Canada-U.S. beer rivalry spills over into the cannabis space

It’s all a matter of taste.

Legalization 2.0 is reigniting a friendly rivalry between Canada and the U.S. over who can produce better cannabis-infused beverages. But according to Canopy Growth — the Ontario-based company that just revealed its new line of drinkable cannabis — it’s not much of a competition.

“Our view is that in the United States the beverages don’t taste good, they’re cloudy and they’re not appealing,” Rade Kovacevic, president of Canopy Growth, told Cantech Letter. “On top of that, the dosages are very high so people new to cannabis won’t enter.”

The two countries have long argued over who brews the better beer, so it’s only natural that the dispute would spill over into the emerging cannabis industry. And while Canadian beers have typically been regarded as stronger than their U.S. counterparts, might doesn’t make right in the cannabis arena.

Many U.S. companies have chosen to focus on making their cannabis beverages as strong as possible — with THC levels often reaching 100 mg per unit — but their products have failed to capture much of the consumer market south of the border.

Kovacevic said they are scaring away customers. “It was important with beverages that the experience was similar to alcohol so that people would be able to make the transition more easily,” he said.

Canopy was able to lean heavily on its partnership with Constellation Brands — maker of Corona — to make sure they don’t make the same mistakes as others. “On the beverage side, we’ve had a lot of help from our partners at Constellation Brands in terms of the engineering of the facility,” he said. “We’ve spent about three years on the intellectual property behind the formulation to ensure that it’s low calorie, that it has a great flavour and that the onset is akin to alcohol. We’re really excited about bringing these to market.”

Only time will tell what Canadians and Americans think about the coming wave of cannabis-infused drinks, but with all the competition on tap, customers are the real winners here.

“Beverages are the disruptive part,” Kovacevic said. “Over the next five to 10 years we’re really going to be taking up ground on it. We think that there’s a great opportunity over the next 12 months to segment the market to make sure that new people to cannabis understand that beverages are an alternative to alcoholic beverages.”

Sounds like this battle is just getting started.

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