All of a sudden, beer isn't so cool anymore. Millennials are drinking less of it – especially the big name brands – and as more states legalize marijuana, people are finding greener ways to spend their Friday nights.
But Big Beer isn't about to drift silently into the night. The companies that own brands like Corona and Heineken are hedging their bets by investing in weed.
Constellation Brands, which owns Corona, Robert Mondavi wine and Svedka vodka announced that it invested $4 billion in Canopy, a Canadian cannabis startup that's is ramping up production ahead of Canada's October 2018 legalization date.
"As the leader in the total beverage alcohol space, we look forward to reaping the benefits of our cannabis investment, which we see as incremental to our core beer, wine and spirits portfolio," said Robert Sands, Constellation's chief executive, according to CNBC.
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You might've heard the news that a Canadian successfully brewed the first weed beer. Don't think that Big Beer wasn't paying attention. Molson Coors has already started working on cannabis-infused beverages, and Heineken-owned Lagunitas already sells a non-alcoholic sparkling water featuring THC. Weed beer is coming, it's just a matter of when.
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Besides, like many investors, beer brands might be investing in cannabis companies because they have a big potential for growth (literally and figuratively). The weed industry is in its baby stages right now, but what if Canopy turns into the next AmBev?
More dubiously – and this is fully uneducated speculation – maybe Big Beer is trying to get a stake in weed companies to makes sure weed doesn't somehow mess with its market share? Not sure about that, just spitballing here.
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