A data-driven look at the brands shaping one of cannabis’s fastest-growing categories — ranked by BDSA Retail Sales Tracking total retail sales from March 2025 through February 2026.
The cannabis beverage category is maturing fast. What was once a niche corner of dispensary shelves is now a battleground for some of the most creative, well-funded, and fast-scaling brands in the industry — with entrants ranging from scrappy California upstarts to iconic alcohol-heritage names making a calculated pivot into THC.
Below, we rank the top 10 national cannabis beverage brands by total retail sales across the 12-month period ending February 2026, examining how they’re growing, which states they’ve conquered, and who stands behind them.
Methodology: Rankings reflect total projected retail dollar sales (March 2025 – February 2026) across all tracked states. March 2026 is excluded as an incomplete month. Growth figures compare monthly sales in March 2025 vs. February 2026. All figures are from the BDSA data set.
Top Beverage Brands
#1 — KEEF BRANDS
Brand House: Keef Brands
Total Sales: $32.7M | States: 13 | Mar ’25: $2.81M/mo | Feb ’26: $2.32M/mo | Trend: ▼ –17%
Founded in Boulder, Colorado in 2010, Keef is the category’s original pioneer and still its dominant player by volume. Its two product lines — Xtreme and Keef Life — are anchored by high-potency 100mg THC sodas, with the Xtreme RSO Soda in Bubba Kush Root Beer leading the portfolio. Lower-dose formats are gaining ground, with the Sparkling H2O Blood Orange (50mg THC) posting 177% growth in H2. Overall sales declined 17% across the period, reflecting growing competitive pressure across the brand’s 13-state footprint.
#2 — UNCLE ARNIE’S
Brand House: Uncle Arnie’s
Total Sales: $30.2M | States: 7 | Mar ’25: $2.17M/mo | Feb ’26: $2.75M/mo | Trend: ▲ +27%
Launched in California in 2020, Uncle Arnie’s became the state’s #1 cannabis beverage brand within three years and is still accelerating. All products are non-carbonated, dosed at 100mg THC, with fast onset via nano-molecular technology. The portfolio spans distillate shots, caffeinated shots, and full-size beverages — with the Pineapple Paradise Distillate Beverage the fastest-growing SKU, up 284% in H2. The brand closed a $7.5 million Series A in mid-2025 to fund expansion across its seven-state footprint.
#3 — ST. IDES
Brand House: Pabst Labs
Total Sales: $28.9M | States: 2 | Mar ’25: $1.98M/mo | Feb ’26: $2.77M/mo | Trend: ▲ +40%
Originally a 1980s hip-hop malt liquor brand, St. Ides was reinvented as a THC beverage line by Pabst Labs and now generates $28.9 million entirely from California and Minnesota. The 100mg THC High Tea line — available in flavors like Wild Raspberry, Georgia Peach, and Maui Mango — drives the bulk of volume. The Distillate Watermelon Shot surged 1,890% after launch in H2, making St. Ides one of the stronger growth stories in the top five despite its narrow two-state footprint.
#4 — AYRLOOM
Brand House: Ayrloom
Total Sales: $13.6M | States: 1 (New York) | Mar ’25: $978K/mo | Feb ’26: $966K/mo | Trend: ~ Stable
The cannabis division of Beak & Skiff — New York’s fifth-generation apple orchard and maker of 1911 Established hard cider — Ayrloom launched as the state’s first cannabis beverage. The entire top-selling portfolio sits within the Up product line, a 2:1 THC:CBD format (10mg THC, 5mg CBD) in flavors including Honeycrisp, Half & Half, and Cranberry Apple.
#5 — JOURNEYMAN
Brand House: Botanica
Total Sales: $10.7M | States: 6 | Mar ’25: $593K/mo | Feb ’26: $1.15M/mo | Trend: ▲ +95%
Journeyman is the fastest-growing brand in the top six, nearly doubling its monthly retail sales over the 12-month period — from $593,000 in March 2025 to $1.15 million by February 2026. The brand spans Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington, and carries a distinctly natural-food aesthetic: vegan, gluten-free, and made with real fruit ingredients.
Journeyman’s beverage line centers on 100mg THC, 2oz lemonade shots in flavors like Berry, Tart, Tropical, Watermelon, and Pineapple — including newer hash rosin-infused variants for consumers seeking a stonier experience.
#6 — NOT YOUR FATHER’S ROOT BEER
Brand House: Pabst Labs
Total Sales: $10.2M | States: 1 (California) | Mar ’25: $451K/mo | Feb ’26: $1.25M/mo | Trend: ▲ +177%
The biggest growth story in this ranking, posting a 177% increase in monthly sales — all from California. The portfolio is built entirely on a Live Resin Drink format in flavors including Root Beer, Alpine Splash, and Orange Cream. Cannabinoid-blended formats with CBD and CBG showed the strongest growth in H2, and the brand offers SKUs at both 10mg and 100mg THC, capturing consumers across the potency spectrum.
