Cannabis and CBD-infused beer is nothing knew, but beer brewed from actual cannabis is, and it’s the latest innovation to potentially upend both the cannabis and beverage industries at once.
Province Brands, a small Toronto startup, is currently employing a handful of scientists in a tiny Ontario laboratory tasked with testing enzymes and experimenting with fermentation—all in the hopes of developing what is being described as the world’s first beer brewed from cannabis.
“Most cannabis beers on the market are brewed from barley and infused with marijuana oil, Province Brands’ Dooma Wendschuh told The Guardian. “That’s not what we do. Our beer is brewed from the stalks, stem, and roots of the cannabis plant.”
The goal is to create a product that, when consumed, would be the rough equivalent of a single dose of alcohol, and so far, the company isn’t that far off. While it took a while to eventually nail down the right combination of hops, yeast, water, and of course, cannabis, they’re now able to achieve about 6.5 mg of THC per beer, with any alcohol produced during the process being completely removed. The result? A non-alcoholic, gluten-free beer that offers up a buzz equal to that of alcohol, albeit one that feels like a high instead. As for the actual taste, well, that’s a different story.
“The flavor is dry, savory, less sweet than a typical beer flavor,” said Wendschuh. “The beer hits you very quickly, which is not common for a marijuana edible.”
Province Brands is betting big on the proprietary recipe, with plans to build a C$50m facility to serve as the world’s first cannabis brewery. Similar to how breweries produce different types and flavors of beer, Wendschuc hopes to produce a variety of beers made from different strains and flavors of cannabis.
Wendschuc says his beer is just the first step in helping to hopefully change an entire industry that’s become way too ubiquitous. “If I could create an alternative to alcohol, that’s something that would change the world,” he said. “That’s something I’m very passionate about.”
Whether that passion along with the company’s proprietary cannabis beer will actually make a dent in the liquor industry’s stronghold is yet to be seen, but the idea of a true (and legal) cannabis beer offering up a similar buzz to that of actual beer without all the negative effects of alcohol is certainly a promising—and very exciting—prospect.
