8th Wonder Brewery and Distillery in Houston released a Delta 8 THC non-alcoholic seltzer last week, advertised as the first Delta 8 seltzer product in Texas — a state that has been debating the legality of Delta 8 products in recent months.
The “Wonder Water” beverage is a non-alcoholic, zero-calorie beverage with 10mg of Delta 8 — a form of the psychoactive cannabinoid tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). One of nearly 100 minor cannabinoids that naturally occur in cannabis, Delta 8 is known for having a milder effect on those who use it compared to Delta 9, which is the most common form of THC.
The type of THC creates a “pleasantly hazy” experience, according to Ben Meggs, co-founder and co-CEO of Bayou City Hemp Company, which is supplying the product to 8th Wonder. The company creates water-based soluble Delta 8 and CBD additives, which Meggs said has a 65-70% higher absorption rate compared to oil-based CBD products, using a proprietary nano-emulsion technology.
The water-soluble product stood out to 8th Wonder when Bayou City approached the brewery at the end of 2020, according to Ryan Soroka, president and co-founder of 8th Wonder. The brewery had been contacted by “dozens” of CBD manufacturers proposing CBD beverages, but he said Bayou City was the first to provide a quality product that would blend into a non-alcoholic beverage — a requirement by the state.
“Once we saw there was someone local, legit, and had a superior product, we started heavy with the R&D phase,” Soroka told Brewbound.
The two companies started working on developing both a Delta 8 THC seltzer and a CBD seltzer, finalizing recipes and building brands and designs in about six months, according to Soroka.
“The partnership with 8th Wonder has been such a great experience and has given Bayou City Hemp Company an opportunity to highlight our beverage capabilities and attract beverage companies across the globe,” Meggs wrote in an email to Brewbound.
“Cannabis and hemp have a broad range of benefits and pleasurable benefits as well,” Soroka said. “We’re ready to move forward in a responsible, hopefully pioneering way that can get the ball rolling and kind of just end the stigma of hemp and cannabis.
“The states that are legalizing cannabis are generating some serious tax dollars for their states. This seems like a great opportunity to build up infrastructure in Texas [and] get money to the school districts,” he added.
The two companies had already filed state permits and were inn the final steps of the two products development, when they hit a roadblock: a Texas legislator was attempting to ban Delta 8 THC.
In March, Rep. Tracy King filed House Bill 3948 in the Texas House of Representatives — one of three marijuana and cannabis-related bills introduced in the state at the time — proposing expanded hemp research. Lawmakers in the Senate Water, Agriculture & Rural Affairs committee added an amendment that would require products to contain a maximum of 0.3% THC to be legally considered hemp, according to the Dallas Observer.
“It was a very nerve-wracking, nail-biting, two-week window while they were voting on bills,” Soroka said. “We’d had momentum going, we’re building this brand, we had invested in R&D, and now this all of a sudden is not going to happen?”
Texas follows federal regulations for hemp and CBD products, outlined in the 2018 Farm Bill (also referred to as the Agriculture Improvement Act or AIA). The bill, signed into law by then-President Donald Trump in December 2018, removes hemp and hemp products from the list of schedule one controlled substances — a list that includes heroin, LSD, ecstasy, and marijuana. The law defines hemp as cannabinoids that contain less than 0.3% of Delta 9 THC on a dry weight basis — an amount that is considered too low to have a psychoactive effect.
As Delta 8 THC products do not contain any Delta 9 THC, they fit under the definition of federally legal hemp products. But the similarity of the cannabinoid to Delta 9 has had many states banning products. As of last month, 14 states — Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Utah — have blocked the sale of Delta 8 products, citing the need for more research, according to NBC News.
While the Texas bill (H.B. 3948) passed by the state Senate on May 26, Gov. Greg Abbott did not sign it before the legislative session’s deadline. A similar amendment was also struck from Rep. Joe Moody’s H.B. 2593.
Nevertheless, 8th Wonder continued creating Wonder Water. The Delta 8 seltzer is now available in the brewery’s Houston taproom. Soroka said he plans to sell the seltzer only in the taproom for at least a month so the 8th Wonder team can talk to consumers directly about Delta 8. The brewery is also launching a CBD seltzer in the coming weeks that will contain 25mmg of hemp-derived CBD.
“I’ve talked to three dozen customers already personally,” he said. “The amount of people that are like, ‘Thank you for launching this product, I can finally get something in Texas that helps with my rheumatoid arthritis,’ and like, ‘Oh, this is incredible. I suffer from M.S.’ It’s great.”
Soroka hopes to teach consumers more about Delta 8 before expanding into off-premise distribution. The first step will be getting products into independent CBD shops and gas stations that already sell Delta 8 products. He hopes to expand distribution throughout the greater Houston area through the company’s partnership with Silver Eagle Distributors.
“We take this very seriously. Delta 8 is definitely an adult beverage,” he said. “But I stand firmly when I say that cannabis and hemp products are no less dangerous than alcohol and arguably are less dangerous and less toxic than alcohol.
“When we brew, when we distill spirits, we know we are making a product that is legal, it is regulated, it is taxed, but you have to enjoy it responsibly,” he continued. “They are intoxicants and arguably more toxic and more dangerous than these natural plants that are somehow a controlled one schedule substance equivalent to heroin.”
The “natural” aspect of Delta 8 has also been debated. In response to concerns over Delta 8, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) published an interim final rule in August 2020, clarifying that the AIA does not impact federal law that places “synthetically derived” cannabinoids on the schedule one drug list. But the ruling fails to give a detailed definition of “synthetic,” leading to the debate of whether Delta 8 is impacted.
Meggs emphasized that Delta 8 and CBD both naturally occur in hemp. The company’s specific cannabinoids are extracted from hemp with supercritical CO2. CBD is extracted from hemp plants, and then “further processed” into Delta 8 THC.
Soroka said calling Delta 8 unnatural is equivalent to calling beer and other alcohol unnatural.
“Distilled spirits aren’t ‘natural.’ All the ingredients are natural, but you don’t just put them together, you have to process it,” he said. “Beer doesn’t naturally exist, it takes human involvement, equipment and technology processes and temperature regulation.”
Still, 8th Wonder is not putting all its eggs in the Delta 8 basket. While the brewery has discussed exploring more flavors and a possible variety pack — as well as products with other minor cannabinoids outside of Delta 8 — Soroka said it is going to move ahead slowly.
“We’re gonna tiptoe into this,” he said.