Hemp-derived THC beverage brand Highlandia claimed Best in Show at the 2026 Summer PR%F Awards — a buyer-judged, blind-taste competition that scores spirits, wines, and beverages on a 100-point scale alongside traditional alcohol — with its Rocket Peak flavor earning a 98 and outscoring the full field. The win is notable not because a THC beverage placed well in a niche category, but because it topped a competition where conventional spirits are the baseline.
The brand's parent, Lifted Made, a subsidiary of LFTD Partners Inc. (OTCQB: LIFD), swept four medals across both the Tasting and Design competitions in the same cycle: Rocket Peak (98, Double Gold + Best in Show + Century Design medal), Cottondew Clouds (97, Double Gold tasting + Gold design), Free Spirit Bottle (91, Gold tasting + Double Gold design), and Tangilime Grove (87, Silver tasting + Silver design). Performance at that breadth across product and packaging scoring is the kind of result that moves distributor conversations forward.
New SKUs, Fast
The award news runs concurrent with a product-line expansion driven by sell-through pressure. Highlandia's original Free Spirit Elixir sold out of its initial production run shortly after launch, and the brand has responded with two new 750mL elixirs: Goldentea Trails, an iced-tea-inspired pour, and Limoncello Coast, built around bright lemon. Both are priced at $28.95 per bottle, delivering 10mg THC and 2mg CBD per 1.5oz serving (170mg THC and 34mg CBD per bottle), and are formulated to drink straight, over ice, or as a cocktail or mocktail base. Third-party batch testing and publicly available Certificates of Analysis are part of the compliance stack for every SKU — an increasingly standard expectation from retail buyers in this category.
Nick Warrender, CEO of Lifted Made, framed the competition results directly: "Buyers rated Rocket Peak a 98 and named it Best in Show. That's the kind of score that gets a beverage taken seriously, hemp-derived or not."
Distribution Velocity
The more operationally significant data point may be the distribution trajectory. Highlandia launched in Wisconsin and has reached retail and distribution presence in 11 states — Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas — in under six months. For buyers and distributors evaluating hemp-derived beverages, that expansion pace, combined with award-validated consumer scores, compresses the typical trial period before committing shelf space.
For operators and beverage buyers watching the non-alc and hemp-adjacent space, Highlandia's performance at PR%F is a signal worth tracking. The THC beverage category is moving from novelty placement to competitive evaluation alongside spirits — and competition results from buyer-judged panels are becoming part of the pitch deck, not just the press release. Retailers still navigating compliance considerations around hemp-derived products should note that the scheduled November 12, 2026 federal hemp definition change remains a live regulatory variable for any purchasing decision in this segment.
For more on the emerging hemp beverage landscape and how operators are sourcing and positioning functional beverages, see our coverage of beverage trend shifts and operator purchasing signals and brand launch strategies for retail-ready emerging categories.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
