Martín writes news articles and feature stories covering the non-alcoholic beverage industry for BevNET. A graduate of Boston University, Martín's previous work has appeared in USA Today, The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald.
After over a decade ball-hawking in the backfield, former NFL star Micah Hyde is taking on a new position: hemp beverage entrepreneur. Following his retirement in January 2025, the Ohio native stepped into the beverage arena with Hyde’s Hail Mary, a line of Shandy-style low-dose THC drinks that’s aiming to recruit both football and beer lovers alike.
After making a splashy debut in 2024, Más+ By Messi, the hydration drink brand co-launched by global soccer superstar Lionel Messi and Mark Anthony Brands, is officially out of the game.
Brooklyn-based non-alcoholic beverage maker St. Agrestis, best known for its Phony Negroni line of bottled RTD mocktails, has been acquired by The Wine Group (TWG) for an undisclosed sum.
Constellation Brands has agreed to terms to acquire HOPWTR, expanding the beer and spirit giant’s presence in the fast-growing non-alcoholic space. The deal comes roughly five years after Constellation’s initial investment in HOPWTR in 2021 through its Venture division.
Sparkling water fans are bracing themselves for a prolonged drought after The Coca-Cola Company confirmed that Topo Chico mineral water is temporarily unavailable in the United States due to production issues at the source in Monterrey, Mexico.
New York may allow licensed alcohol retailers to sell THC-infused drinks if a new measure introduced in the State Legislature earlier this week gains passage.
Hemp THC drink makers RYTHM and Señorita have each inked multi-year agreements with the United Center in Chicago.
Japanese beer giant Asahi is deepening its U.S. presence with the national launch of its premium ready-to-drink (RTD) vodka and soda cocktail Zeitaku Shibori, the first such product to be manufactured in the States.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Thursday directing the U.S. Attorney General to move cannabis from a Schedule I to Schedule III controlled substance, marking a watershed moment in the history of U.S. marijuana policy and a significant step forward for the nascent THC-infused beverage industry.
PepsiCo allegedly created a soft drink “price gap” with Walmart, creating a system that allowed the world’s largest retail to obtain preferential promotional payments, while those same payments were reduced for Walmart’s competitors, according to court documents unsealed last week.
While bev-alc is in flux, zero-proof partying is still in full swing with the announcement of a new multi-year partnership that brings Hiyo Social Tonics into Live Nation venues across the country.
Even for an industry born out of risk and uncertainty, hemp beverages are now officially in uncharted waters. As part of the funding bill to reopen the government signed into law last night by President Donald Trump, hemp-derived products will be required to contain less than 0.4 mg THC per container, as of November 13, 2026. Swept away like a storm in the night, the multi-billion-dollar, hemp-derived THC industry is waking up this morning to the stark reality that, barring the creation of a legal federal framework, they will be virtually extinct within a year.
A last-ditch effort to remove language prohibiting virtually all THC beverages failed in Congress, placing the intoxicating hemp industry’s fate in the House’s hands.
Intoxicating hemp beverages could be sacrificed in a deal to reopen the federal government. As political factions in Washington, D.C., spar over how to end the longest-ever federal government shutdown in U.S. history, legislators – led by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) – are attempting to use the situation to shape the future of hemp and intoxicating THC products and restrict the market created by the 2018 Farm Bill.
