Dear Client:
Nowadays, a top THC Beverage brand, isn’t letting the grass grow under it while waiting to see if Congress extends the effective date of the November intoxicating hemp ban or enacts legislation. Instead, it’s being proactive: Nowadays announced today it is launching a new über low-dose THC beverage line dubbed Extra Light, which they say will be the first 0.4mg THC (plus 5mg CBD) beverage brand in market, made specifically to comply with the new lower THC threshold for hemp-derived products under the 2026 agriculture appropriations bill.
It’s a big move for the popular hemp THC drinks maker, one seemingly designed to hedge and provide some continuity for the brand and its distributor and retail partners before the impending ban. (Nowadays is also the no. 1 THC beverage brand in household penetration and buy rate, the company tells CBD, citing a Numerator Shopper Metrics Report for THC Beverages the 52 weeks ended 3/18/26. The company saw 125% year over year revenue growth in 2025 vs. the prior year.)
MORE SPECS ON EXTRA LIGHT. Nowadays Extra Light comes in the same core flavors as the brand’s higher strength THC canned cocktails: Tropical, Berry, Spicy Lime and Citrus. But to distinguish between the new Extra Light brand and its 2-, 5- and 10mg THC offerings, Extra Light is packaged in taller “skinny” 12 oz. cans. Extra Light will hit shelves “in phases” starting this summer in single-flavor 4-packs (Nowadays’ other offerings are sold in 6-packs) with an SRP of $17.99.
EXTRA LIGHT’S PROPOSITION: NEW MARKETS AND NEW CONSUMERS. With such a low-THC dose, we had to ask who Nowadays believes the Extra Light consumer is.
“I am our core customer,” CEO and co-founder Justin Tidwell told CBD, noting that he originally founded Nowadays to provide “an approachable format and an approachable strength” for consumers to try THC beverages. But the industry’s “low-hanging fruit” (and highest velocity SKUs) have been those beverages with a bit more THC – between 5- and 10mg – so lower dose options haven’t been as popular to manufacture.
But when the hemp ban was written into the appropriations bill last year, Justin and co. opted to do “a lot of research” and consumer surveys and tastings to learn more about “canna curious” consumers who might be interested in trying an ultra low-dose product.
About 60% of respondents said they’d be interested in purchasing the product, Justin said, “So it told us there’s a very large market of people out there that still need that entry point to the category, but aren’t really there from a strength perspective.” Plus, Extra Light is “very sessionable,” Justin noted, so consumers could consume several at an event but not have “an overwhelming experience.
“We like the idea that it really drives new consumers to the category [as] the whole goal of this is to grow the size of the category, grow advocacy for the category and create a long-term regulated market.”
Nowadays also polled its current consumers, asking if they would buy 0.4mg THC Extra Light if they could not buy the 5- and 10mg offerings they purchase currently.
“It was overwhelmingly ‘yes,’” Justin said, “because they don’t have alternatives to fall back on.”
Then too, because of Extra Light’s low-dose THC specs, Nowadays can expand into additional markets with the line.
“This opens up about 10 additional states we can move these products into,” Justin said. “So states like New York, Colorado, Oregon, for example, where we don’t currently sell our products because of THC limits.” Nowadays expects the Extra Light launch to expand its distribution footprint from 26 states to about 40 states.
It plans to first enter the ~10 new states first with Extra Light in July, where they won’t have to compete on shelf with higher dose THC beverages. It will then phase in Extra Light to its current markets starting in October, where it “will move onto the shelf as the old products move out.”
RETAILERS, DISTRIBUTORS WILL CARRY EXTRA LIGHT WHETHER OR NOT HEMP BAN GOES INTO EFFECT. Regarding Nowadays’ route-to-market via wholesalers and retailers, the question of where the brand will be in November “no longer exists,” Justin says, because its current retailers – Total Wine and Circle K – “will be swapping out current products and putting [Extra Light] in their place.
“We’ve built our entire business on the alcohol supply chain because that’s where we see the future,” Justin said, noting Nowadays created the Extra Light line “in conjunction to speaking to some of our close partners and getting feedback (Nowadays is mostly aligned with A-B wholesalers, but also is in certain markets with spirits houses, too).
“This is very simply going to allow them to continue business as usual. They’re going to be able to purchase these pallets, put them out into distribution. We will have retailers ready to move these products in as their other products move out.”
Extra Light is Nowadays “real big answer” to the question of what the brand will bring to market post-November, while still remaining “anchored in who we are and what consumers come to us for”: THC, Justin said.
“Our general sentiment from wholesalers and from retailers is, ‘thank goodness you have a plan. We want to keep this on the shelf,’” he added, noting some retailers have “carved out a third of their store for THC beverage and they want products to continue to serve consumers while we’re able to go and continue to push for legislation.”
NOT GIVING UP ON HEMP BAN FIGHT; $1 OF EVERY EXTRA LIGHT PACK SOLD GOING TOWARD ADVOCACY EFFORTS. Even though Nowadays is taking a proactive approach to complying with the hemp ban, it’s not conceding the fight for THC beverages.
Indeed, coinciding with the launch of Extra Light, Nowadays is launching Sip For Progress, an initiative and platform to support future growth of the THC beverage category.
As part of the initiative, $1 from every 4-pack of Nowadays Extra Light will go toward lobbying efforts against the current hemp ban. The initiative officially launches June 1, but a website is already live where consumers can connect with Nowadays’ advocacy efforts.
“It’s allowing consumers to engage with the products they’re purchasing and allows us to continue to fight for the category,” Justin said, noting Sip For Progress is Nowadays “most broad push by far.”
Backed by an email listserv of 1 million consumers, Justin noted they will make a strong engagement push “when the time comes.”
Beyond Nowadays’ Sip For Progress initiative the company also employs a lobbying and legislative team, including attorney Michelle Bodian, who serves as head of regulatory affairs, in addition to a former TTB staffer.
“They are in DC very often meeting with congressional members. They’re editing bills, they’re doing everything they can,” Justin said, noting that Nowadays has “a big line item budget for lobbying within our company at this point, because it’s obviously the main focus.”
Until tomorrow,
Harry, Jenn, Jordan and Bianca
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” – Oscar Wilde
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