Cannabis is scheduled to become legal in Canada as of October 17th of this year. That means there will be a huge market for cannabis-based products like edibles, beauty products, pet treats (yes, pets can benefit from the relaxing effects of CBD too), and beverages. With the popularity of craft beer, it was only natural for someone to think to combine the two substances into a weed-infused beer.
Canadian company Province Brands has developed a weed-infused brew that is basically an edible in liquid form but with a high that hits you a lot quicker. The alcohol content is eliminated and the THC levels are around 6.5mg so you don’t have to worry about mixing two different types of highs. The company is also working on developing a line of cannabis-infused cocktails.
The founder of Province Brands, Dooma Wendschuh, is originally from Miami but moved to Canada specifically to pursue his own piece of in the multi-billion cannabis industry. “The idea came from thinking, can we create something that can serve the role that alcohol serves in our society, and can we do that using this monumental sea change that is happening is our world right now?” Wendschuh told The Guardian. “I don’t think there was anywhere else in the world where we could do this business. Canada is already leading the world in creating an industry around medical cannabis and we expect them to continue to lead the world in trading and industry around adult-use cannabis.”
Brewing a cannabis-infused beer that also tastes good has proven to be a difficult task. (Wendschuh says their first few attempts tasted like rotten broccoli), but with the help of a chemist, they developed a recipe that produces a non-alcoholic THC-infused ‘beer’ that has a dry, savoury, less sweet flavour than typical beer. It is brewed from the stocks, stem, and roots of the cannabis plant, which would normally be considered waste.
Keith Villa, the guy who created Blue Moon is also working on a THC-infused beer that he hopes to have on the market in Colorado (one of only nine states where marijuana is actually legal) by the end of the year.
There are a number of other big companies experimenting with CBD- and THC-infused brews. Constellation Brands, the company that owns Corona recently invested $4 billion in Canopy, a Canadian cannabis startup that is working on its own weed-infused beer.
Big beer companies have identified the burgeoning cannabis industry as a huge threat to their bottom line in the long run, but it seems like instead of being afraid of that threat, they’re embracing it. Sometimes if you can beat them, the better move is to join them.
Beer plus weed! What a win!