The future of cannabis is drinkable. At least that’s how it looks from San Diego, where companies are infusing craft beer—along with coffee, tea, mocktails, and sparkling water—with weed’s active ingredient, THC. Two local companies recently launched nonalcoholic, pot-infused beers, betting that consumers will want to blend the taste and social aspects of various drinks with a smoke-free high.
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“With alcohol you know how quick it hits you, but that’s not usually known for cannabis.”
—Kevin Love, vice president of marketing for San Diego–based Cannabiniers, which claims to be the first company to have developed an additive-free way to achieve any desired “consumption curve,” aka the how-fast-you-get-stoned factor.
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Cannabinier’s Two Roots Brewing brand has a lager that gives the drinker a buzz in five to 10 minutes and wears off in about 90. Mira Mesa company High Style Brewing Co. sells its three heady IPAs—original hazy, blood orange hazy, and grapefruit hazy—at local dispensaries like Torrey Holistics, Mankind Dispensary, March and Ash, and Apothekare. A single beer has 10 milligrams of THC and just 50 calories, part of the reason it’s being marketed as a healthier alternative to craft beer.
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Cannabis beer is brewed like a normal brewski, then stripped of alcohol and infused with pot. Unlike alcohol, THC isn’t water soluble, so to take full effect in food and drink it must be finely emulsified first.
Tags: Cannabis, craft beer
