Booze, Cannabis and the Limit of Good Ideas

How many of you are familiar with the taste of cannabis? Raise your hand.

Now that it’s established that a good number of FERMENTATION readers are also familiar with cannabis and all its attributes, raise your hand if you think the aromatic and flavor elements of cannabis are something you want to add to your food and drink.

Far be it for me to be a judgemental ass, but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head, nose, and tastebuds around the idea of purposefully adding the funky, skunky, lemony aromas and flavors native to cannabis to any food or drink.

Clearly, this is not a universal opinion. The good Dutch folks behind the new “Weedka” brand of Vodka thought adding cannabis terpenes to Vodka was a good idea. How did they come up with this idea?

“We started as most ideas flourish I guess, shooting the shit with some mates and coming up with the crazy idea of adding cannabis leaves to vodka, a bit like the botanical distillation of gins without the master distiller involved,” detailsMaarten Witteveen, a co-founder of the brand.

Ever since I went to Humboldt State University and was introduced to high-quality cannabis, I’ve had a hard and fast rule: Yes, be creative when indulging in cannabis. Yes, explore ideas when indulging in cannabis. But ALWAYS check those ideas later on with an unaltered mind. Always. It’s the only way to weed out the many ideas that seem good in the moment, but are really only good ideas when filtered through cannabis.

There is that moment when you walk into a room and get that first whiff of cannabis. At first, you think, “oh, that’s a pleasant remove from the norm…Hmmm…Pleasant. Where’s it coming from.” But later when the room is filled with the smoke and aroma of cannabis you almost always start seeking refuge. It’s the same with cannabis edibles. The first time you taste a cannabis-infused gummy bear or chocolate candy you think, “hmmm, that’s interesting. That’s different. But in the end, you start thinking, I wonder if they can infuse these things without the taste of cannabis? I don’t know anyone who, upon tasting these cannabis edibles, declares “good god, where has this culinary treat been all my life.

My guess is that Weedka will end up being very much Buttered Popcorn, Siriachi, smoked salmon flavored vodka and the myriad other flavored vodkas that were better off left as thoughts. Those who buy them will find them sitting for years in their bar, showing them off only as oddities when friends come over. 

With the legalization of cannabis now on a role, we are going to continue to see these half baked ideas come to fruition. My question remains if it can be done, should it really be done? But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe drinkers will cultivate a taste for skunky aromas and flavors and insist then be added to their vodka, wine, beer, casseroles, pasta, and pudding. Or not.

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2 Responses

  1. Tom Robinson - March 29, 2019

    I have a friend who makes cannabis beer. He has been able to take the flavor of pot out of the beer and and leave only the smell. It literally tastes like beer and smells like pot. I think this is the key.

  2. Drink Mary Jane's - March 30, 2019

    Some say hemp vodka is the nectar of the Gods, others say it’s the Buckley’s of vodkas.


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