OUR STORY
STATE B BEVERAGE CO.
Merging the realm of functional beverages with cannabis, State B offers a new option for people who want to enjoy the benefits of THC and CBD while also experiencing the healing power of herbs. Each can of State B is formulated to help the drinker enter an elevated state of mind.
State B is the brainchild of Kelly Woods, whose professional background includes being a certified sommelier, distiller, master mixologist and herbalist. After more than a decade-and-a-half of work in the food and beverage industry, Kelly started her own distillery and opened up a cocktail bar, for which she won several business and leadership awards. An epiphany in 2019 convinced her that she could create more benefit for people by crafting an alternative to alcohol that would not only help them ‘take the edge off’ but also include healing herbs that would complement the beneficial aspects of cannabis. Through her extensive understanding of how to blend flavors, she has created recipes that deliver delicious drinks to benefit both body and mind.
Sweetened only with organic agave nectar, each can of State B has only 25 calories or less, and will leave you feeling refreshed and hangover-free the next day.
Whether you are canna-curious, Cali-sober, wanting to cut down on alcohol, or a legacy consumer, State B is for you.
Drinks are what we do
State B Beverage Co. is part of the Brujera Elixirs Inc. family of brands. A line of Brujera brand syrups and shrubs to create next-level cannatails, cocktails or zero-proof drinks. Elevé – a line of beverages with the same fabulous ingredients as State B, minus the cannabinoids (coming 2021), and Shroom Boom – a line of medicinal mushroom infused beverages (coming in 2022).
Who is Kelly Woods?
It could be said that everything in Kelly’s life led her to creating a line of botanically-infused cannabis beverages. Growing up in a counter-culture community in rural Quebec, she was surrounded by people who grew their own food and herbs – including cannabis – so she gained a profound appreciation and understanding of the healing power of plants from an early age.
She developed her early entrepreneurial spirit as a child, making and selling hair accessories at local markets. As a teen, she began working in the restaurant industry, which led to gaining accreditation as a sommelier from Algonquin College in her early 20’s.
Around the same time, she also developed a passion for acting, and studied theatre at college – a passion that carries on to this day, with recent appearances in television series such as the Twilight Zone, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow.
As many in the acting profession do, she continued to work in the hospitality industry, advancing to roles in management, and becoming an award-winning mixologist along the way.
A move from Vancouver to Squamish, BC inspired her to create a craft distillery, making premium gin and vodka, along with an in-house cocktail lounge that received rave reviews from locals and travelers alike. Success in this venture led her to winning several business awards, including the RBC Women of Influence award, BC Businesswoman of the Year, and the Western Canada CANIE Woman Entrepreneur Award.
During this period, she came up with the idea of creating a line of herbal-infused syrups that could be used in mixing both cocktails and mocktails, recognizing that there was an ever-growing community of people who were ‘sober-curious’ yet still wanted to be able to enjoy delicious beverages in a social setting. This led to forming Brujera Elixirs Inc., and the Boozewitch line of shrubs and tonics. Each flavour included carefully chosen health-promoting herbs, including several that Kelly wildcrafted herself!
As if that didn’t keep her busy enough, she founded two community organizations and became a mom to a son, now 4.
Life threw her a curveball, however, when she developed a serious allergy to molds, and realized that she could no longer carry on working in a distillery. A moment of serendipity arrived when she discovered an article in Forbes magazine about a woman-led accelerator for entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry called The Initiative, which she joined shortly thereafter.
Kelly’s insight into the world of parenting, health-consciousness, and the growing movement of people choosing sobriety, along with her ingrained knowledge of flavours and herbal medicine led to the founding of State B Beverage Co. She personally engaged in the creation of each and every product in the Brujera Elixirs family of drinks.
With State B, Kelly is offering consumers a way to not only ‘elevate their state’, but to also boost performance of their bodies and minds, while providing a delicious alternative to alcohol that could be enjoyed in either social setting, or on one’s own.
A line of non-medicated beverages called Elevé (with the same formulations as State B, but without cannabis) and a line of ready-to-drink medicinal mushroom drinks, called Shroom Boom, are set for release in 2022.
Kelly Woods Fact Sheet
- Certified Sommelier, Distiller and Herbalist
- Master Mixologist
- Legacy cannabis user
- Trained in herbs and permaculture with the late Robin Wheeler
- Trained in permaculture with Delvin Solkinson
- Studied herbalism and animism in Mali and Burkina Faso with medicine people
- Studied amazonian plant medicine in the traditions of the Shipibo and Quechua
- Kundalini yoga teacher
- Alchemy of Herbal medicine student under the guidance of Seraphina Capranos