Education Session Preview: THC's Place in the Cold Vault

Hemp-derived THC beverages are already a billion-dollar category, even though they are currently sold in only 28 states. For retailers looking to get in on the next big thing in the adult beverage sector, this could be it—as long as regulatory hurdles don’t get in the way.

Diana Eberlein, chair and founder of the Coalition for Adult Beverage Alternatives and chief communications officer at Vertosa, a leading emulsion provider for the infused beverage industry, said a potential federal ban on most THC-infused products is looming on the horizon with a vote currently scheduled for mid-December. But retailers and c-store owners looking to get into the category could be powerful allies in the fight to keep that from happening because, regulations or not, consumer demand for these products is there.

“You can’t regulate away demand,” she said. “Consumers want these products and we are continuing to see growth. The retailers and wholesalers still want these products.”

Eberlein will discuss how retailers can not only help keep THC-derived beverages legal but also market them to fill sales gaps left by changing consumer behaviors in the 2026 NACS Show Education Session “The Next Wave in the Cold Vault,” taking place Wednesday, October 7 at 9 a.m.

On the legislative side, Eberlein said there are ongoing efforts to push through bills that would regulate THC-derived beverages in the same way as alcohol. Her group advocates leveraging the existing three-tiered system, the alcohol regulatory framework that divides production into producers, wholesalers and retailers, and prevents anyone already in one tier from owning any of the others. This, she explained, would help keep out some of the bad actors who are giving the category a bad name. 

“When we’re listening to Congress and [they are] saying we need to clean up the market, it’s the Wild West out there, the three-tier system is a proven system that not only allows us to get our products on the shelves where adults shop for adult beverages but also has the checks and balances and the taxation structure to clean up the market and enforce the regulations,” she said. “Our stance has always been that these are adult beverages—let’s regulate them like adult beverages.”

On the retailing side, Eberlein will be joined by Hayley Thrift, director of public relations for The Spinx Company Inc., who will share how her stores have turned this category of adult beverages into a sales leader. Eberlein said one key to this strategy is positioning these beverages to take advantage of changing consumer behaviors. 

“Consumer behavior has shifted,” Eberlein said. “GLP-1s, for example, are going to impact things like alcohol and food consumption, snacking and food service. THC beverages can actually provide a gap fill for some of these holes that c-stores might be experiencing as they see consumers shift their purchase behavior.” 

CBD Hemp THC Packaged beverages (non-alcoholic)