Spindrift Joins HealthiER Soda Category 🍓🍇🍊🫚🍒🍋🟩 Is Delta-9 THC Lurking?
Spindrift, a long-time personal favorite sparkling water of mine, is getting into the scorching hot, healthiER soda market with a slick looking product extension. The timing follows last week’s news of a fundraising round by Olipop at an astounding $1.85 Billion valuation, showing the potential that the investment community still sees in disrupting the traditional pop market.
Fellow industry leader Poppi created a lot of buzz with their controversial Super Bowl campaign and other rising stars like Culture Pop are growing at a significant clip. After being sold to SF-based Private Equity firm Gryphon Investors in late 2024, Spindrift is preparing to unveil its first big move toward recouping that $650M investment. I have my eye on this trend not only because I enjoy the product, but also as winning formula with future Delta-9 THC beverage brands.
The Flavors
Spindrift is turning to classic 90’s nostalgia soda flavors, including:
Concord Freeze 🍇
Orange Cream Float 🍊🍨
Ginger Ale 🫚
Shirley Temple 🍒🍋🟩
Strawberry Shortcake 🍓🍰
RTBs (Reasons To Believe)
Despite these flavors sounding like sweet, dessert-like occasions in a few cases, they boast the following features:
20% not-from-concentrate juice with real squeezed fruit
Zero added sugar or engineered sweeteners
Fewer than 8g of naturally occurring sugar from fruit
No unnecessary ingredients – no added sugar, no stevia and no prebiotics. They continue to take additional swings at prebiotics stating, “No tricks, no shortcuts, no added distractions like prebiotics that may or may not work.”
Compared to their sparkling water, they’ve “dialed the juice way up, upped the carbonation, and added incredibly delicious ingredients like vanilla from Madagascar and ginger from Peru.”
Unlike most new soda brands hitting the market, they’re not starting from scratch with regards to trust and brand recognition. Spindrift has a built-in, loyal audience who will be ready at the helm to give these a try, with little education needed.
“High” Flavor 🤔
As craft breweries and new CPG brands continue to attack the THC beverage space, I expect Delta-9 + healthiER soda to quickly become a winning combination. With the key sacrifice for many recent THC-converts being alcohol, do they also need the flavor sacrifice of zero calories while getting their buzz on? Or are they willing to take on fruit and other natural ingredient-derived calories & sweetness for the benefit of the flavor experience?
