Blue Moon Creator to Release Cannabis-infused Beers

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]he creator of Blue Moon beer is looking to swap alcohol for cannabis with his latest venture. Keith Villa, along with his wife Jodi, have partnered with Colorado-based ebbu, a company that specializes in extracting and analyzing cannabis compounds, to create Ceria Beverages. Instead of alcohol, Ceria Beverages’ beers will be infused with cannabis and will be designed to create a similar effect to drinking a traditional beer, meaning a person that consumes three cannabis-infused beers would feel the same effect as if they were drinking three traditional beers.

The beer will be brewed like an alcoholic craft beer in order to maintain a beer taste and aroma, but all alcohol will be removed before being infused with THC. The alcohol-free beer will then be sent to a licensed cannabis manufacturing facility to be infused with ebbu’s water-soluble cannabinoids. Other hemp-based and CBD-based beers have made headlines, but Ceria Beverages will be the first to have actual THC in their drinks. While federal law prohibits brewers from using cannabis in their beers, Villa’s beverage will circumvent the law by swapping the alcohol for cannabis and selling in licensed dispensaries, rather than bars.

Villa said that he was initially anti-cannabis legalization but came around and has been interested with the concept of cannabis-infused beers since 2014, when Colorado legalized recreational use. States with legal recreational use have seen beer sales drop as more people are opting for cannabis rather than beer.

Villa has plans for three different variations of the beer: a light beer, a wheat beer, and a heavier beer like an Imperial or barrel-aged stout. Ceria Beverages plans to hit the market by the end of the year and is working on acquiring licenses to sell in other states with legalized recreational use sometime in 2019.