Bloom & Barrel
THC-Infused Beverage | Brand Strategy, Consumer Research, Brand Architecture, Packaging, Creative Direction, Go-to-Market Planning, Digital & Social
A category that didn’t exist yet. So we defined it.
Client: Silver Hawk
Scope: Full brand development, dual-brand architecture, go-to-market.
Year: 2024, ongoing
The Situation
Silver Hawk had spent years building an award-winning Paso Robles winery. When the team began experimenting with THC-infused, de-alcoholized wine, what started as a passion project quickly became something bigger. They brought it to Gambit with a product they believed in and a category most consumers did not yet understand.
There was no playbook for this. No shelf it obviously belonged on, no language the market already used to describe it, and no consumer who was looking for it by name. In a space that new, a brand does not get to stay undefined for long. Either it defines what it is with conviction, or the market reaches for the nearest familiar idea and files it under cannabis cliché. The work was to make sure the definition was ours.
The Strategic Challenge
- A brand-new category with no consumer playbook and no shared language for what the product even was
- A product most people had never encountered: real wine, de-alcoholized, infused with THC
- A younger, social consumer to win without leaning on tired stoner tropes
- An evolving regulatory environment to navigate from the start
Our Approach
Gambit’s first move was not design. It was research. We designed and moderated consumer focus groups in California and used them to pressure-test the entire proposition, not just the name. What came back was clear and actionable: there was a social, wellness-minded consumer looking for a new way to unwind, one that let them feel good, connect with friends, and wake up without regret.
That insight defined a drinking occasion the category had not yet claimed. From there, Gambit built the brand end to end: positioning and audience definition, naming, voice, visual identity, packaging, and the full e-commerce experience at bloomandbarrelwine.com, followed by ongoing photography, video, social, and campaign content that drives awareness, education, and sales.
Bloom & Barrel was also built as one half of a deliberate two-brand portfolio, each brand positioned for a distinct consumer off a shared product foundation, so the company could reach two very different audiences without diluting either.
The Idea
A better kind of unwind.
Real wine. Non-alcoholic. Infused with THC. Bloom & Barrel was built for the social consumer who wants to feel good and stay clear-headed, with a brand voice that is bright, modern, and unapologetically fun. Not a compromise, and not a cannabis product wearing a wine costume. A new occasion with a brand confident enough to own it.
The Shift
- A single product with an identity ceiling became a two-brand portfolio with clearly defined audiences and room to grow
- Stoner-coded positioning became two premium, wellness-forward brands credible enough to earn serious industry attention
- A founding team navigating brand, packaging, and regulatory complexity for the first time gained a senior strategic partner embedded in every decision
- Instinct-led product development became consumer-research-driven brand architecture
The Result
Bloom & Barrel has gone from a first-to-market concept to an award-winning brand defining an entirely new category. In 2026 alone, the brand earned three honors across two of the industry’s most respected competitions: a Judges’ Selection at the TEXSOM International Wine Awards, plus Platinum and Gold medals at the High Spirits Awards.
It is proof of something we believe about every brand, made literal by an empty category: the brand that writes the definition first is the one that owns it. Thoughtful brand-building did not just launch a product. It created a category and a new drinking occasion that did not exist before.
When a category has no definition, the market is happy to write one for you. Bloom & Barrel wrote its own.