CANADA... developng World's first Beer from Cannabis
Ashifa Kassam in Belleville 12 hrs ago
Cann Group Analysts estimate marijuana-related products and services in Canada could eventually be worth between C$12bn and C$22bn.
In a small Ontario laboratory, scientists are testing enzymes and experimenting with fermentation. While their techniques are not new, their focus is a first; they are developing what is being described as the world’s first beer brewed from cannabis.
Most cannabis beers on the market are non-alcoholic, brewed from barley and infused with marijuana oil, according to Dooma Wendschuh of Province Brands, the Toronto startup behind the product. “That’s not what we do. Our beer is brewed from the stocks, stem and roots of the cannabis plant.”
It is a story playing out across Canada, as entrepreneurs race to secure a foothold in what is expected to be a multibillion-dollar market. CANADA will become the second in the world to legalize marijuana for recreational use on 17 October.
Edibles are expected to become legal one year later, paving the way for cannabis-infused products that range from brownies to honey.
At Canopy Growth, North America’s first publicly traded cannabis company, researchers are developing a line of cannabis-infused cocktails.
Pointing to Colorado, where the legalization of marijuana has led to a boom in edibles, analysts estimate marijuana-related products and services in Canada could eventually be worth between C$12bn and C$22bn.
Wendschuh, who is from Miami, moved to Toronto in 2016 to capitalize on Canada’s pending plans for legalization and to create an alternative to alcohol.
“The idea came from thinking, can we create something that can serve the role that alcohol serves in our society and can we do that using this monumental sea change that is happening in our world right now?
“I don’t think there was anywhere else in the world where we could do this business. Canada is already leading the world in creating an industry around medical cannabis and we expect them to continue to lead the world in trading and industry around adult-use cannabis.”
Initially there were doubts over whether cannabis could be brewed into beer. “The things that we would come up with just tasted horrible,” Wendschuh said. “They tasted like rotten broccoli.”
With the help of a chemist, he eventually hit on the right combination of hops, water, yeast – and cannabis. The result was a non-alcoholic, gluten-free beer that offers a high.
“The flavour is dry, savory, less sweet than a typical beer flavour,” he said. “The beer hits you very quickly, which is not common for marijuana edible.”
The aim is to create a product that, when consumed, will be roughly equivalent to a single dose of alcohol. So far the company’s experimental products have averaged about 6.5mg THC a beer.
The recipe is the backbone of the company’s plans to build a C$50m facility that Wendschuh hopes will be the “world’s first cannabis brewery”.
The company is planning to roll out a variety of beers using different flavours and strains of cannabis, mimicking breweries that produce lagers, stouts and ales.
As the beer is brewed from the stocks, stem and roots of the cannabis plant, it offers an alternate use for what is essentially a waste product for the industry.
“We take them off the grower’s hands, saving them the cost of hiring a licensed disposal company to dispose of them,” said Wendschuh.
While he believed his product will be safer and healthier than alcohol, he acknowledged that it comes with its own risks.
He described his beer as a first step in upending an industry that has become 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.”
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Other News:
Rene Van Acker is hoping marijuana will prove a gateway drug for targeted generations of young people — horticultural students.
In launching the first university lab in Canada dedicated to cannabis production, the dean of the Ontario Agricultural College believes the chance to study pot will entice budding plant scientists in a way that flax or soybeans never could.
It will look at the breeding, production, processing and storage of cannabis and will work with veterinary and human health professionals on campus.
Van Acker says the coming legalization of recreational cannabis on Oct. 17 will normalize the product and plant it firmly within the field of everyday Canadian crops.
“We view this as just an expansion of the agriculture and food sector,” he says. “And so we view it very positively in that respect. And our involvement has been with an industry that is very serious (and) wants to employ science.”