LOFT TO LAUNCH FIRST HEMP-INFUSED BEVERAGE BRAND

LOFT, a Williamsburg, Brooklyn based hemp-infused beverage brand announced today that it will launch its line of first-to-market non-psychotropic, phytocannabinoid-rich ‘Hemp Infused Herb Tonics’ at the BEVNET LIVE New Product Showdown at Metropolitan West in New York June 14-15.
 
Fifteen early-stage beverage brands from around the world were selected to present new beverage products to a panel of judges sourced from beverage industry leaders at Whole Foods, First Beverage Group, Coca Cola’s Venturing and Emerging Brands Unit, Powerplant Ventures and BEVNET editors.  Past winners of the annual summer event have included break-out brands like Tio Gazpacho, Health-Ade Kombucha and Grady’s Cold Brew, providing a launch pad for disruptive beverage startups to leading beverage distributors, investors and strategic partners.
 
“LOFT was born out of a desire to offer the first ready-to-drink, healthful hemp-infused herb tonic to the beverage world and is on a mission to educate American consumers on the benefits of hemp derived phytocannabinoids and their implications in providing sustainable, natural solutions for enhanced wellness”, says co-founder Michael Christopher.
 
After two years of development, LOFT will launch three functional, hemp-infused herb tonics in the New York/Tristate area, a region that boasts an addressable market of 23 million consumers with $1.56 trillion in GMP. With a focus on independent natural food, c-store, grocery, service, university and hospitality distribution channels, the company offers first-to-market hemp-infused beverages that celebrate the wellness benefits of non-psychotropic, phytocannabinoid-rich hemp extract, considered to be the ‘superfood of the next generation’ for its implications in enhancing mood, appetite, stress, sleep and memory via the human endocannabinoid system.
 
By offering smoke-free solutions for everyday consumers to enjoy the calming and restoring benefits of the hemp plant (cannabis sativa L), LOFT seeks to create a new beverage category and capture white space in the fastest growing marketplace in the U.S., expanding hemp revenue in retail stores beyond conventional hemp milk, hempseed and hemp powder product offerings.
 
LOFT is also announcing its partnership with BeyondBrands, a conscious products collective of over 44 natural products industry pioneers that work with new and established brands in food, beverage, beauty, fashion and cannabis therapeutics to achieve “conscious brand” status. The partnership ensures sustainable approaches to production and corporate footprint while providing access to strategic growth opportunities, industry experts and best practices to become a trusted, national leader in healthful, smoke-free hemp-infused beverages.