Boston Beer — Don't miss the tea party. Sam Adams wouldn’t sit this one out...

Craft beer powerhouse, Boston Beer Co, recently made headlines as Co-founder Jim Koch discussed hemp-derived THC beverages on an earnings call. Incase you missed it, here is a link to transcript.

While Koch admitted that the category posed a serious threat to beer, he rattled off a few reasons why the company would still hold off from entering the market:

• He still considers hemp a “wild west” where regulation differs state by state.

• Beer wholesalers have flip flopped on their attitudes towards the category. At first they called it illegal, now they are embracing it with open arms.

• It’s too early to tell its impact on beer, but it is likely a more serious challenger to beer and beer occasions.

• The farm bill is still on temporary authorization, so a change to the next one could wipe the market out. He also doesn’t believe the farm bill ever intended to make THC from hemp legal in consumable products.

Let’s be real: he isn’t totally off about any of these.

Hemp regulations ARE all over the place. Beer distributors HAVE shown varying attitudes on the product. It is early to tell the true impact on alcohol, BUT in states like Minnesota and areas like the Southeast, hemp beverages are crushinggg it. The farm bill IS subject to change, and it could determine the entire fate of this industry.

However, I still think this is the wrong move, and not only that, I think not entering this market directly contradicts the core values of The Boston Beer Co.

Below are 3 reasons why I believe Boston Beer should enter the market before the end of 2025 and join the THC beverage rebellion.

1. Revolution is in the DNA of Boston Beer and Sam Adams — making them the kind of player that could legitimize the category.

Can we please take a minute to appreciate the irony here for a moment: this company’s flagship brand is named after founding father Sam Adams, and someone who helped lead the American Revolution.

But now, they are sitting on the sideline while another revolution unfolds.

I know, I know, it’s not as simple as that. There are legal risks, financial risks, uncertainties, ambiguity… but is that not the name of the game when trailblazing in any new industry?

Boston Beer is a visionary, and innovator, and a pioneer. Co-founder Jim Koch has been called “the founding father of the American craft beer revolution.” Their flagship product, Sam Adams, made waves in the 80s and 90s by being one of the first brands to offer unique styles of beers that were flavorful and high quality, and stood out against the boring American lagers available at the time.

The company is known for having a scrappy, get-it-done-at-all-costs mentality, and always seems to have a strong pulse on where the market is headed next. Projects like Angry Orchard, Truly, Twisted Tea, and more recently, Sam Adams NA beer, show they are constantly evolving to meet consumers preferences.

Boston Beer Co is also exactly the kind of partner the hemp beverage space needs to help legitimize it. They are well respected in the alcohol space, have an affinity for leading revolutions, are publicly traded and well capitalized, and distribute their products all across the country and the world.

They have relationships with distributors, retailers, and lawmakers.

The hemp beverage industry is so desperate for these kind of resources and needs all the help it can get in this fight. This industry would be grateful for their assistance, and strength is always better in numbers.

Why are they wasting their power, or at the very least, choosing not to use it? Instead of waiting to see if hemp beverages are protected, they should use their force to ensure it.

2. Boston Beer is a creative powerhouse with a track record of incubating strong brands.

Many people say that the alcohol giants don’t care about the market right now because they’ll just acquire the biggest brands once the space is fully legalized.

While that may be true of a Diageo, ABinBev, Molson Coors, or any of the other big alcohol conglomerates, I don’t believe that’s what Boston Beer would do.

While they have made acquisitions like Dogfish Head, all of of their core brands were developed in-house, and remain staples in the alcohol world.

Angry Orchard was the #1 hard cider in the country within a few years of launching.

Twisted Tea is an iconic brand that grew to be immensely popular, and still has a cult-like following to this day.

TRULY was one of the first hard seltzers in existence, and helped lead the hard seltzer craze in the late 2010s.

If Boston Beer stepped into hemp beverages, not only would they create more quality brands to add to their portfolio, but they would further validate the category by bringing a trusted authority to that aisle of the store.

If their Co-founder admitted that this is a threat to beer occasions, and they clearly saw this coming as they’ve quietly developed a cannebev brand in Canada, then why not get started now?

Beat all the sleepy alcohol giants that are too big, too fractured, and too indecisive. Act now and enjoy a MASSIVE head start!

3. Boston Beer has cannabis experience with a team and product already in place.

In typical Boston Beer style, they saw this coming. In 2022, the company launched Teapot, a cannabis take on their popular Twisted Tea format.

Here’s the catch: its only available in Canada.

They were smart to do this: at that point in time US recreational dispensaries were the only place where cannabevs were sold. They made up about 1% of sales, and were largely neglected by most of the industry because they were expensive and didn’t cater to high dose users.

Also, cannabis was and still is federally illegal in the US. Using Canada as a test market was perfect because it neighbored their home turf, possessed a somewhat similar consumer demographic, and allowed them to operate inside the law since cannabis is federally legal.

But now, it’s 2025. There are Total Wines in southeast America with dozens of hemp beverages on their shelves, and more alcohol retailers are letting these products into their stores every single day.

It’s clearly time to pivot. Cannabevs are having their day in the sun because they are finally sold where target consumers shop and they are incredibly efficacious, and people love them.

Boston Beer already has a dedicated team and legal expertise in place — a clear advantage over beverage alcohol giants that haven’t entered the space. While cannabis isn’t rocket science, it comes with its own set of nuances. That learning curve gives Boston Beer a head start — and a rare opportunity to lead the category through values like authenticity, responsibility, and innovation.

The logs are stacked and the kindling is set, they just need to strike the match.

Last week, I shared my thoughts on Snoop Dogg’s newly announced cannabis beverage portfolio. Miss it?

Check it out below👇

About Me

Hey! I'm Daniel Crocker, and I'm a cannabev enthusiast who's spent over 2 years in the space. Right now I live in Washington DC, and I work at BRĒZ as the Head of Content of strategy. I publish a new edition of Spill the T (HC) every Tuesday, so make sure to subscribe if you want to stay up to date.