Pot and non-alcoholic beer and seltzers continue to collide. Flying Dog Brewery is the latest craft brewery to experiment in the segment, partnering with Green Leaf Medical Cannabis on a plan to release Maryland’s first THC-infused beer in 2019. The beer, a non-alcoholic India pale ale named Hop Chronic, will serve as a medical delivery system to provide Maryland medical cannabis patients with therapeutic cannabinoids including CBD, CBG and THC without the patient having to smoke or vape the cannabis. The product will be released at dispensaries throughout Maryland and will be available in six pack or single serve 12-oz cans.
Release of this new product is still subject to regulatory and legal approvals.
Hop Chronic IPA will only be available at licensed dispensaries and only to people who have a medical recommendation for the use of cannabis. Hop Chronic IPA will be available in a variety of THC and CBD potencies.
“We see a lot of interest in cannabis from the craft beer community, and we jumped at the opportunity to partner with Green Leaf on a product that captures the passion and energy you see in fans of both craft beer and cannabis,” stated Flying Dog CMO Ben Savage. “There are definitely similarities between the natural flavor profiles we extract from hops and the terpenes and cannabinoids found in Cannabis.”
As the fastest growing regional medical cannabis provider, Green Leaf was a perfect fit for Flying Dog. Both entities headquarters are located less than a half-mile from each other in Frederick, Md., and both Green Leaf and Flying Dog see many future opportunities to partner on products beyond the release of Hop Chronic this summer.
“In a way, the cannabis industry is a lot like the craft beer movement was a few decades ago,” Green Leaf CEO Phil Goldberg said. “We have to educate people and change the overall perception of what cannabis is, what it could be and how it might benefit people. Partnering with Flying Dog seemed like another great way to get more people interested in cannabis.”
Goldberg also stressed that using cannabis-infused non-alcoholic beer as a drug delivery system is a great way to allow cannabis patients to reap the medical benefits of cannabis without having to smoke or vape the cannabis flower.
Green Leaf anticipates that its beer partnership with Flying Dog will continue the momentum they’ve built over the past four years. The cannabis provider has raised $23 million since its inception in 2014 and expects to raise an additional $20 million, through its recently-released Series E round of fundraising, to help fuel the acquisition of additional dispensary assets and production resources in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Flying Dog will also be working with Green Leaf on developing specific beer-inspired proprietary cannabis strains, as well as cannabis strain-inspired beer recipes and other products in 2019.
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