We’ve all been there: we run into a friend, colleague, acquaintance, family member, etc. and we say “we should grab a beer soon!” We note that this “beer” is more denoting a unit of time than referring to a specific beverage and it could be swapped out for any number of offerings, be it water, coffee, lemonade, wine… The “beer” is less a request to get intoxicated together and more a request to connect and spend a few minutes catching up. I’m no expert, but I suspect very few of these drink requests are “hey, want to grab a jar of moonshine?” 

It turns out StatsCan has some figures to back up this suspicion: in 2021, sales of beer, wine, and ciders/coolers represented 74.6% of total alcoholic beverage sales. And that’s on a down year, thanks in part to some lockdowns and a pandemic that we won’t harp on. The fact is, the overwhelming majority of alcoholic beverages sold in Canada are lower alcohol content offerings. And moonshine or homemade whisky didn’t make the count, but they’re likely not representing a statistically significant quantity. Meaning, in a mature consumer market, where the purchaser has had years of learning about the product and the producer has received feedback for ensuring better product fit, consumers don’t make decisions simply on the alcohol content, but on the taste, consistency, feeling - metrics that they care about. Alcohol content is part of the decision making process, but it is not the only factor that goes into selecting a product. 

An experiment everyone can try: stand in a cannabis retail outlet for a couple of minutes (you can find a few here) and listen to the transactions. I promise you’ll hear someone say “what’s the highest THC you have at the best price?” This is not a bad thing in any way, but it is an indicator of the relative infancy of the cannabis market. We’re all still learning and growing together and eventually the product will better fit the specific needs of the consumer. There will always be a shopper for high THC at the best price, but this will be balanced with other types of shoppers that have more nuanced wants and needs.

It’s likely not surprising that the Master Brewer Association of America ran an interesting case study on the production of beer following the 15 years post prohibition being lifted in the U.S. through the World War II era. In part, this study was interesting as producers worked to meet production, as every year after 1933, demand for low alcohol content beverages was dramatically increased. By 1948, the biggest brands, some of which we still hear on a daily basis, like Budweiser and Coors, had a stronghold on the market. Bud Light, an easy drinking, 4% beer, sold two times more barrel equivalents last year than its closest competitor, Coors Light. Beer in the U.S., similar to Canada, is the number one selling alcoholic category and six of the top 10 selling beers contain 4% (or less) alcohol content. 

My prediction is the cannabis space will follow a similar path to meeting consumer needs: as consumers better understand what they want from their cannabis purchases and how those purchases will best fit into their lives, they’ll better articulate the flavours, terpenes, high THC experiences they want to have with cannabis. As I’ve mentioned in the past, moonshine was highly concentrated for ease of transport rather than consumer preference: decisions on the contents were driven by operations, not by consumer insights. 

Cannabis is legal now. In the past 4+ years, the innovation has been incredible. From beverages to vapes to concentrates to improvements in the consistency of flower, the products are absolutely meeting consumers’ needs today better than they were upon legalization. But as with other CPG industries, we’ll follow a path to maturity and it’ll take a constant focus on listening and executing upon feedback to deliver the right products. With alcohol, it was clear that most consumers liked the effects of alcohol but weren't looking for something to make them go blind; with cannabis, consumers are looking for THC potency but, in some cases, are still refining what other attributes are important in the experience. We’re playing the long game here - not just a flash in the pan.

We should grab a (cannabis) beer soon.