In case you’re living under a rock, voters in Colorado opted to legalize adult marijuana, cultivation, and sales this past Election Day by passing Amendment 64. Now that Colorado has made things legal, many beer and marijuana enthusiasts are asking, “So… who is going to make a pot-infused beer first?”
Marijuana is still illegal in the eyes of the federal government, and since commercial brewers’ recipes are regulated by that law, we shouldn’t expect to see them pumping out pot beer any time soon. However, homebrewers are more than free to experiment with the green stuff.
Even before the Amendment passed, craft breweries in Colorado were selling marijuana-themed beers. These beers don’t have weed in them, they just pay homage to the great Mary Jane. One beer, “Hoppy Boy,” by Boulder’s Twisted Pine Brewing, is marketed as Tall Hoppy Cans – aka, THC. The cans are also covered in buds of marijuana. There’s also the ever-popular beer, “Hazed & Infused,” by Boulder Beer Company.
With many breweries already selling pot-themed beer, which ones will be the first to actually practice what they preach? In an article by David Young in The Coloradoan, Gary Glass, the Director of Boulder’s American Homebrewer Associated, said that he sampled a beer brewed with marijuana in it at a Boulder Dredhop Homebrew competition, and he didn’t really like it. However, with all of the different innovations coming out of the homebrewing community, he thinks (and we agree) that someone is bound to come up with a whole new style of beer including marijuana.
It will be interesting to see how creative homebrewers get with marijuana infused beer, especially since it wouldn’t be that expensive. Would you try it? And don’t worry… we won’t tell the officials if you say yes.