Dad Grass was crowned the champion of New Beverage Showdown 31, joining an elite cohort of well-known beverage brands such as Health-Ade and Poppi that have previously claimed victory in the bi-annual pitch competition.
Founded in 2018, Dad Grass recently expanded into beverages with its line of low-THC Leisure Drinks. The beverages are available in both 3mg and 10mg THC varieties in flavors like Grapefruit Mint and Jalapeño Lime.
The Leisure Drinks also feature functional ingredients like CBD, Lion’s Mane and L-theanine. The liquid is designed to deliver a balanced, uplifting experience while helping minimize the anxiety that can sometimes accompany THC consumption, according to co-founder Ben Starmer.
“We believe that today’s weed gets you too damn high, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but we couldn’t find a dose or a beverage that we truly, truly loved, so we created our own,” said Starmer while presenting on stage. “The defining feature of Dad Grass isn’t the dose or the functionals; it’s the flavor, because we believe enduring beverage brands are built on taste.”
During Thursday’s final round, entrepreneurs were given five minutes to pitch their product and brand while explaining to the panel of judges where their beverages are positioned in the market, their blueprints for scaling and how they plan to stand out in their respective category.
Judges for the round included John Craven, Founder and CEO of BevNET; Daniel White, Chief of New Revenue Streams, The Coca-Cola Company North America; Samantha Fletcher, Senior Category Merchant for Adult Beverage Non-Alc at Whole Foods Market; and Lynn Altman, CEO of Brand Now.
The competition was sponsored by Coca-Cola North America’s New Revenue Streams Unit.
The judges praised Dad Grass for its approachable positioning, sessionable low-dose format and its ability to bridge the gap between cannabis and classic beer culture. Additionally, the panel highlighted the Leisure Drinks as a smart entry point for consumers curious about THC beverages but wary of their effects.
“I’m excited about this brand. It’s fun, it links to the past and the future, and it ignores a lot of the overly science-y cues we see in the category,” said White. “I love your graphics and the positioning of the brand overall. Every distributor and retailer is going to be looking for sessionability, so this idea of high amounts versus low amounts [of THC] is really good positioning,” said White.
Leveraging a deep direct-to-consumer following – more than half of whom are women – Dad Grass has already seen strong repeat purchase rates, according to Starmer, with many consumers returning for five to ten orders.
On the retail side, the brand is intentionally going deep before going wide, building out markets one distributor and one account at a time through DSD beer networks, including several with the Molson Coors system. A recent launch in Connecticut, which has a 3mg THC potency cap, is helping the team test what the future for THC beverages may look like.
Despite ongoing regulatory uncertainty, Starmer expressed confidence in the long-term trajectory of the category, pointing to consumer demand and the growing participation of retailers across channels, including Target, Sprouts and Circle K.
Dad Grass beat out five other beverage startups for the crown, including Umma Juice, a Korean-inspired better-for-you juice, Brause German craft soda, LYFLO protein water, Cabu Latte, and Dirty Virgo, a line of electrolyte-enhanced non-alcoholic cocktails.
Along with hard-earned bragging rights, Dad Grass will walk away with a $10,000 awareness-building advertising package and join the ranks of past New Beverage Showdown winners, including Cann, MALK and Hiyo.
The finalists were selected from a field of 12 that featured Shinzo Matcha, Disco Fizz non-alcoholic functional beverage, Purple Corn modern chicha morada, Gingerbug organic ginger soda, Flying Ostrich electrolyte and hydration beverages and Lemonday lemon water.