More than just a stoner’s dream, cannabis-infused beer is close to becoming a reality.
A small number of studies have been conducted regarding the effects of mixing cannabis and alcohol, apparently the effects of crossfading aren’t on the forefront of researcher’s minds.
However, a study conducted at the McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School found that drinking alcohol may increase the effects on marijuana and contribute to a “positive subjective mood effects of smoked marijuana and contributing to the popularity of this drug combination.”
Mixing alcohol and cannabis is a popular way to relax over the weekend but generally frowned upon by cannabis and alcohol regulators. For example, dispensaries can’t stock alcohol, liquor shops sell weed and the glorious THC-infused cocktails in Los Angeles were short-lived. In January 2019, AB 2914, prohibited the sale of THC and CBD-infused alcoholic beverages in California.
Although cannabis is still deemed illegal by the federal government, CBD derived from hemp was legalized by the 2018 Farm Bill and shouldn’t be off-limits for brewers. CBD products are now legal throughout the United States but there is still a legal grey area around CBD-derived from cannabis versus CBD-derived from hemp. According to Project CBD, the main difference between CBD derived from hemp and marijuana is the resin content. To meet federal standards, CBD produced from hemp must be no more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight.
An Aurora, Colorado brewery received approval from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to sell to CBD-infused beer. Dad and Dudes Breweria’s General Washington’s Secret Stash IPA contains 5mg of CBD per bottle but no THC. The beer’s name is a nod to the “fringe subculture who hail Washington as a hemp advocate since he grew it on his Virginia farm and is thought by some to have smoked marijuana,” Dad and Dudes Breweria representatives said to Men’s Journal in an interview.
General Washington’s Secret Stash IPA follows in the footsteps of pioneering breweries making CBD-infused beer and selling locally. Coalition Brewing in Portland, Oregon offers Two Flower IPA, a CBD-infused beer with “the beer profile of the Pacific NW and the Cannabis plant.” Each bottle contains 6 % 55 IBUs of alochol and 4 mg of CBD, according to Coalition Brewing’s website.
Prefer not to mix alcohol and cannabis?
Ceria Brewing produces a non alcoholic Grainwave Belgian-Style White Ale infused with 5mg of THC (aka, the chemical compound in weed that gets you high). Based in Arvada, Colorado, Ceria Brewing is headed by Keith Villa, the same brewer who produced MillerCoors’s iconic Blue Moon Belgian Wheat.
Villa described the beer as a “typical Belgian-style white beer” in an interview with Outside Magaizne. He cautioned that the THC hits you in about 15 minutes since it’s in liquid form but that the 5mg dose is a responsible amount of THC to consume.