#7 — SIP ELIXIRS
Brand House: Sip Elixirs
Total Sales: $7.8M | States: 4 | Mar ’25: $689K/mo | Feb ’26: $584K/mo | Trend: ▼ –15%
Sip organizes its lineup across four mood-based product lines — Party, Chill, Sleep, and Energy — at 10mg, 50mg, and 100mg THC. The Party line leads in both sales and velocity. No single SKU showed meaningful growth in H2, pointing to the competitive pressure the brand faces in California. Its #1 ranking in Nevada provides a stable base, and the mood-first product architecture remains a genuine differentiator in the category.
#8 — MAJOR
Brand House: Nevis Brands
Total Sales: $6.7M | States: 11 | Mar ’25: $559K/mo | Feb ’26: $552K/mo | Trend: ~ Stable
The most geographically distributed brand in the top 10, Major operates across 11 states via Nevis Brands’ licensing model. The portfolio consists of 2oz, 100mg THC shots and drinks in flavors including Blackberry Lemonade, Blueberry, and Fruit Punch. The margarita-inspired Mojo-Rita shot was the fastest-growing SKU, up 222% in H2, signaling the brand’s ability to expand into new consumer occasions. Sales have been stable at roughly $500–$600K monthly throughout the period.
#9 — PABST BLUE RIBBON HIGH SELTZER
Brand House: Pabst Labs
Total Sales: $6.6M | States: 2 (CA, WA) | Mar ’25: $461K/mo | Feb ’26: $556K/mo | Trend: ▲ +21%
The third Pabst Labs brand in this ranking, and the original Pabst Labs product. PBR High Seltzer spans two formats: the 25mg THC High Soda Pop line and the 10mg THC High Distillate Seltzer line. The Soda Pop format is driving the growth story — Mango Coconut High Soda Pop grew 448% in H2, the strongest single-SKU signal in the portfolio. Together, the three Pabst Labs brands in this ranking generated nearly $45.7 million in combined retail sales.
#10 — HI5
Brand House: Theory Wellness
Total Sales: $5.6M | States: 3 | Mar ’25: $377K/mo | Feb ’26: $437K/mo | Trend: ▲ +16%
The cannabis beverage arm of Massachusetts-based Theory Wellness, Hi5 launched in 2021 as the East Coast’s first all-natural, zero-calorie, fast-acting THC seltzer — hitting 1 million cans sold in Massachusetts within nine months. The core lineup is built around low-dose (5mg THC) single-serve seltzers, with multi-pack higher-potency formats gaining ground in H2. Theory Wellness also operates the nation’s first dedicated cannabis beverage dispensary in Medford, Massachusetts.
QUICK REFERENCE: TOP 10 AT A GLANCE
#1 | Keef Brands | Keef Brands | $32.7M | 13 states | ▼ –17%
#2 | Uncle Arnie’s | Uncle Arnie’s | $30.2M | 7 states | ▲ +27%
#3 | St. Ides | Pabst Labs | $28.9M | 2 states | ▲ +40%
#4 | Ayrloom | Ayrloom | $13.6M | 1 state | ~ Stable
#5 | Journeyman | Botanica | $10.7M | 6 states | ▲ +95%
#6 | Not Your Father’s Root Beer | Pabst Labs | $10.2M | 1 state | ▲ +177%
#7 | Sip Elixirs | Sip Elixirs | $7.8M | 4 states | ▼ –15%
#8 | Major | Nevis Brands | $6.7M | 11 states | ~ Stable
#9 | PBR High Seltzer | Pabst Labs | $6.6M | 2 states | ▲ +21%
#10 | Hi5 | Theory Wellness | $5.6M | 3 states | ▲ +16%
WHAT THE DATA TELLS US
Three themes emerge clearly from this ranking. First, Pabst Labs has quietly assembled the most powerful multi-brand portfolio in the category. Its three brands — St. Ides, Not Your Father’s, and PBR High Seltzer — collectively generated nearly $45.7 million in retail sales during the period, with all three growing. The alcohol-heritage brand licensing strategy is proving highly effective in a category where consumer trust and name recognition accelerate trial.
Second, single-market dominance can be enough — for now. St. Ides, Ayrloom, and Not Your Father’s each generate strong national-ranking volume from just one or two states, underscoring how large California and New York’s cannabis markets have become. But single-state players are exposed to regulatory change or competitive entry in ways that multi-state operators are not.
Third, the growth trajectories lower in this ranking — Journeyman up 95%, Not Your Father’s up 177% — suggest the gap between the top 10 and the broader field may be compressing. Brands building strong velocity in a few states today are the likeliest candidates to crack the top five in the next 12 months.
Data source: BDSA retail sales tracking, March 2025 – February 2026. All sales figures are projected retail estimates.