A year and a half after its sale to Tilray Brands, energy seltzer brand HiBall is returning to retail with a launch in Whole Foods Market stores this spring.
Operating under the company’s Tilray Wellness better-for-you food and beverage division, the launch comes after Tilray bought HiBall from Anheuser-Busch InBev in an $85 million cash deal that also included eight craft beer brands.
Following the acquisition, Tilray – a Canadian cannabis conglomerate now looking to broaden its portfolio into other categories – moved quickly to relaunch HiBall online as an ecommerce exclusive and now says that Amazon sales of the brand are up 68% in the six month period from September 1 to March 1.
The company now hopes to maintain momentum with this brick-and-mortar relaunch, focusing first on the natural channel.
“When Hi*Ball Energy joined our Tilray Brands, Inc. family in 2024, Whole Foods Market immediately took notice,” said Jared Simon, President of Tilray Wellness, in a press release. “Their shoppers were disappointed to lose Hi*Ball Energy after years of brand loyalty. Thankfully, our reliability and quality as an innovation brand gave Whole Foods Market the confidence to restore this important consumer relationship.”
Whole Foods will carry four of the brand’s flavors: Grapefruit, Blood Orange, Blackberry and Wildberry, each of which contains 160 mg of organic caffeine, 50 mg each of organic guarana and organic ginseng per 16 oz. can.
The news comes as the energy drink set is abuzz with M&A activity – from Celsius’ $1.8 billion acquisition of Alani Nu earlier this year to KDP’s fall pick-up of Ghost (another brand that formerly had close ties with AB).
Founded in 2005, HiBall was acquired by AB in 2017 with the intent of building out its non-alc portfolio and providing it with a fast-growing player in the rising energy category. At the time, the brand’s sales had surpassed $40 million annually.
But post-acquisition sales growth slowed to a crawl and ultimately HiBall was outpaced by a new wave of performance energy brands led first by Bang, then by Celsius.
By 2023, AB pulled the plug and discontinued the brand.