Upon launching in 2010, Keef Brands was a pioneer in the nascent cannabis beverage space, then restricted to just a handful of states. In 2025, amidst a gold rush in hemp-derived THC drinks, the Boulder, Colorado-based company is one of just a handful of cannabev makers operating on “both sides of the plant.”
The brand diversified into intoxicating hemp in May 2023, seeing an opportunity to reach a broader addressable market and funneling new customers up the ladder of potency from low-dose options in traditional retail to the stronger products it has sold in dispensaries for over a decade.
“We’re one of those unicorns that still exist in both,” said Keef Brands CRO Blake Patterson. “We’re completely bifurcated.”
Keef’s high-dose, marijuana-derived THC options have a strong foothold in the recreational dispensary channel, but two years since launching its Classic Soda varieties – Original Cola, and Orange Kush, to name a few – in 10 milligram hemp-derived THC has opened new retail partners and a bigger tent of potential new customers.
Seizing on that opportunity, Keef is launching a lower-dose, hemp-derived version of its Life H2O products. Until now, Life H2O has been a 100 milligram dispensary product sold in resealable aluminum bottles and using minor cannabinoids like THCv, CBG (cannabigerol) and CBN (cannabinol). Now the line will be available 12 oz. slim cans with 7.5 milligrams of hemp-derived THC and sold in grocery stores, bottle shops and convenience.
Like its higher potency predecessor, hemp-derived Life H2O is a flavored, non-carbonated water that brings functionality with minor cannabinoids. Blueberry Lemon Snooze infuses CBN as a sleep aid and Strawberry Kiwi Balance utilizes CBG for focus.
“We have 100 milligram drinks in the regulated markets, but we’re obviously not doing that in hemp D9 (delta-9). We’re not going above 10 milligrams [in hemp],” Patterson said. “We would love for that to continue to be considered low-dose because, quite frankly, we’re seeing it benefit the regulated market.”
Currently, about 40% of Keef’s revenue comes from its hemp products, but that number could grow dramatically in the coming years as intoxicating hemp gains a bigger foothold and expands beyond sodas and mocktails. The low-dose drinks available in grocery and beverage-alcohol retailers have opened up a whole different consumer demographic “that has always been there and continues to grow day-by-day,” he said.
“Total Wine & More cannot keep up. Their sales aren’t growing year-over-year; they’re growing week-over-week,” he said. “When you’re talking to a retailer that’s been selling beverages for as long as they have, and they’re looking at exponential growth week-over-week, that’s crazy.”
Its hemp THC sodas are now sold in about 2,000 retail doors (outside recreational marijuana dispensaries) spread over 16 states. The brand’s reach in the dispensary channel stretches over 13 U.S. markets (Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Canada, and Puerto Rico, with New Mexico expected in 2026).
Keef is careful that it doesn’t “cross-pollinate” its hemp drinks in the same states where it is selling beverages in licensed dispensaries.
“We have no intention, nor will we ever, leave [the dispensary] market,” Patterson said. That being said, “it’s a lot easier to go the delta-9 route, which is why some brands have pulled up stakes in regulated markets.”
While Keef is eyeing new opportunities in adult-use retail in the Northeast, the company is continuing to “stretch its legs” in hemp-derived THC using lessons learned during its decade and a half operating in dispensaries.
“Frankly, it looks a lot like regulated cannabis,” he said. “You have to be nimble. You have to change labels, change formulations and do all these different things that we have done for the past 15 years.”
In many dispensaries, Keef’s 100 milligram Classic Sodas, Life H2O and Mocktails options outsell the low-dose 10 milligram varieties. Yet, the brand has found, like many brands and retailers, that low-dose has a unique opportunity to introduce and educate consumers, opening a door to more potent options in the future.
“The amount of time it takes to go from 2.5 milligrams to 10 milligrams and then up to the 100-milligram drink is lightning fast,” Patterson said. “If we can introduce the cannabis beverage category to people at 7-Eleven or Total Wine or Target, and then they get past that dosage threshold in those retailers. It gives them some sense of comfort and normalizes the category so they don’t feel so bad going into that really nice dispensary for a more potent product.”