Float House Aims To Take THC Brews To New Highs

Every so often, a new beverage brand floats onto the scene that feels like a signal, not just another entrant. When I first learned about Float House, a team of four founders building a THC-focused brewery from scratch in Connecticut, I knew this was a company worth spending time with. Their story isn’t just about launching a product; it’s about staking out a new category at the intersection of beer, non-alcoholic, and hemp-derived THC beverages, but doing so methodically with real conviction, experience, and skin in the game.

This isn’t a white-labeled experiment, line extension, or piece of a larger beverage company puzzle. Float House’s sole focus is crafting low-dose THC brews inspired by beer styles, produced in their own facility, with quality, control, and occasion in mind. I sat down with the founders to explore how they built it, what they’re launching with, and where they believe this nascent category is heading.

Part 1: Founding Story & Brand Identity

Doug: Congrats on the recent launch this Spring. Can you give the readers an overview of what Float House is all about and the origin of the name?

Gordon: Thank you! Originally the brand was called Floating Islands which, aside from being a bit of a mouthful, was an attempt to bridge the transportational nature of our products to a physical place evocative of how our drinks make us feel. THC-infused beverages are fun, plain and simple. We knew we wanted the brand to create a space for that embodied that. As we white-boarded ideas we kept on coming back to the word “float” and knew we needed to find a home for it, that’s how Float House was born.

Doug: You’ve got a strong crew of four founders. What is everyone’s quick background?

Gordon Whelpley Founder/CEO - 15 years in craft beer production & management and ~5 in infused beverage

Jared Emerling Co-Founder/CCO - 10 years of sales and marketing experience in craft beverage

Joe Duplinsky Co-Founder/CFO - 15 years of operations and finance experience, most recently serving as the executive for a large healthcare procedural center

Jon Lafrenaye Co-Founder/CSO [Science] - Dual degrees in chemistry and biology and experience running the largest hemp extraction lab in MA

Doug: Approximately when did the idea go from just that, an idea, to going all-in and making it happen?

Gordon: I’ve been all-in on this for almost 5 years. I left the 12% Beer Project at the beginning of 2021 to jump into the infused beverage space and started consulting for cannabev companies in the MA rec market while trying to find a place to produce a heavily fruited smoothie. After a few years of banging my head against the wall and multiple production locations falling through I knew it was time to put together a team to bring this to life. After recruiting my co-founders we quickly found a location, built out our production space, and painstakingly made it through licensing in CT.

Doug: A lot of THC-infused beverage brands are either born within an existing craft beer company or started by entrepreneurs who have the product made on contract. You’re neither of those scenarios, right? Does this afford you unique advantages that you could explain?

Jared: Absolutely. Our total focus at Float House is making the best hemp beverages possible. As a team, we pretty much built the Float House facility from the ground up for THC beverages. We’re not an off-shoot of another project, and that definitely gives us some advantages as we’re trying to grow our brand and the hemp-infused beverage category overall.

Quality is a huge priority for us, and we’re able to dial in every batch to meet our (pun incoming) high standards. We want our fans to drink the best quality THC-infused brews and to expect that level of excellence from us, but we know we need to earn that status. Because we’re able to focus solely on the THC-infused beverage process, we believe that we’ll be able to do that. At the same time, we extend that same dedication to quality to our contract brands, because we want them to trust us as well. More high quality products out in the market will elevate the category, and a rising tide floats all ships. We made the choice to trade some initial capital for long-term control over the process and quality for ourselves and our partners.

Innovation is another thing that we have a lot more control over after building out Float House. Our mission is to create THC-infused beverages across a spectrum of styles that really meet our consumers' needs and play with trends in the market. We’re starting with two styles of brews, but we’re developing more styles and totally different beverage types that will reach even more people - so stay tuned!

Gordon: This is where the 19+ years of beverage production experience really came in handy! Building our own production facility, while expensive even with used equipment and a DIY mandate from lack of capital, grants us the ability to have full control over our process. We have, and will continue to, develop a lot of proprietary processes and techniques for manufacturing our brews that we can protect. We also knew that this space was going to take off and that long-term having control over margin is going to be a key determinant in who succeeds in this category. Additionally, we have excess capacity that we are using to contract manufacture for other hemp-infused beverage brands which brings in solid revenue to help keep the chiller on while we get our feet under us.

