Canopy Growth CEO On Launch Of CBD Beverage Line Quatreau: 'Our First Foray Into Mood Modulation'

Less than 48 hours after informing it would move its U.S. stock listing from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq Global Select Market, Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth Corp. CGC announced the launch of a new line of CBD-infused beverages.

Dubbed Quatreau, the sparkling waters represent the company’s first incursion into the CBD beverages market in Canada. The line features drinks with CBD – and almost no THC, as well as “balanced” option, with 2mg of each, and comes in four flavors:

• Cucumber + Mint, with 20 mg of CBD and < 1 mg of THC.
• Passion Fruit + Guava, with 20 mg of CBD and < 1 mg of THC.
• Ginger + Lime, with 2 mg of CBD and 2 mg of THC.
• Blueberry + Açai, with 2 mg of CBD and 2 mg of THC.

A ‘Mood Modulation’ Play

Showing the cans on camera during an exclusive interview, Canopy Growth CEO David Klein explained the name Quatreau, which means “four waters,” seeks to reflect the different effects of the brand’s products: “Initially, the idea for the brand was for it to be our first foray into mood modulation… So you pick your can color based upon the wave you wanted to ride. I don’t know if we’ll deploy it that way but that’s how we started.

“We really want to fit into people’s lifestyles in a way that they can use various cannabinoids to improve their overall outlook on life, which, by the way, I think is quite needed these days,” he added, chuckling.

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Despite having some THC in them, these beverages are being marketed as CBD products due to the relatively low levels of the psychotropic cannabinoid in them. Nonetheless, because of Canadian regulations, the beverages still need to be sold to customers through licensed, cannabis-specific online or brick and mortar channels.

And this makes sense, since the iteration containing 2 mg of THC can have an intoxicating effect Klein defined as “on the light side of a beer… for someone who hasn’t built up a tolerance.”

The idea of maintaining the dose low, he continued, was to provide a predictable and controllable experience. “If you have built up a tolerance, you can always have another can,” Klein joked.

A Leading Market Position

The launch of Quatreau is just the latest move in Canopy’s mission to continue to dominate the infused beverages sector in Canada.

According to Klein, the company currently boasts a market share of approximately 70%. Having sold more than 2 million cans to date, Canopy owns 3 of the top 5 SKUs in the beverage: Deep Space, Houseplant, and Tweed Bakerstreet.

“This may be our first CBD beverage, but we already have the leading position in THC drinks,” Klein explicated. “We have THC covered, so we decided to launch this CBD line. We want to keep rolling our innovations into the market to give consumers something new.”

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But the CEO recognizes that no amount of innovation can maintain Canopy’s infused beverages market share at 70%.

“We can’t expect to hold this share. There’s competition in the market, and early on there wasn’t. But we do think our products resonate really well with consumers.”

CPG Ambitions

As discussed in this article on the launch of Canopy’s line with Martha Stewart, the company’s ambitions go beyond cannabis. Klein wants to make it a full-fledged CPG (consumer packaged goods) business, focused on cannabis and hemp.

“Part of the whole CPG journey is understanding what the consumer is looking for, and understand how we normalize the category so that we can bring in non-traditional cannabis users into the space, and think about Quatreau with CBD as this being a wellness drink, and Quatreau with CBD and THC as a tool for relaxation,” he voiced.

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In fact, he added, in just a few weeks since its launch, the Martha Stewart line has really helped normalize CBD drinks in the U.S., driving considerable new customer and retailer interest.

“Quatreau is just another step on that journey to normalize products with multiple cannabinoids,” Klein concluded. “We plan to do this by over delivering on expectations: over delivering on taste, over delivering on effect…”

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This article was originally published on Forbes and appears here with permission.