It was Coca-Cola that first coined the expression “share of throat” — or “throat share”, to be more precise — as a way of describing its corporate aspirations. Whatever the non-alcoholic beverage consumers might be raising to their lips, from sweet fizzy drinks to mineral water, the Atlanta giant wanted it to be one of theirs. I want to look at a broader, more amorphous product I’m going to call “buzz”. Wine, beer, cider and spirits drinkers all get a buzz from the alcohol in their favourite beverage; marijuana users get theirs from the cannabinoid tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Marijuana boasts 113 cannabinoids; it is cannabidiol CBD that is recognised for the medical uses that have helped its path towards legalisation in the US. Until recently, quite apart from the small matter of legality, cannabis and alcoholic drinks differed in one specific respect. When you buy a bottle of vodka, beer or wine, most countries require there be an indication of its strength on the label. The strength of a joint has always been approximate, depending on how much of the plant’s flower is made up of THC. In Colorado where marijuana was legalised in 2014, its THC percentage has been found to range from 15 percent to 30 percent. Just as Lodi Zinfandels have been getting stronger in recent years, US marijuana farmers are steadily adding psychoactive muscle to their crop, so users sometimes get an unexpectedly large bang for their buck.
But the combination of commercialism and legalisation has introduced greater precision. Cannabis fans in California no longer need to roll their own cigarettes or bake cookies; they can buy mouth sprays that deliver a precise dose of THC. Users of Jambo sprays, for instance, can decide whether they want as little as one milligram of THC per “hit” or as much as six.
Wine professionals have an ambivalent attitude to the alcoholic content of their favourite beverage. They rarely mention it unless it’s to complain that 14 percent (or whatever) is too high. They almost never entertain the idea that they themselves — or the stereotypical young women enjoying their second glass of Pinot Grigio — are as much in quest of buzz as the older male with his double shot of bourbon. No, for us, alcohol is like the calories in desserts; unavoidable and only to be talked about after the event.
Casual wine drinkers seem to have their own ambivalence towards alcohol. When they are questioned, they often say that they want lower-strength reds and whites. When UK supermarkets have put clearly labelled 10 percent and 11 percent examples on the shelves, however, most shoppers have routinely reached past them for familiar bottles with at least 13 percent. They want the buzz.
One person who has taken an interest in the effects of various kinds of buzz is Professor David Nutt, the former chairman of the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, who lost that job for saying that horse riding was potentially more dangerous than Ecstasy. In 2010, Nutt — whose credentials include presiding over the British Neuroscience Association, British Association of Psychopharmacology, European College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the European Brain Council — controversially published a study in The Lancet. It stated that, when its impact on users and “others” is taken into account, alcohol is more harmful than heroin and crack cocaine. Since 2014, however, rather than focus on the relative dangers of particular narcotics, Nutt has taken a more constructive — and commercial — approach. After studying what he calls the “brain science of alcohol” he has developed a patented “responsible alternative to alcohol” that will allow users to get “tipsy” without hangovers or liver disease. A branded beverage called Alcarelle that will “sit alongside vodka” in bars is to be launched in 2018.
Last year, Constellation paid $191m for a 10 percent share of the world’s largest publicly traded cannabis company, Canopy Growth. Linda Gilbert, managing director of consumer research at the cannabis business analyst BDS Analytics, told Bloomberg that she saw “cannabis-infused beverages being a particular point of emphasis when it comes to marketing to women consumers” because of their lower calorie content than the increasingly popular “edibles”. A product like Alcarelle would tickle Constellation’s commercial appetite too. In other words, if I’m right, we’re about to see a battle for Share of Buzz. Who knows? Maybe even Coca-Cola, despite the distance it has maintained from alcohol, will be tempted to join the fray.
