cannabis dispensaries. 'At the time, we thought that was the only place you could sell these products,' explained Jake Bullock, co-founder and CEO of Cann. The drink had initially derived its THC and CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid present in Cann drinks, from marijuana. Then in 2022, a new Minnesota law helped clarify the farm bill's language, explicitly allowing certain hemp-derived THC products to be sold to customers aged 21 or older. 'We were like, 'Well, wait, can we extract THC and CBD from hemp?'' Bullock recounted. They could, and it took just 60 days. Cann launched the updated product in Minnesota in October of that year. Today, Cann is sold in stores across 30 states and available direct-to-customer in at least 35 states. In 2024, revenue grew over 70%, according to the company. It expects over 100% growth this year. Cann and other THC drink brands describe their products as social tonics, designed to give a light, mellow buzz that, they say, will help you feel good at parties but not hungover the next day. Cann's drinks come in flavors like blood orange cardamom and yuzu elderflower and have no more than 10 milligrams of THC per can. 'If you think about alcohol and caffeine, we drink these in microdoses,' Bullock said. 'There's a reason you can have a few cups of coffee or a couple of glasses of wine. We wanted to capture that same kind of concept.' Even shoppers who aren't familiar with THC drinks are in the market for a new kind of beverage: Stroll down a refrigerator aisle and you'll see prebiotic sodas in countless flavors, botanical teas, canned lattes with a variety of milks, sparkling everythings, non-alcoholic beers and more. And over the past few years, Cann has been joined by scores of competitors. For example, hi Seltzer, a calorie-free drink that comes in fruit flavors and contains five milligrams of THC, launched in 2023. 'We're running somewhere between 1.2 (million) and 1.5 million cans a month,' CEO Louis Police said in April, 'which doesn't even satisfy the demand.' BRĒZ, a THC beverage brand that use lion's mane mushroom extract, has seen sales explode since it started in 2023. In 2024, the company recorded about $28 million in revenue, said founder and CEO Aaron Nosbisch. This year, it's on track to hit about $75 million. The market has also attracted alcohol makers like Samantha Lee, co-founder of Hopewell Brewing Company in Chicago, Illinois. Last year, she and her Hopewell co-founders (plus one more) launched Choom, a sparkling canned THC beverage that comes in mostly citrus flavors. 'We're seeing a lot of our current customer base who are really excited about (Choom),' she said. Lee is optimistic that Illinois will regulate the market in a way that well help business thrive. 'We're seeing a lot of positive movements in Illinois that will codify this as a law,' she said. But until that happens, major retailers may avoid selling brands like Choom. Without clear regulation, 'there's only so much we can do.' The Hemp Beverage Alliance (HBA), a trade group formed two years ago, shares its own regulatory principles on labeling, dosing, age restrictions and more on its website. Brands are also educating distributors, retailers and consumers about their THC drinks. But self-regulation can only go so far. 'It's going to be challenging for someone to truly break out… until there is something at the federal level that is a clear indication that these products can be scaled and will be legal,' said Duane Stanford, executive editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, a trade publication. Ideally, there would be 'a federal framework that guides the entire country' said Christopher Lackner, president of the HBA. But that's a moonshot, at least in the near term. For now, the alliance, which represents over 250 brands, retailers and distributors across North America, is working toward getting industry-friendly regulation at the state level. Half of US states permit hemp-derived delta-9 THC beverages as of May 1, according to the HBA. The rest either severely limit THC content in these drinks, prohibit their sale outright or have not regulated the product, by the HBA's count. As states decide how to move forward, the federal government could crack down or make hemp illegal again. 'If the FDA starts getting increased accounts of, let's say, kids getting ahold of this stuff, or consumers being misled (or) having adverse reactions,' it might set its own restrictions, said Bricken, the Husch Blackwell attorney. Then there's the question of the farm bill. The current legislation has been extended through later this year. But if the administration decides to make hemp illegal in the next farm bill, it would have a chilling effect on the THC beverage industry, said Whitt Steineker, partner at Bradley and co-chair of the law firm's cannabis industry team. 'You would see the money flow really dry up,' he said. Halper, of Top Ten Liquors, isn't quite sure what to expect from the federal government. 'We all talk about the next farm bill,' he said, adding: 'None of us control what is happening in Washington.'
CNN
10-05-2025
- Business
- CNN
THC drinks are flying off shelves. Can it last?
