Bai Founder Launches Hard Soda Brand Crooked Pop: What the Celebrity-Backed Hard Soda Trend Means for Your Cooler Set

Every few years, a product lands that forces you to rethink a section of your cooler. Not because the marketing is loud — because the fundamentals are sound. Crooked Pop hard soda is shaping up to be that product for 2025. It's organic, zero-sugar, gluten-free, vegan, and built by someone who already turned a beverage startup into a billion-dollar exit. If you sell RTDs, this one deserves your attention.

The hard soda category is heating up fast, and it's attracting everyone from A-list celebrities to legacy beer companies looking for their next growth lever. That means more noise than ever competing for your limited shelf space. So the question isn't whether hard soda belongs in your store — it does. The question is which hard sodas will actually move, and which ones will sit there gathering dust until you mark them down.

This post breaks down everything you need to know: who's behind Crooked Pop, what makes it different from the pack, where the hard soda trend is heading, and — most importantly — how to make a smart stocking decision you won't regret in six months. Let's get into it.

The Billion-Dollar Beverage Brain Behind Crooked Pop

Who Is Ben Weiss (and Why Should You Care)?

Let's cut to it: Crooked Pop isn't another celebrity-backed hard soda riding a trend. It's the latest launch from Ben Weiss — the founder of Bai Brands, who built that company from scratch into a category-disrupting powerhouse in enhanced water, then sold it to Dr Pepper Snapple Group for $1.7 billion in 2017.

That's not a lucky exit. That's someone who understands how to identify white space in a crowded beverage market, build a brand consumers actually want, and scale it to national distribution.

If you're an independent retailer, that track record matters more than any influencer endorsement ever could.

From Bai to Bev-Alc: Why the Track Record Matters

Here's what makes Crooked Pop especially interesting for your 2025 cooler set: this isn't a cold start in alcohol.

Weiss already operates Crook & Marker, a zero-sugar organic alcohol line that quietly built distribution and brand equity in the better-for-you bev-alc space. Crooked Pop is an expansion of that established portfolio — not a gamble from someone learning the three-tier system for the first time.

The timing is telling, too. Crooked Pop arrives roughly nine years after Bai disrupted non-alcoholic enhanced water, which suggests Weiss sees a similar white-space opportunity in hard soda. The product checks four major "free-from" boxes: zero-sugar, USDA-certified organic, gluten-free, and vegan.

That's not a vanity project. That's a calculated bet from a founder with a proven playbook.

A strong founder story is one thing. But you can't sell a résumé — you sell what's in the can. So let's look at what actually makes this product different from everything else fighting for cooler space.

What Makes Crooked Pop Different from Every Other Hard Soda on the Shelf

The hard soda landscape in 2025 is getting crowded. So why should you care about another new entrant? Because Crooked Pop hard soda isn't just stacking flavors — it's stacking claims that no other hard soda on the market can match right now.

A Clean Label That Actually Means Something

Here's the short list: USDA-certified organic, zero-sugar, gluten-free, and vegan. Most competing hard sodas hit one, maybe two of those. Not Your Father's Root Beer? Malt-based, loaded with sugar. The typical flavored malt beverage in your cooler? Gluten is baked into the process.

Why does this matter to you as a retailer? Because younger legal-drinking-age consumers — particularly the 21-to-34 demographic — read labels before they buy. They're comparison shopping in your cooler the same way they comparison shop on Amazon. When one product checks every box, it wins the pickup. These aren't vanity claims. They're purchase drivers.

What Is Organic Super Dry Alcohol (OSA)?

This is where things get technical, so let's keep it simple. OSA — Organic Super Dry Alcohol — is Crooked Pop's proprietary alcohol base. It's not malt-based (like most hard seltzers and flavored malt beverages) and it's not distilled-spirit-based (which creates distribution headaches in many states). Think of it as a clean fermented base designed to carry flavor without residual sugar or gluten.

Expect a sessionable ABV — likely in the 5% range, right in the sweet spot next to your hard seltzers. That means no planogram disruption. It slides into existing cooler sets without requiring a new category conversation.

In a market flooded with celebrity names on cans, Crooked Pop is betting that substance sells the second can. For the retailer who watched Weiss turn Bai into a household name, that bet deserves cooler space.

Product differentiation only matters if the category itself has legs. So before you make room in the cooler, let's zoom out and look at where the broader RTD market is heading — and why hard soda is more than a passing fad.

The Hard Soda Trend in 2025: Why It's the Next Evolution Beyond Hard Seltzer

The RTD alcohol category has followed a clear evolution: beer gave way to hard seltzer, and now hard seltzer is giving way to something with more flavor and more personality. Hard sodas, hard teas, and flavored RTDs are where the momentum is heading — and the data backs it up.

Hard Seltzer Fatigue Is Real — Hard Soda Fills the Gap

Hard seltzer's explosive 2019–2021 growth has plateaued. The fizzy-water-with-alcohol novelty wore off, and consumers — especially Gen Z — started asking for more. More flavor. More brand story. More reasons to choose one can over another. The hard soda trend isn't a reaction to seltzer's decline; it's the logical next chapter. Shoppers still want the convenience and sessionability of RTDs, but they want drinks that actually taste like something. That's the gap hard soda fills.

Where Crooked Pop Fits in the RTD Landscape

This is where Crooked Pop gets interesting from a positioning standpoint. Most hard sodas lean into indulgence — big sugar, nostalgic branding, dessert-in-a-can vibes. Weiss is going the opposite direction: organic, zero-sugar, and health-forward. That carves out a distinct lane rather than competing head-to-head with every other new entrant.

