How Willie Nelson’s THC beverage became an $80 million business in 1 year

At 92 years old, Willie Nelson has aged out of his title as the “world’s most prolific octogenarian,” but that doesn’t mean he’s slowed down. The country music legend, who has released more than 150 albums over his more than six-decade-long career and sold more than 40 million in the United States alone, has found a new milestone to reach. This time, as an entrepreneur rather than an outlaw. 

Nelson’s eponymous THC-infused beverage brand Willie’s Remedy+ has hit an $80-million run rate, according to the company—a multi-platinum feat for a startup that only started selling its cans and bottles online less than a year ago. 

For Nelson, who used to smoke two to three packs of cigarettes a day before giving up tobacco and alcohol years ago, the mission is personal. “Everything I do is related to something I did before,” Nelson tells Inc. “[This is] a great substitute for alcohol, and I know a lot of people drink too much . . . Alcohol has killed so many of my friends that, on top of that, I still open the show with ‘Whiskey River.’”

His company is a joint venture with kombucha brewer and canned cocktail maker JuneShine Brands, which provides the sales, marketing, and distribution for Willie’s Remedy+. Nelson’s hemp-derived social tonics and seltzers, which come in 5-milligram and 10-milligram varieties, launched within a matter of months. Discussions started at the end of 2024, and the first products rolled out by March 2025.

Nelson says he is “not surprised at all” by how quickly the brand resonated with consumers, but the trajectory has outperformed even JuneShine’s projections. 

“We had big expectations, but we thought it would take a little bit of time just given our experience,” says Forrest Dein, JuneShine’s co-founder and chief marketing officer. “It was just overnight.”

Dein, who also serves as a co-founder of Willie’s Remedy+, has even bigger ambitions. With premium brand positioning and solid unit economics supported by high margins, which Dein says are significantly stronger than JuneShine’s, he wants the brand to become the “Olipop in the THC category.”

That sales velocity and vision caught investors’ attention. Willie’s Remedy+ raised a $15 million series A funding round led by Left Lane Capital, which has invested in buzzy consumer startups such as Bilt, Blank Street, and Dein’s own North Star, Olipop. The investment round also included participation from Second Sight Ventures. 

After starting with a direct-to-consumer model, the startup plans to use the capital to expand further into retail, with a goal of hitting 10,000 points of distribution by this summer. Currently, Willie’s Remedy+ is available in some stores, including Total Wine, Lowes Food, TXB Stores, and Binny’s Beverage Depot, and on delivery platforms, including GoPuff and DoorDash.

After selling out of stock three times in the past 10 months—generating a 10,000-person waiting list at one point—the company says it will also be investing in inventory. 

JuneShine is not actively pursuing more partnerships like this, Dein says. Nelson provided a unique exception. Dein is originally from the island of Maui, where he went to high school with Nelson’s kids and became friends with his older son, Luke. With that personal history and a brand that he thought they could sell, Dein says he had to say yes.

“This story is as good as it gets, and there’s no one more authentic than Willie,” he says. “There’s no one who’s more synonymous with cannabis.”

Around 50 of JuneShine’s employees work on Willie’s Remedy+. The funding will also allow the mostly West Coast-based team to expand and hire more people in the brand’s strongest markets: Texas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. 

Compared to other canned THC drink brands, such as Wynx and Cann, the customer base for Willie’s Remedy+ skews much older, and the brand is embracing that difference, investing heavily in advertising on Meta and podcasts, particularly in the news, politics, and culture space. 

“Everyone’s chasing this kind of millennial [or] Gen Z drinker across trends on TikTok” says Dein. “Our customers are retired and have money.”

Unsurprisingly, Willie’s Remedy+ sponsored Nelson’s 40-show tour last summer, and the company is eyeing live events as a potential growth driver over the longer term as more consumers sample THC-infused beverages for the first time and become comfortable sipping outside of their homes. In five years, Dein believes the category could be massive, with people drinking THC drinks everywhere that they drink alcohol now. 

Still, with the uncertainty on the federal regulatory front, Dein says that “having some cash on hand would put us in a really good position.”

—Ali Donaldson

This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister website, Inc.com. 

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