Part 2: Product Philosophy & Development

Doug: Of all the delivery methods for THC-infused beverages, what made you choose to focus on brews? Are you emulating specific beer styles, or is the idea to reinterpret them through a new lens?

Jared: Really there are two connected reasons for why we choose to focus on THC brews. On one hand, Gordon and I share a background in craft beer and have a lot of love and respect for so many people, brands and liquids from that world. So it just made sense to start there, and evolve what we already love to meet a new consumer need: an adult beverage that can give people a feeling of float without the effects of alcohol. THC Lite and THC IPA are low-dose, THC-infused brews that bring new meaning to having a “session.” We want Float House to be a brand that appeals to everyone, from newbies to canna-connoisseurs, just like the best beers can. These styles are two of our favorites, and two of the top selling sub-sets within beer.

And secondly, we saw a real opportunity in the lack of diversity in the THC-infused hemp beverage category. Having both been through the initial hard-seltzer boom from the craft brewing side, we knew that we wanted to offer something distinctly different than the seltzers that currently dominate the industry. We don’t mean to yuck anyone’s yum or anything, we just think we can bring even more fans into the category by doing something that speaks to those who may want something different.

With all of our product lines in the future, Float House will try and genuinely push the boundaries for our fans to offer up something unexpectedly good. So instead of a seltzer, we set out to evolve beer by interpreting the ingredients and style guidelines through a “better-for-you” lens. Ya know, our brews are not beers. They’re just as satisfying, but with way less sugar, carbs and calories. They hit with a floaty feeling that elevates experiences, but is fundamentally different from alcohol and the negatives that can come with it. We chose to emulate a light lager.

Gordon: Even when I first started working in the infused beverage space there was a clear lack of product diversity which is still the case today. For the most part there are seltzers, sodas masquerading as seltzers, and sodas all of which are relatively straight forward to formulate and produce. I seem to often choose the harder path and figuring out how to bring these brews to market has been a challenge to say the least.

Doug: How do you hope to go about recreating the beer experience with THC instead of alcohol?

Jared: Even though our brews are produced through a “better-for-you” lens in some ways, the goal isn’t to create a “diet beer” - or a compromise of the original that will pale in comparison. I think there’s this perception that a THC brew can’t be nearly as satisfying as an actual beer – that it’s going to taste like weed or a poorly-rendered NA. With Float House, that’s just not the case, and we’re here to show people that a THC brew can be something you can enjoy whenever you’d have any other adult beverage.

We always tell people ‘look, just try this thing,’ and the response so often is like ‘wow, that actually tastes just like a beer!’ And inside our heads we’re kind of like ‘yes! Exactly! And that’s a huge accomplishment for something that is not a beer!’ And it’s a great feeling. Beyond that, and really importantly, is watching people instantly understand the occasions for Float House in their lives - anytime they’d have a beer or NA beer, they can have a low-dose THC Brew. It’s this incredible like wake up moment. They can drink an adult beverage, pace along their friends and family who might be drinking alcohol, still get elevated and yet the next day doesn’t come with hangxiety or an obliterated workout.

Personally, I’m not drinking beer right now, and frankly it’s a lot easier to do because I have the Float House brews. I’m drinking great-tasting brews that give me a pleasant, easy floaty feeling, and still hit the personal goals that I’ve set for myself - and feel good about it. Sometimes if you smoke or eat an edible, you’re in the stratosphere and everyone else is just, like, on beer #2. You can miss the mark on the communal aspect of enjoying adult beverages together, and that’s something we want to help with too. If our mission is to create the best THC-infused beverages in the world based on the beverage trends we love, then our purpose is to inspire real human connection over those drinks.

Doug: How did you land on your current dosage? Any plans to vary options in the future? If so, would dosages most likely be matched with fitting styles? Or would the same style be offered in multiple dosages?

Jared: The Connecticut limit of 3 mgs really got us here, but our feeling is that a low-dose is a great place to start. Like with other adult beverages, if you want an intensified effect, you can have more than one and “build” your high. 3mg THC is a great entry point for people looking to explore infused beverages - a goldilocks dose: not too high, not too low.

