U.S. Officials Order Brewery to Cease Production of CBD Beer
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]he U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau ordered San Francisco-based Black Hammer Brewery to halt production of its signature beer containing hemp-derived CBD, citing permitting conflicts. As a consolation prize, the bureau will allow the company to sell the remainder of its CBD beer that has already been brewed.
Black Hammer Brewery, in celebration of 4/20, released Toke Back Mountain, an IPA containing CBD, and the brewery claimed that it was California’s first cannabis beer.
“Our guests love the CBD beers, and we’re pretty sad that we have to stop producing them,” owner Jim Furman told The Associated Press. Furman added that his best-selling beer to be Hippie Hill, and imperial IPA offering. “It’s got the most dialed-in cannabis flavor profile,” he said.
Interestingly, the bureau didn’t cite federal laws as the reason, since the CBD was derived from hemp. Instead, the bureau stated that the company would need a special approval for any non-standard ingredients. But there’s no weight to that argument, as San Francisco Chronicle pointed out, because breweries are free to use other non-standard ingredients like rose hips or guava. Hemp extracts or terpenes are another story, according to the bureau, even though they don’t produce any psychoactive effects.
Plenty of other beer makers are attempting to infuse beer with cannabis, including the creator of Blue Moon Belgian White and Lagunitas Brewing Company. Meanwhile, cannabis threatens the beer industry as a whole, since beer sales rates are falling as cannabis consumption rates increase.
To get rid of the remaining CBD beers, Black Hammer Brewery will be announcing weekly specials on Instagram, so that you can get a taste before production ceases.
The brewery plans to apply for an approval of non-standard CBD ingredients.
