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Beyond the Mocktail: What Every Bar Needs to Know About Serving THC Drinks

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We've never trusted a menu that hides things. If your restaurant buries the fire extinguisher behind a decorative fern, we're leaving. The same logic applies to THC seltzers and THC beverages—and yet bars across the country keep stuffing them into the mocktail section like a secret they're embarrassed about.

In a recent Dry Atlas webinar, our own Ashish Joseph and Japna Kaur from the LOKI THC Experience Team sat down with Monica Olano, owner of the THC-forward bar Melange, to talk about what's actually happening—and what's going wrong—as THC drinks make their way onto bar menus and restaurant floors nationwide.

The conversation was practical, occasionally blunt, and useful in the way that most industry advice isn't. Here's what came out of it.

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Don't Call It a Mocktail. It Isn't One.

The single fastest way to create a problem with THC-infused beverages is to pretend they're juice. Our co-founder Ashish Joseph was clear on this: "This is not just a juice... It is psychoactive. There is a feeling that you'll get from it."

Which is a polite way of saying: if someone orders what they think is a sparkling grapefruit refresher and twenty minutes later they're having a private conversation with the ceiling fan, that's on you. THC seltzers need their own section on the menu—not wedged between the virgin mojito and the cucumber spa water. Customers deserve to know what they're signing up for, and your liability insurance would probably appreciate the clarity too.

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The Dosage Problem (And Why We Went Low)

Here's the thing about cannabis-infused drinks that nobody warns you about at the beginning: Americans, bless us, will always assume more is better. Early edible culture rewarded this instinct with 20mg gummies and a prayer. The on-premise world has learned differently.

We pivoted from 20mg down to 3mg and 5mg THC seltzer cans—not because we lost our nerve, but because we gained our senses. A low-dose THC drink lets someone have a sessionable night. Multiple cans. Actual conversation. Nobody calling an Uber at 8:45.

Monica Olano trains her staff at Melange to walk guests through the pacing: "Drink half of the can, see how you feel... and when you feel good, grab a different drink." Unlike alcohol, which announces itself immediately and loudly, THC beverages take 10 to 15 minutes to arrive. They knock politely. You should be home when they do.

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Sell the Feeling, Not the Formula

Nobody walks into a bar and says, "We'd love 4.7 milligrams of Delta-9 THC with a 2:1 CBD ratio, neat." And yet that's how half the industry tries to sell hemp-derived THC drinks—like a chemistry exam you didn't study for.

Olano's approach is simpler and better: ask the guest, "What is your vibe?" Are they unwinding? Celebrating? Trying to tolerate their in-laws at the next table? Guide them to the right THC seltzer based on how they want to feel, not what's on the certificate of analysis.

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The Economics of the Munchies

Restaurant owners terrified of losing alcohol margins to THC-infused seltzers should consider what happens after the second can. Our co-founder Joseph made the point that most people politely ignore: THC makes you hungry.

"As soon as you start feeling it, you get hungry... Sell them one LOKI and they'll order half your menu." While a fourth martini might produce a scene, a THC drink produces an appetite. The check averages, it turns out, can hold up just fine—possibly better, and with significantly fewer broken glasses.

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Training Staff Like You Mean It

You cannot hand someone a cannabis seltzer and shrug. Bringing THC beverages on-premise requires the same seriousness as alcohol service, plus a few extras:

Staff need to watch for overconsumption and intervene, just like with liquor. And they need to be honest about one deeply unsexy fact: hemp-derived THC drinks, legal as they may be in your state, will show up on a drug test. Our team member Japna Kaur was firm on this. Guests who are teachers, nurses, CDL drivers, or anyone subject to employment screening need to hear it before they order, not after.

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Who's Actually Drinking THC Seltzers?

Not who you'd guess. The demographic driving the THC beverage movement isn't the college kid in a tie-dye hoodie. It's the 30-to-35+ crowd—older millennials who spent their twenties pickling their organs and have decided, with the quiet dignity of someone who's seen things, that maybe there's a better way to be social.

They want a THC seltzer that fits into a dinner, a rooftop, a Tuesday. They want something that doesn't come with a hangover or a story they'll have to apologize for.

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The Bottom Line

For bars and restaurants, the THC drink opportunity is real—but only if you treat it like its own category with its own rituals, safety protocols, and menu strategy. As Olano put it, the keys are "compliance on every level and staff members you believe in to push it."

We built LOKI THC Seltzers for exactly this moment. Low-dose, sessionable, and designed for the kind of night you actually remember.

Which, if we think about it, is the whole point.