That said, a lot of early fans are coming with a tolerance that’s higher than 3mgs, and we’re releasing higher mg versions as we expand beyond CT and grow our direct-to-consumer business. We’ll need to, in order to match the right dosage for the right occasion - just as in other categories of adult bev. At higher mg limits, we’re creating a “DIPA” - Double Infused and Pretty Awesome” brew to reach those people with a higher tolerance who will recognize the convention of “double” as they do in other areas of craft beverages.

Gordon: Originally we wanted to dose our core products with 5mg THCv, 2.5mg THC, and 5mg CBD. The State of CT changed that when they capped the maximum dosage allowed in CT to 3mg and outlawed non-psychoactive cannabinoids outside of CBD. So we launched with 3mg THC and 6mg CBD but are moving to a straight 3 & 3 for our core SKUs after receiving a lot of feedback that the higher CBD is putting people to sleep. We have a lot of plans to play with different dosages and other cannabinoids as we roll out new products.

Doug: With your first two styles, Lite and IPA, how do you think about the importance of simplicity and brand building in the early days versus the natural desire to innovate and test new products?

Jared: We’re really focused on growing our brand and the category overall, and I see simplicity as a key part of our initial strategy. When we were mapping out the products we were sort of hyper-aware that these might be the first of this product category that people would meet. So for us the goal became to create styles we genuinely love and that would also be easily recognizable and accessible to just about anyone familiar with beer. We picked the two most popular styles (and two of our personal favorites): a light lager and an IPA.

We took a page from our heroes in craft beer like Sierra Nevada and created two tent poles brands that focus on style and clear messaging: this is our Lite and our IPA. That encompasses flavor profiles, aromatic notes, and the essence of each brand as coming from Float House. And within that, there’s room to explore on the backend to keep things fresh – without getting lost promoting very niche recipe differences to newer, younger consumers.

We have a product development pipeline that includes other styles of brews and even different beverage types, but right now we’re focused on the brews.

Gordon: We knew we would have a lot of work bridging the education gap and wanted our cans and the liquid inside to do as much of the lift as possible. A guiding design principle we follow is MAYA or “maximum allowable, yet acceptable”. When pushing consumer behavior in a new direction we believe, for the most part, that it’s easier to take slow incremental steps than giant leaps. Stylistically we chose the most popular macro and craft styles (Light Lager and IPA)

Doug: I saw the certifications page on your website and it looks like you completed your second batch of Lite and IPA earlier in June. Any interesting feedback from those first batches that led to an update in the second set?

Gordon: As a brewer I am constantly looking to improve our products and getting it out there and receiving feedback has been extremely helpful in prioritizing what I need to address. This is also the first time we’ve run these products at scale and that always brings issues to light to be addressed. On the second batches we knew we had to overhaul our dosing procedure as we experienced a much higher drop in potency after running through the pasteurizer than we had seen on the pilot scale. [It’s an] Industry wide issue with dosing.

Part 3: Route to Market & Go-To-Market Strategy

How would you describe your current route to market?

Gordon: Slow and steady. We launched CT first through traditional distributors and are focused on building up our home market.

Jared: We’re looking at it from as holistic an approach as possible with hemp beverages: setting up distributorships in our home and core markets, launching an online B2B and B2C storefront in just a week for other states and highspot markets, and focusing on connecting with our consumers. It’s all about building a strong foundation and learning as much as we can, as quickly as possible.

We launched our “home” market of CT in mid-May, and we’re expanding with another distributor to Rhode Island in late-July, with potentially New Jersey as a third “core” market following that. Rhode Island and New Jersey present the opportunity to sell on-premise and to create higher mg versions of our brews. We’re eager to learn from these neighboring states and create a regional presence here.

Choosing the right distributor partners for us is so key for us to go deep in our limited footprint and drive trial of the brews. Through them, we’re able to meet the right retailers much faster than if we took it upon ourselves to distribute Float House. Our focus is on building an organic community through sampling in our core markets and online via social media and our email lists. The best sales tool we have is how fun and tasty these brews actually are.

