Boston Beer Company’s plans in the non-alcoholic cannabis-infused beverage space are beginning to play out one year after establishing a Canadian subsidiary to focus on those offerings.
Boston Beer — which produces Truly Hard Seltzer, Twisted Tea, Samuel Adams, Dogfish Head and Angry Orchard hard cider — will launch a cannabis-infused iced tea line TeaPot in select Canadian provinces starting in July.
“We’re encouraged by the continued growth of the cannabis beverage category and we believe it’s one of the next innovation frontiers,” Boston Beer CEO Dave Burwick said in a press release. “As we await further progress on U.S. regulations, we’ll continue to develop an exciting product pipeline in the federally regulated market of Canada.”
TeaPot will launch with Good Day Iced Tea, which the company said is “made with real lemon black tea and infused with Pedro’s Sweet Sativa, a unique cultivar which is grown in Strathroy, Ontario by licensed producer Entourage Health Corp. and sold exclusively in Canada under its retail brand Color Cannabis.”
“TeaPot purposefully pairs the right tea with the right pot for the right occasion,” said Paul Weaver, Boston Beer’s director, head of cannabis, in a press release. “Each can is precisely dosed for social gatherings with friends and family. We think TeaPot is the best-tasting cannabis beverage on the market, and we can’t wait for people to try it – we think they’ll agree.”TeaPot combines “real tea with specific cannabis strains to enhance specific times of day.” Each 12 oz. can contains 5mg of THC and “crafted to minimize any cannabis taste or aroma.” Additional varieties are expected to be released in the coming months.
TeaPot is being produced in Windsor, Ontario, at Peak Processing Solutions and will be distributed by Entourage Health Corp. in Toronto.
In September 2021, Boston Beer agreed to a five-year, $3.42 million deal with Peak, a licensed developer, manufacturer, and distributor of recreational and medical cannabis products in Canada, to be the exclusive manufacturer of all BBC cannabis beverages produced and sold in Canada.
Per the agreement, BBC will pay Peak, a subsidiary of Althea Group Holdings Ltd., a minimum of $285,000 annually, totaling $1.42 million. BBC will also provide an initial $2 million in funding for “capital improvements associated with the development project,” including constructing new laboratory facilities. A minimum of $500,000 will be dedicated for increasing Peak’s “beverage manufacturing capabilities.”
While the U.S. cannabis beverage market continues to grow, Canada has far outpaced it since legalizing adult-use recreational marijuana nationwide in 2019. Citing retail data from Headset, Boston Beer noted that Canada’s infused beverage market share has increased by nearly 850% since 2020 and is about twice the size of the cannabis beverage market in the U.S., where cannabis remains illegal under federal law.