In June 2023, Jon Halper started selling THC beverages at Top Ten Liquors, his chain of Minnesota stores. The drinks, which contain the main intoxicating chemical compound found in cannabis, were a massive hit. 'Immediately, the sales took off,' said Halper. 'We've never seen anything explosive like this.' After just two years, THC beverages make up about 15% of overall sales, he said. 'It's hard to believe this growth isn't going to be astronomical.' The time is right for a THC beverage boom. Many Americans are embracing a California sober lifestyle — drinking less alcohol, which they see as harmful to health, and trying out marijuana instead. A study published in 2024 found that a higher number of Americans reported using cannabis every day than drinking alcohol daily. And thanks to what many consider to be a loophole in the 2018 farm bill, THC beverage makers have been able to rapidly launch their products across the country with little oversight. Now, states are trying to make sense of the bill's language, setting up their own regulations and raising questions for the future of the fast-growing industry. For years, beverage companies toyed with the idea of using THC in drinks. But cannabis is a tricky business. Marijuana is a 'schedule I controlled substance' in the United States, meaning companies that sell marijuana products legally don't get certain tax benefits. The classification also makes it hard for those firms to get funding from financial institutions wary of breaking federal laws. So drink makers avoided cannabis. Then the 2018 farm bill changed the game. The lengthy document governs a wide range of agricultural and food assistance programs, and it includes a few pages that legalized the production of hemp, defined as a cannabis plant that has no more than 0.3% delta-9 THC on a dry-weight basis (cannabis plants with higher concentrations of THC are classified as marijuana). That language spawned a fast-growing market of technically legal THC beverages that are still potent enough to make you feel something. At the time, 'these drinks did not exist,' said Frank Colombo, managing director of Viridian Capital Advisors, which specializes in cannabis. 'Nobody anticipated this whole category of hemp-based intoxicants, let alone hemp-based THC drinks.' In 2020, the US market for hemp-derived THC drinks amounted to about $400,000, according to Brightfield Group, a consumer insights and market research firm that has been tracking the THC drink industry. By 2024, the market had grown nearly 10 times bigger, reaching $382 million dollars. This year, it will grow to $571 million, Brightfield predicts, with more expansion to come. THC beverage makers have been exempt from the onerous regulations that apply to marijuana companies. But some entrepreneurs seek a Goldilocks zone for regulation: Too little could allow bad actors — those who market to children or sell high-dosage products made with synthetic ingredients — to proliferate, encouraging bans. Too much would constrain growth. But the right amount would legitimize their businesses, putting them on a path to skyrocketing growth. Companies are betting that things will go their way. Experts are not so sure. 'I do not think it's going to go perfectly,' said Hilary Bricken, an attorney with Husch Blackwell who focuses on the hemp and cannabis industries. She can 'appreciate the confidence' of young companies trying to forge a path, but 'it's still going to be a bumpy road.' When Cann first launched in 2019, the THC beverage was only available at a handful of cannabis dispensaries. 'At the time, we thought that was the only place you could sell these products,' explained Jake Bullock, co-founder and CEO of Cann. The drink had initially derived its THC and CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid present in Cann drinks, from marijuana. Then in 2022, a new Minnesota law helped clarify the farm bill's language, explicitly allowing certain hemp-derived THC products to be sold to customers aged 21 or older. 'We were like, 'Well, wait, can we extract THC and CBD from hemp?'' Bullock recounted. They could, and it took just 60 days. Cann launched the updated product in Minnesota in October of that year. Today, Cann is sold in stores across 30 states and available direct-to-customer in at least 35 states. In 2024, revenue grew over 70%, according to the company. It expects over 100% growth this year. Cann and other THC drink brands describe their products as social tonics, designed to give a light, mellow buzz that, they say, will help you feel good at parties but not hungover the next day. Cann's drinks come in flavors like blood orange cardamom and yuzu elderflower and have no more than 10 milligrams of THC per can. 'If you think about alcohol and caffeine, we drink these in microdoses,' Bullock said. 'There's a reason you can have a few cups of coffee or a couple of glasses of wine. We wanted to capture that same kind of concept.' Even shoppers who aren't familiar with THC drinks are in the market for a new kind of beverage: Stroll down a refrigerator aisle and you'll see prebiotic sodas in countless flavors, botanical teas, canned lattes with a variety of milks, sparkling everythings, non-alcoholic beers and more. And over the past few years, Cann has been joined by scores of competitors. For example, hi Seltzer, a calorie-free drink that comes in fruit flavors and contains five milligrams of THC, launched in 2023. 'We're running somewhere between 1.2 (million) and 1.5 million cans a month,' CEO Louis Police said in April, 'which doesn't even satisfy the demand.' BRĒZ, a THC beverage brand that use lion's mane mushroom extract, has seen sales explode since it started in 2023. In 2024, the company recorded about $28 million in revenue, said founder and CEO Aaron Nosbisch. This year, it's on track to hit about $75 million. The market has also attracted alcohol makers like Samantha Lee, co-founder of Hopewell Brewing Company in Chicago, Illinois. Last year, she and her Hopewell co-founders (plus one more) launched Choom, a sparkling canned THC beverage that comes in mostly citrus flavors. 'We're seeing a lot of our current customer base who are really excited about (Choom),' she said. Lee is optimistic that Illinois will regulate the market in a way that well help business thrive. 'We're seeing a lot of positive movements in Illinois that will codify this as a law,' she said. But until that happens, major retailers may avoid selling brands like Choom. Without clear regulation, 'there's only so much we can do.' The Hemp Beverage Alliance (HBA), a trade group formed two years ago, shares its own regulatory principles on labeling, dosing, age restrictions and more on its website. Brands are also educating distributors, retailers and consumers about their THC drinks. But self-regulation can only go so far. 'It's going to be challenging for someone to truly break out… until there is something at the federal level that is a clear indication that these products can be scaled and will be legal,' said Duane Stanford, executive editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, a trade publication. Ideally, there would be 'a federal framework that guides the entire country' said Christopher Lackner, president of the HBA. But that's a moonshot, at least in the near term. For now, the alliance, which represents over 250 brands, retailers and distributors across North America, is working toward getting industry-friendly regulation at the state level. Half of US states permit hemp-derived delta-9 THC beverages as of May 1, according to the HBA. The rest either severely limit THC content in these drinks, prohibit their sale outright or have not regulated the product, by the HBA's count. As states decide how to move forward, the federal government could crack down or make hemp illegal again. 'If the FDA starts getting increased accounts of, let's say, kids getting ahold of this stuff, or consumers being misled (or) having adverse reactions,' it might set its own restrictions, said Bricken, the Husch Blackwell attorney. Then there's the question of the farm bill. The current legislation has been extended through later this year. But if the administration decides to make hemp illegal in the next farm bill, it would have a chilling effect on the THC beverage industry, said Whitt Steineker, partner at Bradley and co-chair of the law firm's cannabis industry team. 'You would see the money flow really dry up,' he said. Halper, of Top Ten Liquors, isn't quite sure what to expect from the federal government. 'We all talk about the next farm bill,' he said, adding: 'None of us control what is happening in Washington.'