Our online store is about to go live, and that’s going to open up Float House to fans across the country. We’ll be dropping some new products soon too, so if you want first dibs, follow us or sign up for our list!

Doug: Is it challenging to balance the desire to get to market quickly with such a unique product while also understanding the pitfalls of going too fast? How do you reconcile the two?

Jared: Absolutely - I mean, of course. It’s hard not to want to take these awesome brews everywhere overnight! It’s a very real desire to share our products with everyone - you just can’t wait to show people. But it’s about the long game. Expanding too quickly and without enough support can have long-term negative effects on the future of the brand - especially in a nascent segment like THC brews.

We make a product that combines elements of two growing markets (non-alcoholic beverage and THC-infused drinks), so we have to get people to trial them to learn just how well they go together. Their own sensory experiences and the quality of our stuff will always be the best education tool that we have. For now, we’re choosing to go deep, not wide, in terms of distribution. The states that we are expanding to each offer different insights for us to learn from - CT is our “home” market for building our brand narrative, RI has on-premise opportunities for us to be able to host events and see how people in bars interact with our beverages, and NJ will allow us to release significantly higher mg dosed beverages in stores. So the markets aren’t just added distribution (which is definitely great too), but they also offer insights on how we can hone our messaging for a larger platform in the future.

For Float House to really succeed in our mission, we want to become truly relevant to our fans and open this new category for them – a recognizable and beloved daily drinker that’s alc-free, not float-free.

Doug: What has been the biggest hurdle when presenting the brand to distributors or retailers? And on the flip side, what’s the most frequent compliment you receive beyond the taste?

Jared: We’re at such an early stage, but the biggest hurdle so far is usually at the retailer and consumer level when trying to communicate to people exactly what these products are. We created our branding to get in front of this by adding a prominent “THC” on the front panel next to the style. It definitely helps explain our products and the brew category at large, but these are such a new concept that people really have to take a second to think about it. All that said, we’ve heard from distributors and retailers that they can identify customers in their stores that are perfect targets for the product. For instance, someone buying NA beer and THC-infused seltzers together. Right? Now we’re able to offer that person a real solution for a problem that they’re trying to solve for themselves. It’s both incredibly reassuring and motivating for us.

As far as the taste and experience goes, people have said to us, “If I closed my eyes, I wouldn’t know that this is even an NA.” And we love to hear that, because it means we nailed the overall experience of drinking a Float House. These brews aren’t a compromise.

So far, our distributors have been incredibly supportive and encouraging. We’re choosing partners who understand what we’re trying to build - who can share in that vision with us - and who will be here to help grow this brand from the ground up.

Part 4: Broader Vision & Category Context

Doug: What kind of consumer do you feel you’re targeting most: craft beer fans, cannabis regulars, sober-curious folks?

Jared: We’re at the intersection of THC beverage, craft beer, and the sober/sober-curious movement that has sparked an enormous non-alcoholic beverage segment. We appeal to groups of people interested in each of those categories, so to some degree we think we’ll draw from all of them too. Our individual consumer profiles fit right in between these, and the use cases are as varied as they would be for having an alcoholic beer. THC brews are niche for now, but we definitely see the segment growing in the future.

Beer drinkers looking to switch things up appreciate the quality of our brews, the sober-curious and “California sober” among us enjoy the familiar flavors and light, floaty feels from our recipes - plus being able to partake in the ritual of sharing an adult drink with others. It’s about elevating your experience or being part of something that a plain NA just can’t do for you. Float House gives people the opportunity to do that - without the worries of the alcohol.

At 3mg each, Float House is the perfect option for pacing between heavier sessions for regular cannabis users. They’re great companion drinks in that way - and to the people looking for that DIPA 10mg brew, don’t worry! Our higher mg offerings are coming soon!

Doug: What is the number one way that consumers are learning about Float House so far?

Jared: Organic word-of-mouth and the combined support of our families, friends, early adopters and distributor partners are what’s really floating this project right now for sure. They’re an amazing support system for us as a company and we can’t thank them enough. They’re really helping to get the word out on the street level for us. Of course, articles and mentions in the press like this don’t hurt (thanks again Doug!) and we’re working on lining up more PR around events, tastings, and limited product drops as we go.

