Just ask Dooma Wendschuh, co-founder and CEO of the company.
“Essentially, we are providing social equality to the cannabis consumer,” he said. “We envision a cannabis enthusiast sitting at the same table at the same restaurant as an alcohol drinker. It just seems normal to me.”
Just last year, Province launched two highly innovative products: a beer brewed from marijuana (which contains alcohol but no components of the cannabis plant) and non-alcoholic beers brewed purely from cannabis, which will get you high.
The timing couldn’t be better.
According to Euromonitor, the legal marijuana market will hit US $7.5 billion in Canada and $10.2 billion in the United States during 2018. In America, the marijuana industry was worth $6 billion in 2016, and is expected to hit nearly $50 billion by 2026.
Unbelievable, right?
Province Brands is widely considered to be the first “global company” to produce beers brewed purely from cannabis. In July of 2017, Province filed a patent for the “world’s first beers brewed from the cannabis plant”. This drew significant interest from the beverage industry and is something that Wendschuh is very proud of.
Many people believe that cannabis beverages will be the next big thing to enter the craft beer market. Ultimately, the belief is that recreational marijuana use will eventually be legal in all 50 American states as well.
Due to the popularity of and growing interest in the cannabis beer industry, Province Brands has received an influx in financial investments with the hopes that the company will take off over the next few years. Furthermore, since there are very few competitors, those involved believe that developing this new product category not only is something that takes a great deal of time, money and creativity, but is also a venture on which they can collaborate and work together.
One of the biggest things that Wendschuh is excited about is the fact that the first Fortune 500 company to invest in the marijuana space was Constellation Brands, an adult beverage company. Rather than a tobacco juggernaut, Constellation found the space compelling enough to invest in its potential. This bodes very well for Wendschuh and Province Brands.
Wendschuh’s venture didn’t come without risk, however. Back in 2016, the company was launched without confirmation of whether cannabis drinks would ever be legalized in Canada. While Canada was, in fact, the first country to ever legalize medical marijuana (back in 2001), the legislation did not apply to edibles and/or beverages. After Canadian officials made it clear (in 2017) that these types of beverages would be allowed (likely in 2019), the competition and investments started to grow.
Province Brands and its employees are excited about the future and what it must hold for their venture.