For your store, the takeaway is straightforward: hard soda isn't a fad. It's a category expansion that deserves real cooler space and a smart merchandising strategy heading into 2025.

Of course, Crooked Pop isn't the only new brand vying for that cooler space. The celebrity alcohol gold rush is in full swing — which means you need a reliable way to separate the brands that will sell from the ones that will sit. Here's how.

Celebrity-Backed Hard Soda Brands: Hype or Staying Power?

Let's be real: you can't swing a bottle opener without hitting a celebrity alcohol brand these days. The RTD cooler is starting to look like a Hollywood afterparty, and your shelf space is the velvet rope.

The Crowded Field

Beyoncé launched SirDavis whisky. Travis Scott rode the seltzer wave with CACTI (before it got pulled). The Rock, Ryan Reynolds, Post Malone — the list keeps growing.

Some of these brands move units. Many don't survive their second reorder cycle.

The challenge for you as a retailer isn't spotting celebrity brands. They're impossible to miss. The challenge is figuring out which ones will still matter six months after launch — and which ones will collect dust between the craft IPAs nobody asked for.

How to Separate Signal from Noise

Here's a quick framework that actually works:

1. Founder's beverage experience. Did they build a brand or just lend a face to one?
2. Distribution infrastructure. Can they reliably restock your shelves, or is this a one-shipment wonder?
3. Repeat purchase potential. Will customers come back after the novelty fades?
4. Real consumer need. Does the product solve a problem, or is it just a name on a can?

Crooked Pop scores well on all four. Weiss isn't lending his name — he's operating the business, backed by the distribution infrastructure he built through Crook & Marker. And the product itself addresses a real gap: consumers who want a fun, flavorful RTD without the sugar, gluten, or artificial ingredients.

The bottom line: not every famous name deserves your shelf space. But founder-operator brands with proven supply chains and genuine product differentiation? That's a fundamentally different bet.

Now that we've established why Crooked Pop stands out from the celebrity pack, it's worth understanding the broader strategy behind it. Because this isn't just one product — it's part of an ecosystem.

The Bigger Picture: Crooked's Multi-Category 'Better-for-You' Platform

Crooked Pop isn't a one-off product launch. It's one piece of a much larger puzzle — and understanding the full picture matters for your buying decisions.

Crook & Marker, Crooked Pop, and Crooked Lane

Weiss has built three distinct lines under one philosophy: better-for-you beverages across every drinking occasion.

• Crook & Marker — Hard seltzers and cocktails, already established in the market
• Crooked Pop — Zero-sugar, USDA-certified organic hard soda targeting the 2025 trend
• Crooked Lane — THC-infused beverages, positioned for states where regulations allow retail sales

This is the same playbook Weiss ran with Bai. He builds platforms, not products.

What a Platform Brand Strategy Means for Retailers

Here's why you should care: platform brands spend more on marketing, maintain more consistent distribution, and build cross-category consumer loyalty. A customer who trusts Crook & Marker is a warm lead for Crooked Pop. That's built-in velocity for your shelf.

The THC beverage angle is worth watching closely. Depending on your state's regulations, Crooked Lane could open another revenue stream from the same brand family — no new vendor relationship required.

This ecosystem signals where the broader industry is heading: health-conscious, multi-format, and increasingly blurring the lines between alcohol and functional beverages.

Strategy and market positioning are great — but you came here for actionable advice. Here's exactly how to handle Crooked Pop in your store.

What This Means for Your Cooler Set: Practical Stocking and Merchandising Tips

Don't overthink this one — but don't ignore it either. Crooked Pop checks enough boxes that it deserves a deliberate spot in your store, not a random shelf placement.

Where to Place It

Put it next to your hard seltzers and premium RTDs. Not in the traditional FMB section, and definitely not buried with cream sodas. The Crooked Pop shopper is the same person browsing White Claw and Athletic Brewing — health-conscious, label-reading, willing to pay up. Its organic, zero-sugar, gluten-free, vegan positioning belongs in the better-for-you cooler door.

Use shelf talkers that call out those clean-label claims specifically. They're purchase triggers for Gen Z and millennial shoppers.

Start with a small test order. Let your POS data — not hype — tell you whether to expand.

How to Talk About It to Customers Who Ask

Give your staff one line: "It's from the guy who built Bai — organic hard soda, zero sugar, actually tastes like soda."

That's it. The Bai exit does the credibility work for you. Among the flood of celebrity names on cans, founder pedigree like that is rare. Use it.

The Bottom Line: Should You Stock Crooked Pop Hard Soda?

The Case For (and the One Risk to Watch)

The case for stocking Crooked Pop hard soda is strong. You've got a proven founder with a billion-dollar track record. The product itself is genuinely differentiated — organic, zero-sugar, gluten-free, vegan — in a category where most competitors can't match more than one or two of those claims. And with Crook & Marker's existing distribution network, this isn't launching from zero.

The risk? The hard soda category is getting crowded fast. Not every health-forward RTD converts trial into repeat purchase, and shelf space is finite.

Our recommendation: Give Crooked Pop a test run in your cooler set. The positioning earns it a shot. Then let your sell-through data decide.

Ready to Stay Ahead of the Curve?

The brands that win cooler space in 2025 won't be the loudest — they'll be the smartest. Crooked Pop has the founder credibility, the product differentiation, and the distribution backbone to earn a real look. Whether it becomes a permanent fixture in your store is up to your customers and your data. But getting it on the shelf before your competitors do? That's up to you.

If you want more data-driven insights on which products deserve your shelf space and which ones don't, subscribe to the Intentionally Creative newsletter — where we break down the trends, brands, and buying decisions that matter most for independent liquor retailers.