High Hopes: How Breweries Are Tackling the THC Opportunity | Imbibe Magazine

Over the last couple of years, I've been tracking the rise of THC-infused beverages, one of the biggest shifts in social consumption. Where there's no smoke, there's less ire, and an opportunity to bring in new customers.

For my latest feature in Imbibe magazine, I finally took a deep dive into the dizzying world of cannabevs, a landscape that's shifting by the week as laws evolve.

Breweries like Urban South and Indeed, cideries such as 1911, and upstart beverage companies such as Cann and Pamos are producing drinks containing C₂₁H₃₀O₂, or THC, derived from cannabis and its cousin hemp. (The chemical makeup of THC is identical in both plants.) The drinks, which are sold to 21-and-up consumers, cut away cannabis stigmas by eliminating the divisive elements, such as a joint’s smoke or getting too stoned after eating edibles, and recasting cannabis as a micro-dose drink with around two to five milligrams of THC per serving—about as intoxicating as a light lager.

“People want things that are sessionable, and weed is not an exception,” says Shelby Poole, the marketing director of Happy Days Dispensary in Farmingdale, New York.

I highly doubt this will be the last time I cover this topic. P.S. The article is print-only for now.