Pacific · July 29, 2026

RNDC Bankruptcy Puts Pacific Hemp Beverage Distribution in Play

The second-largest U.S. alcohol wholesaler, an early mover in hemp and CBD drinks, filed Chapter 11 on July 26 with its Alaska joint venture inside the case and its Oregon and Washington operations already sold.

Key Facts

Republic National Distributing Company filed for Chapter 11 on July 26 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, listing assets of $500 million to $1 billion against liabilities of $1 billion to $10 billion, and said it would pursue sales of remaining markets and an orderly wind down.
RNDC's Alaska operation is the only joint venture inside the bankruptcy; its Oregon and Washington operations were sold to Columbia Distributing on June 30, giving Columbia roughly 850,000 additional cases and control of the region's largest wholesale route to market.
RNDC filed a conditional WARN notice with Alaska's labor department on July 6 covering up to 160 Juneau employees, naming September 4 as the earliest date employment losses could occur if the pending Columbia transaction completes.
Alaska Senate Bill 208, an industrial hemp program overhaul establishing tiered grower categories, risk-based testing and a remediation path for crops testing between 0.3 and 1 percent delta-9 THC, was transmitted to Gov. Mike Dunleavy on July 23. He has until August 15 to act.

# RNDC Bankruptcy Puts Pacific Hemp Beverage Distribution in Play

PACIFIC, July 29, 2026: Republic National Distributing Company, the second-largest alcohol wholesaler in the United States and one of the first to carry hemp-derived and CBD beverages, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 26, leaving control of the West Coast's largest wholesale route to market in the hands of a single regional buyer.

RNDC entered the process voluntarily in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, along with 17 affiliated entities, listing estimated consolidated assets of $500 million to $1 billion against liabilities of $1 billion to $10 billion and more than 100,000 creditors, according to The Spirits Business. The filing noted that no alcohol distributor of its size had previously sought Chapter 11. In a statement, the company said the process was intended to "explore potential sale transactions in court and implement an orderly wind down of our remaining operations."

The Pacific exposure is concentrated in Alaska, which is the only RNDC joint venture inside the bankruptcy. Joint ventures in New York, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky sit outside it. RNDC agreed in April to sell its Alaska, Oregon and Washington operations to Columbia Distributing; the Oregon and Washington portions closed June 30, adding roughly 850,000 cases of wine and spirits to Columbia's book. The Alaska sale remains pending through the court process.

RNDC Shared Services LLC filed a conditional Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notice with the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development on July 6 covering as many as 160 Juneau employees, identifying September 4 as the earliest date employment losses could occur if the transaction completes, The Alaska Story reported.

RNDC entered the cannabinoid beverage category in 2021 with DayTrip, Oh Hi, Sati Soda and Wyld CBD, distributing in Alaska and Oregon among other states. Its wind down removes one of the few national wholesalers that had built a hemp beverage position, and concentrates that question in Columbia Distributing across three of the region's five states.

In Alaska's legislature, Senate Bill 208 was transmitted to Gov. Mike Dunleavy on July 23, according to The Marijuana Herald. The governor has until August 15 to act. The bill would establish tiered grower categories, including a micro-grower designation for operations under one-quarter acre or fewer than 200 plants with reduced or waived fees, set risk-based testing frequencies, allow harvest up to 30 days after sampling, and eliminate in-state transportation permits between registered participants carrying approved documentation. Crops testing above the federal 0.3 percent delta-9 threshold but at or below 1 percent could be reconditioned, remediated or converted to nonintoxicating industrial use, with destruction reserved for crops above 1 percent. The bill also exempts compliant industrial hemp from the state marijuana tax. It does not alter Alaska's restriction of intoxicating hemp products to licensed marijuana stores.

Elsewhere in the region, the operative frameworks held: California's AB 8 and SB 378 continue to route intoxicating cannabinoid products into the licensed cannabis channel and restrict online sales, Oregon's OLCC hemp registry caps adult hemp beverages at 2 milligrams of THC per serving, Washington confines detectable-THC products to licensed cannabis retail, and Hawaii's Act 269 registration enforcement remains in effect with no publicly reported citation.

Two California measures reach Senate Appropriations on August 3. AB 2250, by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, would amend AB 8 to exclude CBN from the definition of cannabis concentrate. AB 2532, by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, covers multi-serving cannabis beverages and was amended to drop a proposed 10 milligram cap in exchange for industry-wide precision dosing, product identification, warning label standards and child-resistant containers, and would require retailers to provide a single-serving measuring device at no charge, according to California NORML.

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*Not legal advice. Regulatory status changes frequently and sources sometimes disagree on effective dates and docket posture; verify against primary sources before acting.*

Sources

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