Cannabis isn't only something you smoke or vape anymore. One of the fastest-growing corners of the menu is the cooler — drinks with cannabis blended right into them, from sparkling seltzers to teas to little shots you splash into your own glass. If you'd rather sip than light something, or you just want an alcohol-free option to hold at a gathering, beverages are worth understanding. Here's the plain-English version: what they are, the formats you'll actually see, and how to read a label so you know what you're buying.

What is a THC beverage?

A THC beverage is simply a drink with cannabis blended into the liquid. Because cannabis oil and water don't naturally mix, makers use a process called emulsification to break the oil into tiny droplets that stay evenly dispersed — the same basic idea that lets oil and vinegar hold together in a salad dressing. The result is a drink that pours and tastes like a normal beverage, with the cannabis distributed evenly through every sip rather than pooling at the bottom.

Two things are worth saying up front. First, these are non-alcoholic — a cannabis seltzer contains no alcohol, even though it might look like a hard seltzer on the shelf. Second, you're not burning anything, so there's no smoke and no smell of flower. Beyond that, beverages sort neatly into a handful of formats.

What kinds of cannabis drinks are there?

The beverage shelf looks varied, but almost everything falls into one of these buckets:

• Sparkling seltzers and sodas — the most common format. Light, fizzy, often fruit-flavored, and built to drink cold like any canned beverage. Many come in lower-sugar or zero-sugar versions.
• Teas, lemonades, and cold brews — still (non-carbonated) drinks, from iced teas to coffee-style cold brews for people who'd rather not have bubbles.
• Drink shots and tinctures — small, concentrated bottles meant to be taken on their own or added to a drink. A little goes a long way, so the label matters most here.
• Mixers and syrups — flavored concentrates you stir into seltzer, juice, or a mocktail at home, so you control the drink it goes into.
• Powders — single-serve packets you dissolve into water, sold for convenience and portability.

How are THC drinks different from edibles?

Both are things you consume rather than smoke, and on a Vermont shelf they're regulated and lab-tested the same way. The practical difference is mostly format and experience: a beverage is a drink you sip, often over the course of a sitting, while a gummy or chocolate is a bite you eat. Some people simply prefer the ritual of a cold drink in hand — especially as an alcohol-free swap at a cookout or on a porch — to chewing an edible. It comes down to which one fits the moment for you.

How do I read a cannabis beverage label?

This is the part that trips up newcomers, because a can or bottle is not always a single serving. Two numbers do the heavy lifting:

1. THC per serving — how much THC is in one serving, listed in milligrams (mg).
2. Servings per container — how many servings the package is divided into. A small single-serve seltzer is usually one serving; a larger bottle, a shot, or a syrup may be several.

Put those together and you know how the maker intends the package to be portioned. With a multi-serve bottle or a mixer, the listed serving is your guide — it's easy to pour more than one serving without realizing it, so treat the label's serving size as your reference point. If anything on the label is unclear, a budtender can walk you through it before you buy.

What should I look for on the Float On beverage shelf?

Everything in our cooler is made in Vermont and lab-tested — by law, a Vermont dispensary can only sell cannabis products grown and processed in-state, so the seltzers, teas, and mixers you see here come from Vermont makers. A few honest things to weigh when you're choosing:

• Ready-to-drink or make-your-own? A canned seltzer is grab-and-go; a mixer or shot lets you build the drink yourself.
• Flavor and sugar. Beverages range from full-sugar sodas to zero-sugar sparkling water, and from fruit to tea to coffee. Pick the one you'd actually enjoy drinking.
• Single-serve or multi-serve. If you want a no-math option, a single-serve can is the simplest place to start.
• Who made it. Every legal product names its maker — Vermont's small craft scene means that's a real, in-state operator.

You can browse the live menu to see exactly which beverages are in stock, or plan your trip from our downtown Burlington guide if you're coming from the Church Street area. New to dispensaries altogether? Start with what to expect your first time.

A few Vermont basics to keep in mind

Beverages follow the same Vermont rules as everything else on the shelf. It's adult-use for 21+, so bring a government-issued photo ID. Public consumption isn't permitted anywhere in Vermont — that includes Church Street, the waterfront, and your car — so a cannabis drink is for private use at home, not something to sip in public the way you might a regular seltzer. The menu price is the final, all-in price, with Vermont's cannabis taxes already included, and nothing you buy can legally cross state lines. Keep multi-serve bottles sealed and refrigerated between servings, and as always, store everything well away from kids and pets — a cannabis drink can look just like an ordinary one.