Cannabis Edibles and Drink Review had the pleasure of sitting down with Keef Beverages’ Kimberly Stolz. Kim shared insights on Keef’s beverage line, the cannabis drink segment and Social Consumption.
CEDR: Kim, what’s your perspective on how the cannabis drink market has evolved?
Kim: Cannabis drinks have always been looked at as a kind of novelty product in the industry.
Edibles and drink sales are a very small part of the industry. Over the last few years, you’ve seen that grow and you’ve seen a lot of new regulation changes coming into place, especially relating to Social Consumption.
Social Consumption went live out in Colorado on January 1st of this year. It has been live out in California since the passing of Prop 64. If you’ve ever experienced the cannabis culture in CA, you may be aware that they now have cafes where you can go and order food that’s not infused, but you can sit there and then order a joint or order a cannabis beverage, which is a new space that we didn’t really have before.
Some of the dispensaries out there have lounges connected where you can purchase their product and then go and consume it in another room. Those avenues provide a legal space for Social Consumption, and we are now noticing that people recognize it (beverages) as an edible choice more often. Originally people typically considered chocolates and gummies to be the only options of edibles due to how the edible market evolved in the time where cannabis wasn’t legal.
CEDR: How has the Cannabis beverage technology changed?
Kim: It is hard to make a drink taste great and be sure that the dosing is precise. We (Keef) have been around for 10 years, and from where we started to where we are now, the technology that is involved is just incredible. Back when regulations weren’t so tight, we used transparent bottles, but now you must have opaque packaging. You could literally hold the soda and turn it up and down, and you could see the cannabis go from the top to the bottom. It wasn’t fully emulsified in some of the earliest formulations of Keef Cola.
The technology used today to make cannabis infused beverages, Nano Emulsification, wasn’t being used for cannabis infusions back then. It allows for the cannabis to be evenly distributed throughout the edible or drink, which is essential in making sure someone only takes the intended amount.
The last thing we want to do when we engage with a new consumer (who may have never tried the product before) is for them to try it and then be totally steered away because they got too high from consuming more than the desired or intended amount. We always like to tell people to take a sip and go slow if it’s their first Keef Beverage because everyone’s body chemistry is different. You could be someone who uses all the time, but you could have a different reaction to edibles than you would flower.
What I really like about our drink, and especially the 10-milligram single serve, is I can sip on it like a beer. It offers an elongated experience, which is awesome for that Social Consumption space in comparison to most edibles that can be consumed in one bite. You can enjoy it over a longer period of time and not worry about consuming too much.
CEDR: I notice that your Blue Raz, for example, comes in 10, 50 and 100 milligram packages. Why is that?
Kim: Our 10 milligrams Blue Raz soda is designed for recreational spaces. In recreational markets, you cannot have in one single serving more than 10 mg THC. The 50s and 100s are geared toward the medical market.
CEDR: Could you please elaborate on your medical products?
Kim: A lot of people use our beverages for medical reasons, and many of them have extremely high tolerances, which is why we develop those stronger sodas.
We also produce other cannabis beverage lines such as Keef Life H2O and Keef Mocktail (formerly known as Keef Shots) that are also higher dosed products. These products, however, are non-carbonated drinks unlike the original Keef Cola soda line. The Keef Life H2O line is enhanced cannabis water developed with the more health conscious consumer in mind, containing only 5 calories per serving and no cannabis taste.
CEDR: What’s something exciting that’s coming down the pike either for Keef?
Kim: For our new product that’s hopefully going to be on the shelves launching in the market in early 2020, we are actually going to try out the timeless gummy vibe. We’re going to make bottle cap shaped gummies that are flavored with our classic soda flavors.
CEDR: Thanks so much for your time!
