Two Canadian companies are teaming up to create the first cannabis-infused beer

Could cannabis-infused beverages be the next big thing in the cannabis industry? Since Constellation Brands' $4 billion investment At Canopy, the alcohol industry’s interest in cannabis is growing. This is the case, for example, with Molson Coors, in partnership with Hydropothecary, and Heineken, which sells a THC-infused beer in California, Hi-Fi Hops.

Province Brands of Canada, a Canadian company, wants to take things a step further by creating a beer that isn’t infused with cannabis but is brewed directly from the plant. The project isn’t new; the company has been working on it since 2016 and has even received a grant of 300,000$ from the Ontario government to carry it out. Today, it is partnering with Lost Craft Beer to benefit from his expertise in beer and the quality of his craftsmanship. Province Brands of Canada For its part, it will provide the technology needed for cannabis processing.

The taste of beer, the effect of weed

The idea of Province Brands is to replace the barley used to make beer with the cannabis plant—specifically its stems and roots, parts that have had little commercial value until now. The first step is to extract the fermentable sugars from the cannabis plant using a specific technology. The agreement between the two companies allows Lost Craft Beer to use the technology developed and patented by Province Brands and to market the beers under a brand bearing his name.

According to Dooma Wendschuh, director and co-founder of Province Brands, The cannabis beers currently on the market, which are made using an infusion process, taste bad. «The current selection is so subpar that it’s hard to envision a bright future for cannabis-infused beverages, but as with everything, you have to start somewhere,» he explains. He is convinced that by brewing beer from the cannabis plant and adding water and hops, he can produce a non-alcoholic beverage that tastes as good as any high-quality beer.

The result will be a non-alcoholic beverage that tastes like beer and has the effects of THC (the beverage will contain 6.5 milligrams of THC). However, this effect will not be exactly the same as that of a joint. Like beer, it will take less than 10 minutes to take effect and will last no more than half an hour. The beer will also be gluten-free and low in calories and sugar, since the barley is directly replaced by cannabis.

The edibles are currently banned in Canada. This product will not be available until 2019, when regulations on the matter are adopted. However, the market for cannabis-infused beverages is already showing promise in the United States, where the group Canaccord Genuity estimated sales of THC- and CBD-infused beverages at $600 million by 2022.

Thanks to its technology, the company Province has the wind at its back. It plans to be listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and is currently raising 30 million Canadian dollars in private funding. It will also soon move into a new 123,000 m² facility, currently under construction, in Grimbsy. This facility will have the capacity to produce up to 51 million bottles per year. Production will begin as soon as the edibles will be permitted in Canada.