Tell our Maine reps to keep hemp drinks legal

We love making Mystic Cove THC drinks, and our customers enjoy drinking them. Mystic Cove has been an exciting extension of our beer and beverages — and now THC drinks are at risk.

Under current federal law, hemp beverages will, in effect, be banned on December 11th. The new limit of 0.4 milligrams of THC per container is a ban in all but name, and most of our customers have no idea it is coming. We believe that hemp beverages should be regulated, just as beer has been for years. That means requiring age verification, labeling products clearly, taxing them fairly, and selling them through the same distributors and retailers that already handle alcohol responsibly.

Our own Kai Adams has been speaking up about the imminent changes and the importance of THC drinks to local breweries and businesses. Check out this recent news story on WMTW.

Read Kai’s recent op-ed in Mainebiz. And visit the Hemp Beverage Alliance action center to speak out before December 11th!

Finally, please contact your senators and representatives and ask them to help regulate THC drinks in a way that is responsible and supports Maine brewers and retail businesses.

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From the Portland Press Herald, October 21, 2026

Maine brewers can make hemp drinks the right way. Congress is about to stop us.

Opinion | Kai Adams

Sebago Brewing Company was founded in 1998. Today, we operate four brewpubs and a production brewery. We have a robust distribution business and our pubs service more than 12,000 guests a week. We employ 225 Mainers with a payroll of nearly $5 million a year.

Sebago Brewing is a trusted Maine company that gives back to our communities and has done so for nearly three decades. Our business is built on our core values of quality and value.

A couple of years ago, a guest asked me over the bar when we were going to make a THC drink. Around the same time, our sales team started seeing hemp beverages popping up in retail coolers across the state.

Several cannabis companies began calling to ask if we could produce drinks for them. We had just installed a new high-speed canning line and had a team of brewers who understood ingredients, recipes and quality control. We listened to our customers and launched Mystic Cove in February 2025.

I grew up on Sebago Lake, where there’s a special place called Mystic Cove. The name has always meant “lake life” to me, and it felt like the right fit for a drink meant to be enjoyed slowly with friends. We launched with four 5mg flavors, including a blueberry lemon that could only come from Maine.

Committed to responsible service, we worked with our service staff to implement a THC service policy where a guest who is drinking alcohol could have one Mystic Cove, two for a guest who is not. Every batch is full-spectrum lab tested, each packaging run is tested for potency during the run and nothing ships until the results are in.

We track every ingredient from the moment it arrives, so what the label says is exactly what is in the can. We train our distributors and educate our customers; a new product only works when people understand it.

The people who chose these drinks surprised me. The first guest to order one at our brewpub was almost 70 years old. One of our servers, who no longer drinks, told me it was the first time in years she felt like she was having an experience at a bar instead of just ordering an iced tea. These are adults looking for another option alongside beer, wine and spirits, and they deserve that choice.

Hemp beverages are not the largest part of our business, but they matter a great deal. For an industry facing flat beer sales, two new products gave our distributors and customers something to be excited about.

The work also taught us contract production, which has since brought in new brewing contracts. That is real value for a company that has more than 200 families depending on it.

Under current federal law, these drinks will be banned on Dec. 11, 2026. The new limit of 0.4 milligrams of THC per container is a ban in all but name, and most of our customers have no idea it is coming. Many of them believe this issue was settled months ago. When the shelves go empty, Maine retailers and distributors will lose sales, customers will take their business elsewhere and the state will lose tax revenue it could be collecting.

There is a better path forward, and it starts with treating hemp beverages like beer. That means requiring age verification, labeling products clearly, taxing them fairly and selling them through the same distributors and retailers that already handle alcohol responsibly.

The Hemp Beverage Alliance, a national trade group I’m a proud member of, is urging Congress toward exactly this kind of framework. Moving these drinks into the cannabis dispensary system would shut out the brewers who have the equipment and experience to make them safely.

To Sen. Collins, Sen. King and Rep. Pingree: craft beer has been one of this state’s great economic success stories, and hemp beverages can be its next chapter. Maine brewers are ready to make these products the right way, and I urge you to regulate this category instead of banning it.

To every reader who enjoys these drinks or simply believes adults deserve the choice, you can help. Tell Congress, even in a single sentence, why these drinks matter to you and that you support safe, regulated sales. Dec. 11 is getting close, and your voice matters now.