3 days ago
Craft Beer Brewers Ponder THC Drinks: Friend or Foe?
Atlanta-based New Realm Brewing Co. has always been quick to adapt to the shifting tastes of its customers. In 2021, the just four-year-old company opened a distillery and released a series of ready-to-drink canned cocktails. The brewery debuted AlphaWater to cater to the hard seltzer craze that same year. They followed that with a nonalcoholic IPA in 2023. But in February 2025, New Realm introduced a beverage line that had posed a dilemma even for them: Higher Realm and Liquid Weed THC-infused seltzers.
Thanks to a regulatory loophole created by Congress seven years ago, hemp-derived THC beverages are now being sold legally in liquor stores and online across the country—and yes, they'll get you high. This new, psychoactive drinks category is competing with craft beer for precious (and shrinking) shelf space and putting small brewers to a tough decision: should they partake?
