Bai Founder Bets Billions on 'Clean' Alcohol with New Crooked Pop Hard Soda

TRENTON, N.J. – March 24, 2026 – Nine years after sparking a revolution in the soft drink aisle with Bai, founder Ben Weiss is targeting his next disruption: the alcohol industry. Weiss, who sold his low-sugar beverage empire to Dr Pepper for a staggering $1.7 billion, today announced the launch of Crooked Pop™, a new line of hard sodas aiming to establish an entirely new category of 'clean' ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages.

The brand is debuting with what it calls the world's first USDA-certified organic, zero-sugar, gluten-free, and vegan hard soda. This ambitious entry into the crowded alcohol market is less a new product and more a direct challenge to the established norms of a category Weiss believes is lagging far behind consumer expectations for transparency and quality.

The Bai Playbook Revisited

For industry observers, the strategy feels familiar. Weiss built Bai by identifying a gap in the market for flavorful drinks that weren't laden with sugar and artificial ingredients. He now sees the same opportunity in the alcoholic beverage space, a sector he argues has failed to keep pace with the modern consumer's palate and preferences.

"Before Bai, you couldn't find a great-tasting soft drink that wasn't loaded with artificial ingredients and sugar," Weiss stated in the announcement. "Today, the same problem exists in the hard soda category. It's flooded with artificially flavored malt brews and distilled spirits stripped of flavor and mouthfeel."

This new venture is not Weiss's first foray into alcohol since the monumental Bai sale. In 2019, he launched Crook & Marker, a line of organic spiked seltzers and cocktails that also utilized a proprietary alcohol base derived from ancient grains. Crooked Pop appears to be the next evolution of this vision, sharpening the focus specifically on the hard soda segment, which has seen renewed interest but, in Weiss's view, little true innovation in its core ingredients.

His critique is pointed and direct. "Today's hard soda aisle looks like the soft drink sector did 15 years ago—sweet, artificial, and stuck in the past," Weiss added. By launching Crooked Pop, he is betting that the same playbook that won over health-conscious soft drink consumers can be successfully deployed to capture a share of the multi-billion dollar RTD alcohol market.

Deconstructing 'Clean' Alcohol: The OSA Innovation

At the heart of Crooked Pop's claim to originality is its proprietary alcohol base, dubbed Organic Super Dry Alcohol (OSA). Developed over four years, OSA is not a distilled spirit or a traditional malt brew. Instead, it is created through a proprietary fermentation process using a blend of ancient grains, including quinoa, amaranth, millet, and cassava.

This method is designed to produce an exceptionally clean and neutral alcohol, allowing the drink's natural flavors to stand out without the need for masking agents, artificial sweeteners, or added sugar. The result is a beverage that boasts just 80 calories, fewer than one gram of carbohydrates, and a zero-sugar profile, all while maintaining a bold flavor.

The brand's most significant differentiator is its USDA organic certification. Achieving this seal for an alcoholic beverage is a complex and rigorous process, requiring adherence to strict standards from sourcing to production. It guarantees that at least 95% of the ingredients are organic and prohibits the use of artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. This certification provides a level of third-party validation that few competitors in the RTD space can claim, offering a powerful marketing tool for a brand built on the promise of transparency.

"Crooked Pop isn't just a new hard soda brand. We're creating an entirely new RTD category powered by zero-sugar, USDA-certified Organic Super Dry Alcohol," Weiss proclaimed, signaling his intent to define a new market segment rather than simply compete within the existing one.

Tapping into a Thirsty Market for Transparency

The launch of Crooked Pop is timed to capitalize on a seismic shift in consumer behavior. The RTD alcohol market has experienced explosive growth, largely fueled by the hard seltzer boom led by brands like White Claw and Truly. These products conditioned consumers to look for lower-calorie, lower-sugar alcoholic options. Now, a growing segment of that market is looking for the next step: cleaner labels, organic ingredients, and complete transparency.

This trend is particularly pronounced among younger consumers, who grew up with an unprecedented awareness of ingredients and nutritional information. They are increasingly applying the same scrutiny to their alcoholic beverages as they do to their food and non-alcoholic drinks. By highlighting its ancient grain base and USDA organic seal, Crooked Pop directly targets this demand for 'better-for-you' products that don't compromise on taste.

The initial flavor lineup—Orange Cream, Blackberry, and Cherry Lime—leans into nostalgia, offering familiar, comforting profiles in a modern, clean format. This combination of classic taste with progressive ingredient standards is a calculated move to appeal to a broad demographic, from wellness-focused millennials to Gen Z consumers entering the legal drinking age.

A Crowded Aisle and an Aggressive Launch

Despite its unique proposition, Crooked Pop enters a fiercely competitive arena. The RTD aisle is packed with offerings from global beverage giants and nimble startups alike. The hard soda category itself has seen recent entrants, including a 'hard' version from craft brand Jones Soda, indicating that Weiss is not alone in seeing potential in the space.

However, Crooked's launch strategy suggests it is prepared for the fight. The brand will debut on April 1 in select but strategic markets, focusing on southeastern states like Georgia and Florida. More importantly, it has already secured distribution with major national retailers, including Total Wine and Harris Teeter. In a move demonstrating significant confidence and marketing muscle, the brand has also inked deals for placement in major sports stadiums in cities like Atlanta and Tampa, putting Crooked Pop directly in front of thousands of potential customers from day one.

With a proven entrepreneur at the helm, a product that taps directly into prevailing consumer trends, and a well-funded, aggressive go-to-market strategy, Crooked Pop is positioned as far more than just another new drink. It represents a high-stakes test of whether the 'clean label' revolution that transformed the food and soft drink industries is finally ready to conquer the world of alcohol.