A new distribution partnership brings hemp THC and CBD beverage brand Kick Fizz into North Carolina stores and bars statewide, the region's lone significant industry move in an otherwise quiet week for South Atlantic hemp beverage law.
SOUTH ATLANTIC, September 2, 2026: Kick Fizz, a hemp-derived THC and CBD beverage brand made by Kick Beverage Company Inc., launched statewide in North Carolina on August 30 through a new distribution partnership with Tryon Distributing, a family-owned Charlotte wholesaler founded in 1985. The brand's Day Drinking and Evening Buzz flavors, sold in 2mg and 5mg THC dosages, will reach bars, restaurants, liquor and package stores, grocery and convenience stores, and recreational venues across the state, according to a company announcement.
The launch lands in a state whose hemp beverage industry has spent the summer fighting off House Bill 328, a bill that would have capped total THC at 0.4 milligrams per serving. That bill remains tabled after House Speaker Destin Hall said in early August it would not get a vote until after the November election, and Hall's promised working group to study the issue has still not been formally announced.
Elsewhere in the region, Virginia's Cannabis Control Authority used its official hemp information page to reaffirm that the state's 2-milligram total THC per package cap, in effect since August 15, carries no sell-through or grace period for existing inventory, a point some third-party compliance guides have described inconsistently. The seven hemp businesses that sued to block the cap have not said whether they will appeal U.S. District Judge Robert Ballou's ruling to the Fourth Circuit.
No other South Atlantic state introduced, passed, or ruled on hemp beverage legislation this week. Washington DC's Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board remains in recess until September 15, when the DC Council could take up Mayor Muriel Bowser's pending Medical Cannabis Beverage Product Amendment Act.
Forma works embedded on hemp and THC beverage formulation and commercial scale-up, from compliant dosing and label claims through co-packer qualification. This wire is a byproduct of the same regulatory tracking that informs that work.
See Beverage Formulation →