Drink Weird, the Portland-based yerba mate brand founded in 2021, is executing an ambitious convenience-store expansion strategy that could significantly increase the category's visibility in one of American retail's most competitive channels. Through a series of distribution agreements announced in late 2025 and early 2026, the brand has secured shelf presence across multiple states and retail formats — a trajectory that industry publication BevNET has characterized as a deliberate effort to establish yerba mate as a mainstream convenience-store staple.
Distribution Network Expansion
The brand's most strategically significant partnership is with Nevada Beverage, an Anheuser-Busch-affiliated distributor that will handle direct store delivery (DSD) across the Las Vegas market and surrounding regions. DSD distribution — in which the distributor handles delivery, merchandising, and shelf management — is widely considered the gold standard for beverage placement in convenience stores, where space is limited and competition for cold-drink real estate is intense.
Additional distribution milestones include placement in all Jacksons Food Stores locations (January 2026), all Fred Meyer stores (January 2026), and Lazy Acres Natural Markets (February 2026). The brand also expanded into Costco warehouses across Northern California and Nevada in September 2025, and launched in Asheville, North Carolina, through a partnership with Budweiser of Asheville in December 2025.
The C-Store Opportunity
Convenience stores represent approximately 80% of single-serve energy drink sales in the United States — a channel where yerba mate has historically been underrepresented. Drink Weird's strategy mirrors the playbook used by successful RTD brands in adjacent categories: build a loyal following through natural and specialty retail, then leverage that demand signal to negotiate placement with mainstream convenience operators. The brand's Mystical Mint flavor, available at HEB since July 2025, has served as a proof-of-concept for the approach.