Lagunitas launches sparkling water with cannabis
Lagunitas’ founder, the weed-loving Tony Magee, must have whipped his team into a frenzy to be the first in the market with a proper cannabis-infused product. Last year the Heineken-owned craft brewer tested the waters with SuperCritical, an ale brewed with aromatic compounds of essential oils extracted from marijuana plants. However, it left out the good stuff in cannabis.
This time it was to be a THC-infused beverage. Guess what, it turns out to be a sparkling water, which tastes of hops and contains THC and/or CBD. Unlike THC, cannabidiol (CBD) is not a psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, but is still used to treat pain.
The new infused beverage is called “Hi-Fi Hops” and production is shared between Lagunitas, which supplies the sparkling water from its original brewery in California, and CannaCraft, a manufacturer of cannabis-based products, also located in the Golden State.
CannaCraft is responsible for the THC-infusion process. Apparently, it takes some skill to remove the cannabis flavour from the buzz-giving ingredient and to make sure that the THC oil is dispersed evenly in the mixture. By splitting production, Lagunitas is also avoiding legal snags. It only produces the water. CannaCraft does the rest, including distribution.
Like all sparkling waters, Hi-Fi Hops has no alcohol and no calories. It is packaged in cans and will be available from as many as 250 Californian cannabis dispensaries as of 30 July 2018 in two strengths: The white can has five milligrams of THC and five milligrams of CBD, while the purple can has ten milligrams of THC.
