The gang at MJBiz Daily reports that Pabst Brewing, purveyors of the famous Pabst Blue Ribbon, have launched a new enterprise called “Pabst Labs” which is the brewing legend’s foray into cannabis. Pabst Labs is being offered on a limited basis in certain California markets.

Pabst cannabis is a response to evolving vice market

Pabst joins the ranks of Lagunitas and Arizona Iced Tea in offering a cannabis-infused beverage to the masses. And we can’t say we blame them for moving into the cannabis market. For starters, millennials are far more enthusiastic about getting a non-alcoholic buzz on than Gen X or the Baby Boomers that came before them, and Gen Z is showing just as much enthusiasm and diminished interest in beer or booze as millennials are.

Critically, these consumer segments will be who brands lean on to “buy” “stuff” as baby boomers and eventually Generation X are phased out. As we’ve discussed before, the vice segment of CPG is rapidly evolving and cannabis is at the fore of this evolution. What Pabst is doing is nothing more than responding to what they’ve noticed as a need or “white space” in the consumables field for a very important consumer segment.

Will Pabst succeed? They already have (sorta)

While it is far too early to say if this experiment of Pabst’s is a success or not, the company’s already won. They’ve effectively made clear to competitors of theirs on the brewing side that they’re not afraid to move where the shoppers are going, and they’ve made clear to cannabis operators that they’re willing to take a risk and move into a space they’re slightly less comfortable in. Additionally, Pabst in recent years has done an exceptional job of branching into the infused beverage/hard seltzer market. [NB: Pabst Hard Coffee is “legitimately good” according to our intern. –Ed.]

Critically, the company is moving into California at a great point in space and time. Infused beverages –due to issues as disparate as many of these products tasting “not great,” to potency tests being an issue due to terpenes and cannabinoids bonding to the plastic film in aluminum products– is still wide open in even the world’s largest cannabis market. However, Pabst does need to be aware of the myriad of changes taking place in the California cannabis market (and nationally) from a licensing and compliance standpoint. Cannabis packaging compliance is something that will be more and more critical in 2021 and beyond.

So will Pabst keep going after more cannabis products? Is the MMLG intern’s fever dream of a coffee and cannabis infused seltzer one step closer to reality? Not yet, but we’re getting there.

Have questions about cannabis licensing or cannabis compliance or anything else canna-related, contact MMLG today.