Cannabis Drinks Get Their Own Trade Show

If you don’t think that the growth of legalized pot isn’t somehow bleeding into the drinks biz you’re in denial. Enter Cannabis Drinks Expo, the world’s first event dedicated to the new but fast-growing psychoactive corner of the drinks industry.

Here’s the deal…

With analysts increasingly warning that cannabis producers are leading drinkers away from wine and beer, a new trade event hopes to build common ground between the two industries.

Sponsored by the Beverage Trade Network (BTN), which has overseen conferences such as International Bulk Wine & Spirits Show and the London Wine, Spirits and Beer Competitions, the Cannabis Drinks Expo is a trade show and industry conference that, like it or not, time has come.

Described as a “a unique chance for the industry to determine what strategies it needs to put in place now to capitalize on the huge opportunities for legalized cannabis drinks-related products” by BTN, the Cannabis Drinks Expo’s goal is to “give worldwide drinks industry the chance to come together and look at ways it can start addressing what has been described as the biggest ever threat to its future”.

And whether next year’s Expo succeed or fails in reaching those goals, it’s almost guaranteed to be ‘high times.’ But the issues are important to the drinks industry and they aren’t going away…

Some drinks conglomerates have attempted to ward off the impact of recreational pot by moving into cannabis-infused drinks themselves.

Last October, Constellation Brands purchased a minority stake in Canadian cannabis producer Canopy Growth Corporation, with the intention of developing cannabis beverages.

Just last month, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, the largest wine and spirits distributor in North America, created a subsidiary under the Great North Distributors banner to represent cannabis products exclusively in Canada.

And earlier this year, the former Molson Coors executive who created Blue Moon beer Keith Villa, launched Ceria, a company which only produces cannabis-infused, non-alcoholic beer.

According to Arcview Market Research the cannabis is expected to grow at least 30% a year and is already close to a $7 billion market…

The Drinks Business is reporting that some industry watchers think” the legal cannabis market could be worth $23 billion by 2021…and that “cannabis-infused beer or wine, then, could become the preferred method of consuming the newly legalized drug.”

Scheduled for San Francisco in July 2019 the Cannabis Drinks Expo is yet another sign of the drinks industry’s fast-changing landscape and the growing impact that legalized pot will have on how we spend our entertainment dollar in the very near future.

Pot Beer Image Credit: Mitchell Maglio