Doug: Where do you see the category of THC “brews” going in the next few years? What role do you hope to play in it all?

Jared: Our goal is for THC brews to be as accepted and beloved as the beer styles that inspired them. We want to lead the way by bringing THC brews from the niche to the mainstream by producing accessible, high-quality evolutions of popular styles. Around the house (office), we say: “high quality for a high quality” - or in other words, take no short-cuts, because that’s how you build real trust and brand loyalty with people. We hope that our work pays off and we’re seen as leading the way into this new territory for beverages.

Doug: What’s your take on the level of education and awareness building required for (1) hemp beverages more broadly and (2) hemp brews more specifically? In particular, how do you plan to land the idea that a hemp brew can taste good, when consumer preconceptions can include that it's very hard to nail something tasty with THC when trying to do a beer-esque style?

Jared: Education is a super important part of what we’re doing at Float House. We’re building a new beverage category, ya know, so that comes a lot of education to explain what the product is and potentially overcome some pre-conceived notions people might have of hemp, cannabis, beer, brews, THC, what their dad used to say about stuff like this, whatever.

‘Can this actually taste good?’ YES. Years of R&D went into making sure that when someone tries Float House for the first time, they’re blown away. So familiar - and so satisfying - and so easy to swap the buzz from the alcohol for the float from THC.

"What… even is it?’ - At the very core of the brand is our willingness to try and be as direct as possible with consumers. Our ingredients are straight-forward and few. Nothing to hide behind. Even our sub-brand names are just “THC & STYLE.” What’s harder to believe is just how fun these brews are!

‘My tolerance is… X’ - As for dosing, we say Float House “hits right, day & night.” It’s on the cans too. If you have a low tolerance - perfect! Start slow. Just like the first time you drank alcohol, don’t overdo it. That just isn’t fun. If you have a higher tolerance - also perfect! Enjoy having a brew that keeps you in the moment, and higher dose options are on the way.

Part 5: Long-Term Vision

Doug: Even with four strong founders, I assume there’s still some areas where you don’t have as deep of experience. In these early days, do you have a sense for where your earliest hires will be needed most?

Jared: Even with four really dedicated founders, we are still just four people with (varying degrees of) lives outside of Float House. So we’ll need more help sooner than later to keep growing including Production and logistics, Sales Support, and Design/Marketing.

Doug: Do you think hemp beverage companies will have their own branded taproom outposts in the future? Is that a long-term interest of yours? If so, would it make sense to be attached to your operation like we’re used to seeing with craft breweries—or in a strategic location with more foot traffic?

Jared: Oh, we absolutely hope so! We’d love to have one. There’s nothing like bringing fans together in your own space and learning about what works and what doesn’t. Taprooms also would normalize the responsible enjoyment of THC-beverages, and show that they belong in a normal routine just like we allow for alcohol. Our own taprooms would definitely help equalize THC-brews in that way, and de-stigmatize them for people. Regulations being what they are, we would likely have to look for a high-traffic market that would allow for it away from our facility.

Doug: What does success look like in two years and what do you consider to be the biggest challenge to overcome in meeting that vision?

Jared: Love this question. Dreaming the dreams: in two years, Float House has become a household name in our core markets for THC-infused beverage innovations. The message of quality, consistency and enjoyment of that floaty feeling that we’re putting out there has connected with a fanbase that’s become super enthusiastic about our stuff. Across the industry, we’re a go-to for THC brews and the other beverage types we’re currently working on.

The biggest challenge will always be the shifting regulatory sands on which we’re building this thing. We feel confident that the hemp beverage category will remain - and thrive - but not without some twists and turns before things are settled and probably work more like alcohol does today.

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Float On

Float House is still in its first inning, but their decision to build their own facility and take control of production gives them a well-differentiated foundation to build on. They’re taking a thoughtful approach in distribution by going deep in their home and backyard markets, making quick adjustments based on customer feedback, and demonstrating an understanding of the investment involved with building a category from the ground up. It’s early, and success is never guaranteed, but they’re doing the work to help this space float, and inviting drinkers to rise with it.