Keith Villa made a name for himself as the craft brewer behind the popular Blue Moon Belgian White Ale. But a few months ago, he left his 32-year brewing career with MillerCoors to start a different beverage venture. One that involves everyone’s favorite plant: cannabis. Now, the former MillerCoors brewmaster is launching a new line of weed-infused drinks in Colorado.
Non-Alcoholic, THC-Infused Beer Is About To Hit Colorado
On Wednesday, ex-MillerCoors brewmaster Keith Villa revealed his new operation Ceria Beverages. Ceria is an Arvada, Colorado-based firm that is developing a line of three non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused beers.
But Villa isn’t going it alone. He’s partnered Ceria with the breakthrough cannabinoid extract company ebbu. Ebbu specializes in creating effects-tailored cannabinoid extracts for use in recreational and medicinal cannabis-infused products.
According to ebbu CEO Jon Cooper, the company’s recent breakthroughs enable them to give customers and patients fine-grained control over the experience and sensations they want from cannabis. And Villa wants to leverage that capability for Ceria’s new cannabis craft beers.
The turn toward cannabis-infused beverages is more than just a career pivot for Villa. In fact, the former MillerCoors brewmaster behind Blue Moon said he voted against legal recreational cannabis in 2012, when Colorado voters passed Amendment 64.
After a couple of years, however, Villa came around to cannabis, realizing he had bought into the fearmongering about the drug. Now, he sees cannabis as a great alternative to alcohol. And he thinks the trend is catching on in Colorado.
“I’ve been seeing firsthand where consumers are drinking less and less beer,” said Villa. “This is an alternative to regular, alcoholic craft beer.”
The economic incentive is there, too. According to BDS analytics, cannabis