California’s adult use market doesn’t go into effect until 2018, but that doesn’t mean businesses aren’t preparing. Cafe Flore in San Francisco’s Castro district is already putting together the city’s first menu of cannabis-infused cocktails. Happy hour will begin at 4:20.
“With legalization underway, it was important to us to become a part of the conversation when it comes to the intersection of food, alcohol, and cannabis,” says Aaron Silverman, co-owner of Flore. “We chose to start easing our way in with drinks, but there’s much more to come.”
Co-owners Silverman and Terrance Alan asked Chris Longoria, bar manager of 1760, to help them come up with a list of drinks infused with five milligrams of CBD, a non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis, as well as a variety of terpenes, or aromatic chemicals. They also worked with chemist Christ Emerson, cofounder of Level Blends vape cartridges, to concoct a CBD formula lab-tested for pesticides, pathogens, and potency.
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“We’ve carefully paired each cocktail with a strain-specific terpene,” says Silverman. “We wanted to pick upon some of those subtle flavor notes, as well as the scent. You can smell the drinks before you taste them, just like wine, to really get the entire bouquet.”
Flore’s 4:20 happy hour menu incorporates CBD into 11 drinks and four non-alcoholic mocktails. They’re all infused with strains like Jack Herer, Sour Diesel, OG Kush, Lemon Cookie, and Gorilla Grape.
One drink for instance, the Cinnamon Kissed Cherry, is infused with cinnamon whiskey, cherry and Angostura bitters, Cherry Heering, pineapple and lemon juice, as well as OG Kush. And because the cocktails only have CBD in them, they won’t get you high — though they’ll still get you drunk. That might not be such a bad thing however, since getting crossfaded can be tricky, if not unpredictable.
That said, you can also make your own cannabis-infused cocktails at home. Add some THC tincture to your favorite mix, or make an alcoholic tincture from leftover cannabis stems.
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