While bars and music venues and all kinds of places that have relied on a steady stream of bubbles scramble to stay afloat as alcohol consumption rates decline, a new can has entered the cooler: the THC drink. Texas weed beverage brands have been at the forefront, enjoying the boom of sober-curious culture. Their offerings have multiplied and diversified steadily as a consumer market sprouts up around alcohol alternatives. Yet suppliers see these beverages as more than a nonalcoholic offering, especially as customers grow comfortable with a new kind of drinking.
“We realized that people wanted a new way to consume. Alcohol intake was decreasing, but the marijuana intake was increasing,” explains Restart co-founder Sydney Torabi. Torabi and her two sisters began Restart as a wellness-forward CBD and THC brand, focusing on high-quality ingredients and all-natural products. Restart already carried some high-dose THC “shots,” but noticed that customers were looking for a substitute for a glass of beer or wine, so they formulated the Rita, a margarita-inspired canned THC cocktail.
“It [is] something that you can have more session-ably, socially with your friends, at home, that still gives you the fixation of holding a glass or a can, but without the hangover,” Torabi explains. The Rita, like most canned THC drinks, comes in 5- and 10-milligram dosages. These figures are something edible consumers are accustomed to, but Torabi points out that, in a beverage, the body processes those doses differently. “If you think about a 10-milligram edible, you’re consuming that entire 10 milligrams at once, you’re digesting it and you peak a lot higher,” she says. “Versus a beverage, if you’re sipping on it, you’re almost microdosing as you sip it and over the course of, let’s say 15, 30, 45 minutes, you’re intaking 1, 2, 3, 4 milligrams at a lot slower pace so the peak isn’t as intense.”
Describing the beverage’s effects is sticky, yet imperative, to selling these new products. Weed is more and more legal all the time – even in a hotly contested state like Texas – but it’s traditionally been seen as a psychoactive substance with different outcomes than alcohol, depending on dose, consumption method, and personal tolerance. Across these upstart brands, creators are honing terpene combinations and CBD/THC ratios to create a consistent, familiar buzz. The teams behind Tejas Tonic and Ease Up were already growing weed in Texas, and noticed the same trend away from alcohol and toward new cannabis consumption forms. Like the Torabis, they saw potential to create a healthier alternative that fits within the drinking framework folks are used to.
“It’s the same feelings that alcohol gives you, but then you’re not dealing with the hangover the next day. You’re not dealing, always, with the caloric intake that alcohol comes with, the liver damage that comes with it, and so I think people are really finding value in THC beverages not just from a recreational, ‘Oh-my-gosh-I’m-getting-high’ standpoint, but from a health standpoint,” says Tejas Tonic chief marketing officer Hilary Fox. All three of these cannabis concoction hawkers emphasize organic growing methods and natural ingredients, striving to reduce sugar and other additives commonly found in their alcohol-based competitors.
“I have so many friends that are going into the premenopausal mid-40s,” says Fox. “They’re loving our drink because all the sugar intake and the wine at the end of the day has just really crushed them the next day.”
For many casual drinkers, THC beverages may be a way to still drink socially or unwind at home while bypassing the unfavorable elements of alcohol. Others approach these drinks as a lightly mind-altering, all-day beverage perhaps more akin to caffeine than a can of beer or glass of wine.
“You can kind of include us in any part of your day, whether that seems weird or not, but a 2-milligram [drink] at 1 or 2 in the afternoon – you can still go grocery shopping. You can still write a paper. You can still answer your emails,” Fox says, referring to the brand’s latest offering, a 2-milligram drink, Orange Sunshine. With a laugh, she adds: “I’m actually living proof of this.”
At Ease Up, they make the argument that their drinks are more than just better for you than alcohol, they’re actually good for you. The Dallas-based company’s co-founder Richard Velasquez explains that their 10-milligram cans contain a 1:1 mixture of THC, CBD, and CBN, an oxidized cannabinoid associated with relaxation and sleepiness. The 30 total milligrams, he states, can be good for mental focus, combat anxiety and depression, reduce physical inflammation, and improve gut health. Velasquez imagines Ease Up becoming akin to a Gatorade or Red Bull – something you reach for in specific moments beyond nighttime socializing.
“It’s just a mood booster, where some people drink it and they feel the focus for a minute and they’re able to lock in a little bit better while they’re sitting there at their desk working. I have friends who consume it right after a bike ride,” Velasquez says.
While cannabis has been cultivated and consumed for centuries, and many contemporary studies tout its medicinal benefits, medical professionals are quick to point out that cannabis interacts with many different systems in the body and can respond to underlying mental and physical conditions differently from person to person. As marijuana is further legalized and subsequently studied, we’ll likely know more about how different consumption forms impact our organs.
Another area of study that has blossomed in the age of legalization is terpenes, the hydrocarbon compounds found in weed that give it both its varying aromas and varying effects. Breeding plants with different genetic makeups encourages the presence, or absence, of different terpenes, leading to different psychoactive effects – like those most easily differentiated in sativa and indica strains – and to different flavor profiles. Tejas Tonic, under the guidance of founder and “genetics savant” Aaron Owens, leans into these terpenes, growing specific strains to create drinks flavored by the previously existing taste of the weed, paired with natural fruit and herb flavorings.
“You can taste the hemp in there,” Fox says. “We don’t shy away from that.”
Meanwhile, Ease Up’s blueberry hibiscus and watermelon lime might fit in more with the acidic carbonated sweetness of alcoholic seltzers, and Restart’s Rita is, obviously, modeled after a margarita.
“It really just came from not trying to mimic alcohol flavors, but trying to familiarize the customer,” Torabi explains. However, looking ahead, she guesses more alcohol-mimicking is on the menu for THC beverages.
“I’m starting to see testing in the market for dupes on Fireball, for dupes on whiskey in general, for bourbon, for tequila,” Torabi says, pointing out that many people switching from alcohol to cannabis drinks still want the astringent taste of liquor. “We’re currently working on a new flavor that’s a dupe on the classic cinnamon-flavor whiskey that’ll be coming out soon,” she shares. “I think just my bottom line is, obviously, staying canna-curious.”
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article misattributed quotes to Tejas Tonic public relations head Cara Caulkins; those were spoken by chief marketing officer Hilary Fox. The Chronicle regrets the error.
This article appears in October 24 • 2025.