Welcome to Rise & Roll, a bi-weekly newsletter that keeps you smart, savvy, and always in the loop on the latest in cannabis.

Here’s what we have on deck for today…

1. Samuel Adams' parent co doubles down on cannabis

2. The MedMen story

3. California collects $250M in Q3

Samuel Adams' parent co doubles down on cannabis

Boston Beer Company isn't just dipping its toes in cannabis anymore. They're diving deeper with Emerald Hour, a new line of "Cali Sober" cocktails.

• This marks a major expansion of their cannabis strategy

• The move leverages their extensive distribution network

• They're targeting the premium end of the market, positioning against traditional alcoholic beverages

As legacy beverage giants — like Boston Beer Company — enter the cannabis drinks market, they bring massive distribution networks, premium branding expertise, and decades of consumer insights. This could accelerate the mainstreaming of cannabis beverages faster than expected.

The MedMen story

Bungalow Media + Entertainment is shopping a three-part series on how Adam Bierman built (and lost) the first billion-dollar cannabis company, MedMen.

The series will be based on Bierman’s book, Weed Empire: How I Battled Gangsters, Investment Banks, and the Department of Justice to Build the Cannabis Industry in America.

The timing for this story is especially relevant as today's cannabis entrepreneurs wrestle with many of the same challenges Bierman faced:

1. Navigating regulations

2. Building mainstream appeal

3. Securing legitimate funding

4. Operating in a federally illegal market

While the industry has matured since MedMen's heyday, the fundamentals haven't changed:

Building in cannabis requires balancing aggressive growth with sustainable business practices.

California collects $250M in Q3

California's raked in $250.5M in cannabis taxes in Q3.

Although this is ~$20M less than spring's $269M collection, the state has collected a whopping $6.5B in cannabis taxes since legalizing in 2018.

Even with fierce competition from the unregulated market, legal sales in California keep generating major tax revenue.

Despite a slight dip in Q3, California's consistent tax revenue shows the legal cannabis market remains resilient and substantial.

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We’ll be back with another edition on Friday. See you then!

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