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“Alcohol Has Killed So Many Of My Friends”: Why Willie Nelson’s THC-Infused Beverage Brand Exploded Overnight
Willie Nelson: country music legend, outlaw icon, marijuana activist, and multi-million dollar businessman?
The Red-Headed Stranger wears a lot of hats (he’s actually more of a bandana user), and I only included a question mark on that last title because people might not be familiar with some of the business deals he’s wheeled-and-dealed later in life. One of the country star’s more recent entrepreneurial ventures has proven to be worth tens of million of dollars… and the product he introduced to the world isn’t even a year old.
Back in March of 2025, Nelson partnered with JuneShine Brands (makers of really good hard kombucha) to roll out THC-infused (and hemp-derived) social tonics and seltzers called Willie’s Remedy+. The drinks have been available online in cans and bottles – and 5 mg and 10 mg options – and they’ve been flying off the shelves of the internet storefront.
Just to give you an idea of just how lucrative the business has been, Willie’s Remedy+ currently has an $80 million run rate. That just means that, at the projected pace of sales and interest, the THC-infused beverage would bring in that amount in it’s first full year. They haven’t even been operating for a full year yet, and Willie Nelson and company are rolling in the dough.
Forrest Dein, the JuneShine co-founder and chief marketing officer, told Inc. that they were projecting some big-time sales… but never expected Willie’s THC beverages to take off like they have:
“We had big expectations, but we thought it would take a little bit of time just given our experience. It was just overnight.”
Willie’s Remedy+ has sold out of stock three separate times since the project launched last March. There was even a point in time where 10,000 customers were on a wait list just to make an order. So when Dein says the success was overnight, he wasn’t kidding. It’s been an unbelievable success, and the THC-infused drink hasn’t even celebrated it’s first birthday.
Though the financial side of Willie’s Remedy+ is (no-beverage-name-pun-intended) a plus, for Nelson, it’s the motivation behind the creation of the product that’s the most meaningful to him. It’s no secret that Willie Nelson has smoked and drank a fair share (or maybe even an unfair share) throughout his life. But as he’s gotten older, he’s given all that up.
Why? For the same reason that he created Willie’s Remedy+. He says the THC-infused and hemp-derived beverage is a tribute to his late friends just as much as his opening song to each and every performance of his is:
“Everything I do is related to something I did before. It’s 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.’”
Clearly, Willie’s Remedy+ has a lot of value to Nelson, and that’s in every sense of the word. Not only is it providing people with an alcohol substitute… it’s raking in millions upon millions of dollars. Not bad for a 92-year-old entrepreneur, eh?
The post “Alcohol Has Killed So Many Of My Friends”: Why Willie Nelson’s THC-Infused Beverage Brand Exploded Overnight first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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