As we trade wool sweaters for sun hats, many are preparing for a summer of cookouts and barbecues. These outdoor gatherings often feature coolers filled with sodas, waters, seltzers, and beers and sometimes a full bar with ingredients for craft beverages like a Blue Lagoon with blue curacao.
While this may sound like the perfect afternoon for some, other guests might prefer a liquid marijuana drink to melon liqueur. Whether they are Cali sober or they simply prefer cannabis to alcohol, many party hosts are presenting a cannabis alternative at the bar.
Luckily, there are cannabis drinks, shots, and tonics formulated for the cocktail shaker.
Making mocktails with cannabis
The cannabis mocktail turns a classic drink into a liquid marijuana cocktail, a craft that takes more than swapping out ingredients. Cocktail recipes often have overly sweet, bitter, or otherwise flavored ingredient lists that are heightened to balance the strong taste of alcohol. Removing the alcohol creates an imbalance that most liquid cannabis products aren’t flavored to counterbalance.
Cannabis brands are trying to split the difference, though, creating beverages that mimic the flavor of alcohol. California-based Mxxn has a trio of infused elixirs reminiscent of tequila, gin, and bourbon that can replace alcohol one-for-one in cocktail recipes. Another product built to be mixed comes from Pamos, who crafts a Mai Tai mix that embodies that signature rum pineapple juice flavor.
RELATED: How to buy cannabis drinks for any occasion
Master Mixologist Warren Bobrow lends his wisdom to Klaus, a California brand that offers unique flavor pairings like Mezzrole with ginger, lime, and rice vinegar that evokes the flavors commonly at play in cocktails.
California is also home to Herbacée, a vineyard-inspired brand that crafts a pink bubbly cannabis bevvie and a Blanchettte, which we can assume connotes the profile of white wine. Both are elegant options to sip solo or in a spritzer at a summer gathering. If guests require more milligrams, use an infused seltzer in the spritzer to double the dose.
Picking out mocktail ingredients at the dispensary
Washington consumers can grab a Green Revolution Wildside Shot to develop cannabis mocktail recipes. But be warned: this liquid marijuana shot has a bit of caffeine alongside CBD and THC. The fruit-flavored shots are a good fit for cocktails because of the size—10mg in that small amount of liquid is perfect for two lightly dosed drinks.
Most legal states have THC tonics and seltzers. These make an excellent addition to a mocktail recipe. MAISON BLOOM crafts fruit-forward-infused bubblies in California, while Massachusetts consumers can enjoy the same from Levia. In Illinois, Tonic sells variations of CBD to THC in 100mg tonic water.
Consumers still waiting on legalization can dip a toe into the hemp-derived THC market with a marijuana drink from Superior Molecular. And those celebrating legalization in Minnesota can stop by one of the breweries offering infused seltzers, hard kombuchas, and sodas.
Understanding the flavor profile and recreating the balance of a cocktail for a cannabis mixed drink is an art form, but the only way to learn it is to practice. Use these tips to replace the shot glass of coconut rum with a few milligrams of THC this summer.