Post-WSWA Reality Check: Rising Tides, THC, and the Missing Conversation
The energy at WSWA was strong. Booths were busy. Conversations were candid. But beneath the surface optimism was a recurring theme that felt… unresolved. “Help us sell THC. Rising tides raise all boats.” Distributors and retailers see hemp-derived THC beverages as incremental revenue — a way to bring in new shoppers, drive basket size, and stay relevant as consumer behavior shifts. At the same time, many alcohol brands quietly asked the opposite question:
“Why would I support you in bringing in something that reduces attention to my brand even more than it already is?”
And that tension — unspoken but palpable — was the real story of WSWA.
The Attention Crisis No One Solved
For years, alcohol brands have operated within a predictable framework:
Win distributor placement
Secure retail shelf space
Support with trade spend
Hope velocity follows
But the truth most brands already feel: distributor attention is finite. Retail shelf space is finite. Sales rep time is finite.
Now add THC to the mix.
From a distributor’s point of view:
New category.
High growth.
Consumer curiosity.
Margin opportunity.
From an alcohol brand’s point of view:
Same reps.
Same stores.
Same finite focus.
More competition.
That’s not a rising tide.
That’s a redistribution of attention.
And at WSWA, there were plenty of panels describing the challenges.
Fewer offering real structural solutions.
The Hard Truth: Consumers Aren’t Waiting for the Industry to Figure It Out
The most glaring omission from the conversation?
The consumer has already moved.
They are:
Discovering products on Instagram and TikTok
Learning from creators
Searching Google before they ever step into a store
Comparing prices online
Expecting convenience and local pickup
The creator economy is shaping beverage demand faster than distributor sales cycles ever could.
Yet the three-tier system largely still operates on a push-first model:
Push product into distribution
Push product into stores
Push product with rep visits
What’s missing is pull.
The Real Question the Industry Should Be Asking
Instead of debating whether THC steals attention from alcohol, maybe the better question is:
How do we evolve to meet the consumer where they already are?
Because the consumer doesn’t care about:
Sales rep coverage gaps
Portfolio congestion
Distributor bandwidth
They care about:
Stories
Experiences
Taste
Community
Social proof
They care about creators they trust.
And they are increasingly online when making decisions.
Story Is the New Shelf Space
Consider a brand like Mount Rigi — a father-and-son business out of Switzerland producing a mountainous cherry liqueur rooted in Kirsch tradition.
That story:
Alpine heritage
Generational craftsmanship
Authentic cherry-based Kirsch tradition
Is powerful.
But on a retail shelf next to 1,200 other SKUs?
It becomes a label.
Without amplification, it’s invisible.
And that’s the broader industry problem:
We are fighting for inches of shelf space
When the real battleground is infinite digital attention.
THC vs Alcohol Is the Wrong Frame
This isn’t alcohol versus THC.
It’s legacy distribution models versus modern consumer behavior.
If distributors say, “Help us sell THC because rising tides raise all boats,” then brands are right to ask:
How does this grow my velocity?
How does this grow my brand equity?
How does this grow my repeat purchase rate?
The answer can’t just be “trust the system.”
The system wasn’t built for:
Creator-led discovery
Local pickup ecommerce
Data transparency
Influencer-driven conversion loops
AlcPay’s Perspective: Distribution Needs Demand Infrastructure
At AlcPay, we left WSWA convinced of one thing:
The industry doesn’t need more talking points.
It needs better demand architecture.
That’s why we built Rounds.
Rounds isn’t just another marketing channel.
It’s a connective layer between:
Creators telling product stories
Consumers discovering beverages online
Retailers fulfilling locally
Brands seeing measurable demand
Instead of hoping a distributor rep tells the story correctly, Rounds enables:
Creator-led storytelling
Shoppable content
Geo-targeted campaigns based on retailer footprint
Measurable pull into local stores
Now the conversation changes.
Instead of:
“Help us sell THC.”
It becomes:
“Here’s how we grow velocity across categories.”
Rounds: Where Creator Economy Meets Three-Tier Reality
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
A creator tells the story of Mount Rigi’s alpine cherry heritage.
A consumer clicks.
The checkout surfaces nearby licensed retailers for pickup or delivery via AlcPay routing.
The retailer earns margin.
The distributor sees velocity.
The brand sees attributable demand.
That’s not theoretical.
That’s structural evolution.
It works whether the product is:
Tequila
Swiss Kirsch liqueur
THC beverage
Emerging craft spirit
Because the underlying principle is the same:
Demand must precede distribution leverage.
Rising Tides Only Work If We Build the Harbor
“Rising tides raise all boats” only works if:
There is demand
There is consumer awareness
There is conversion infrastructure
Otherwise, we’re just reshuffling limited attention.
The industry has an opportunity right now:
Embrace THC thoughtfully
Modernize how alcohol is marketed
Empower creators
Equip retailers with demand, not just inventory
And most importantly:
Stop pretending shelf space alone wins in 2026.
WSWA Was Honest. Now It’s Time to Be Brave.
WSWA surfaced the tension.
Now the industry must act on it.
If distributors want brands to support category expansion, they must support brand-level demand generation.
If brands want leverage in a crowded portfolio, they must invest in pull.
If retailers want traffic, they must be visible online.
The consumer has already evolved.
The question is:
Will we?
At AlcPay, we believe the bridge forward is clear.
Creator-led demand.
Local retail fulfillment.
Measurable growth.
That’s Rounds.
And that’s how rising tides can actually raise all boats.