Beer never stands still. It seems like every week there’s another story about changing consumer habits, drinkers’ renewed focus on healthy lifestyle, beer’s slowing growth among a new generation of drinkers, or pressure on the industry from legalized marijuana. Each story seems to presage the announcement of a new brand of seltzer, kombucha, or nonalcoholic (NA) beer.
As craft brewers have shown—while contributing to the proliferation of variously flavored hard seltzer brands—if there’s demand for a drink, then there’s a will to produce it, regardless of whether they’re excited about doing it.
However, there’s a new breed of beverages developing in parallel with the nascent cannabis industry that has some craft-beer veterans particularly excited.