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For Dad Grass founder Ben Starmer, the future of cannabevs means carefully crafted, occasion-based and sessionable entries with modest potencies. Tho he just found it wise to add a 10 mg subline, core of his brand has been 3 mg entries made with fresh juices and natural extracts, a degree of craftsmanship that's an outgrowth of formative experience he had in culinary world before forging career at jeans marketer Levi Strauss. We caught up with Ben by phone last week, not long after he walked away with grand prize at Showdown brand competition at recent BevNet Live conference in NY (BBI, Jun 11). As we reported, Dad Grass seems to riff on relaxed vibe of alc brands like Garage Beer and Happy Dad, offering "leisure drink" whose THC content is fortified by CBD, lion's mane mushroom and L-theanine. Still, the functionals "are not a primary selling feature," Starmer emphasized. Rather, he's going for "a very easy, uncomplicated way of doing things."With the bev line having established proof of concept in its year and a half in market, Starmer has been building out a regional presence in cannabis-friendly states in Southeast, Midwest and Northeast (his home state, Calif, banned the drinks 2 yrs ago) using beer wholesalers to service customers like Piggly Wiggly and Stew Leonard's. Brand likes to tap into cultural touchstones in its marketing: after partnering with George Harrison estate for All Things Must Grass entry for pre-rolls and paraphernalia, it worked its bevs into matrix with Bitches Brew by Dad Grass LTO celebrating 100th birthday of Miles Davis and sporting back panel showing gatefold of trumpeter's groundbreaking Bitches Brew double album.As for many who play in elevated food/bevs, Starmer's formative experience occurred working for chef Dan Barber's Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant in NY's Hudson Valley. "Changed my life," he said. He ended up moving to SF to pursue something in food/bev biz outside the actual restaurant biz, but things didn't come together and he ended up instead having fruitful 11-yr run at Levi Strauss doing global marketing for its premium brands as well as entertainment marketing. He launched his cannabis co a decade ago, feeling there was oppty to reliably offer pre-rolls to cautious dispensary visitors who wanted more than to "roll the dice" on buying whatever the budtender recommended. The name? He realized that what he was doing echoed the advice his father had given him heading off to college, to "Have fun, but not too much fun." So he went with Dad Grass.Passage of Farm Bill in 2018 opened the door to offering hemp-based items that could move beyond the dispensary channel and operate like a CPG brand, like he'd done at Levi's. By end of 2019 he'd pivoted to hemp, broadening line to include full flower, tinctures and gummies. The Delta-9 drinks arrived in Oct 2024. After bootstrapping things, co undertook small friends & family investment round to support that launch and has operated profitably since then. If Nov ban is headed off, co will look for more capital to support clarified opportunity.Given his hospitality background, Starmer was determined to make Dad Grass drinks as good as anything that bartenders craft behind the bar: complex and layered, but still crushable like a beer might be. And low-dosage, in keeping with Dad Grass ethos.That meant 3 g of THC. Asked whether that's panning out in market where many consumers seem to prefer higher dosages like the 10's he just added to line, Starmer noted that early D9 drinkers tended to be those who already were familiar with cannabis and perhaps wanted a bit more lift. But nearly half his DTC buyers have come back for at least one more purchase, suggesting that 3 mg level is striking a chord. Then there are external factors: in Apr, Conn imposed a 3 mg cap on THC bevs, putting Dad Grass in good spot to capitalize. Still, in states without cap limits, Starmer admits it's a harder sell, with 30 mg and 50 mg offerings out there within $2-3 price of his own lower-dosage entries. So he added the 10 mg line to vie more convincingly for those drinkers. Still, as cannabev forces strive to head off federal ban in Nov, "the industry doesn't believe there will be no cap. Low-potency will be the future," he said.As for his consumer base so far, it's not just old white guys, Starmer said. Core users are 30-50 in age, balanced between males and females; the women clearly get that "Dad Grass" is intended just to conjure up a vibe. Those purchasers generally are somewhat familiar with cannabis. "Our core probably had some connection in another part of their lives," as he put it.As noted, growth plan has been to stake out regional anchors from which to grow, starting with enlistment of Gulf Distributing in Ala panhandle to service retailers like Piggly Wiggly. That's been augmented with group of wholesalers operating as Carolina United to push out further into SE. To build Midwest base, he started with Keg One in St Louis. As for NE, he's added quartet of Molson Coors houses in NJ as well as craft house Sarene to service Conn retailers like Total Wine and Stew Leonard's. As Nov ban approaches with no clear signals of breakthru, he acknowledges that DSD houses' appetite to onboard THC bevs is likely to diminish. As a newcomer to bev distribution, Starmer became first customer of BrightBev consulting shop launched by Molson Coors vet Jeff Agase, who ran Tenth & Blake innovation arm toward end of his run there.What if doom strikes and the THC bev segment is sunset by feds in Nov? "Putting things on ice seems like the right move," Starmer replied. "We'll likely pause and restart," he added, echoing view of cannabev lobbyists who insist Americans' fundamental demand for the drinks will be sure to resuscitate category if the ban does arrive.

STRATEGY: Using Marketing Skills Honed at Levi's, Dad Grass Founder Starmer Builds Out Regional Anchors in SE, Midwest & NE; Believes Sessionable Low-Dosage D9s Rep the Future

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