The inventor of Blue Moon beer is launching three marijuana-infused drinks this fall. The beers will contain no alcohol but will instead be infused with special marijuana formulas designed to mimic the effects of booze. Its developers say the drink will “hit” the user at the same pace as if they were drinking a beer.
"This is really about brewing great beers that beer drinkers love," said Keith Villa, who developed Blue Moon Belgian Wheat and worked for MillerCoors for 32 years. "You'd just swap out an alcoholic beer for one of our beers."
According to an article in the Reno Gazette Journal, several other companies offer cannabis beer, but they all lack the psychoactive compound, THC. Instead, they're infused with hemp extract to give them a marijuana taste -- and helps them grab headlines. Federal law prohibits brewers from using marijuana in their beers. Villa's "beer," because it lacks alcohol, skirts that federal ban, even though marijuana itself remains federally illegal.
Villa said he hopes to develop three kinds of drinks, a light beer, a wheat beer, and something heavier, like an Imperial or barrel-aged stout. In all cases, he'll make the beer as usual, remove the alcohol, and then add the cannabis extracts. The company hopes to have the beers on store shelves this fall in Colorado, and plans to expand next year to other states that permit legal marijuana.
Hey, Massachusetts permits legal marijuana, doesn't it?