Jones Soda under new brand Mary Jones reveals cannabis-soaked barrels, syrups and gums

Meet Mary Jones, a new brand from Jones Soda which will contain carbonated drinks, gums and syrups filled with hemp.

This is a bold move for a public market company best known for its craft barrel, but its relatively small size means it may feel it can take risks as larger competitors Coca-Cola in PepsiCo they are shy to try.

Cannabis is still federally illegal and beverage giants are wary of crossing that line. The closest thing Pepsi has come to is the recent one launch of the Rockstar line of cannabis-soaked energy drinksalthough hemp seed has no dramatic effects when ingested.

Alcohol companies have largely adopted cannabinoids. Corona Brewery Brands Constellation has an ownership stake in a cannabis company Canopy growthmeanwhile Molson Coors sales of CBD-soaked beverages made through the Joint Undertaking.

For 2021, Jones Soda reported revenue of $ 14.8 million, which is less than .04% of Coca-Cola’s revenue for the full year. The company has a market value of $ 37.3 million and is traded at 55 cents per share.

“We are a small player in the barrel, but we will be the biggest national player when it comes to being recognizable [consumer-packaged goods] name in cannabis, ”Jones Soda marketing manager Bohb Blair said in an interview.

The launch also follows a a broader trend in the beverage industry that is blurring boundaries between different categories. Pepsi moves its Mountain Dew soda into alcohol with Hard Mtn Dew while Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Bud Light Seltzer launched a variety of hard soda in December.

Mary Jones will first launch in California, which has a legal cannabis market worth about $ 4 billion. According to Blair, nearly a third of adult Californians shop at dispensaries, creating a huge market for their products.

While Californians are often stereotypes about health-conscious consumers who prefer green juice to fizzy drinks, Blair said existing cannabis drinks – made with low doses and light flavor – have left the door open for consumers who want cannabis drinks. with taste.

“Health claims are not our property, it’s full of flavor,” Blair said. “In the beginning, we had a few conversations: should we include CBD in that? And no, we’re not what we are.”

“If we break this up in California, we’ll be making gangbusters as we go through the Midwest and East,” he added.

The initial launches will include four different product lines: 12-ounce soda bottles soaked in 10 milligrams of cannabis; 16-ounce cans of soda soaked in 100 milligrams of cannabis; syrup for mixing with other beverages or food with 1000 milligrams of cannabis per bottle; and gums soaked in five milligrams of cannabis, in the form of mini Jones soda bottles.

The company has even bigger plans. It seeks to expand to all countries where it is legal for adults to use cannabis, and – eventually – across the country.

“We’ve been putting all these pieces together since we announced our intention to set up a cannabis division last July, and we fully expect the brand to deliver solid strategic growth for the company,” CEO Mark Murray said in a statement.

The decision to switch to cannabis came as Jones sought to expand his portfolio beyond soda. Blair said the company is confident it will pay off given Jones Soda’s playful and recognizable brand, popular cannabis-flavored flavors, and potential appeal to new consumers.

“A lot of the cannabis category is the leaves, but that’s an abandoned part of the category, the mature part,” Blair said. “If you look at a new consumer of cannabis, people who want to bring it to a party or eat a meal, a lot of people turn to drinks and edible foods. And it turns out they’re not that easy to make.”

But selling cannabis, even if it is legal, has its challenges. Jones Soda bets that her expertise as an independent barrel company will also be transferred to the distribution of cannabis-soaked products. The company already knows how to operate in individual countries.

In California, the products will be sold in dispensaries, where the company claims it is unlikely to replace them with versions of Jones’ cannabis-free drinks.

The company also tried to design Mary Jones packaging to cross the line between the benefits of recognizing the Jones Soda brand and making it different enough as a signal to consumers. The logo uses the same font for “Jones”, but with an “N” back. According to local regulations, the products have a dosage in a larger font than any other claim.

The name itself is a game on “Mary Jane,” a common nickname for marijuana.

“Coca-Cola has a Diet Cola and people get that 100%,” Blair said. “That’s how we qualified Jones with Mary Jones.”