Author: Warren_Bobrow

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Klaus Skunk Magazine

LADRAA (EL BLUNTO) GETS BUSY IN MASSACHUSETTS: REV BRANDS PARTNERS WITH EL BLUNTO

Boston, MA (January 24, 2023) – Leading Massachusetts cannabis retailer and wholesaler Rev Brands is partnering with El Blunto, America’s top blunt producer, to bring their one-of-a-kind cannabis products to the Massachusetts market. El Blunto implements an evolution of historic cigar-making tradition that borrows age-old techniques from master cigar rollers to create products of the highest caliber with the highest level of finishing.

“National expansion and product accessibility has been a fundamental part of our growth strategy at El Blunto and an integral part of our success,” said Q. Ladraa, CEO and founder of Albert Einstone’s, El Blunto’s parent company. “We are delighted to be partnering with Rev Clinics, which is the number one distributor in Massachusetts and has a glowing reputation for being a standard-bearer in product quality and customer service.”

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Photo Caption: Q. Ladraa

El Blunto’s line of cannabis products uses top-shelf, indoor premium quality flower that is broken down by hand, never ground, to ensure maximum terpene preservation, highest potency, and longest burn time. They are then hand-rolled in a 100% tobacco-free wrap made from all-natural fibers and sealed with El Blunto’s in-house cigar glue to guarantee a clean and superior product.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with El Blunto to introduce this incredible brand to the Massachusetts market,” said Tom Schneider, Chief Marketing Officer of Rev Brands. “The uniqueness and superb quality of these glass-tipped, whole flower blunts are what has us most excited about the partnership, and we look forward to sharing it with our customers and retail partners alike.”

The partnership will launch with ‘El Blunto Gold,’ which will be available as a single 1.75g blunt for $30 at all three Revolutionary Clinics medical dispensaries in Cambridge and Somerville and at leading dispensaries throughout Massachusetts.

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Photo Credit: Q. Ladraa

Rev Brands and El Blunto plan to roll out additional products including El Blunto’s mini blunts and mini-blunt packs (El Bluntito and El Bluntito 4-packs respectively) and their ‘Rose Gold’ (infused with melty ice-water hash) and ‘Platinum’ (infused with premium THCa diamonds) line-ups in the coming months. To learn more, visit www.revbrands.org.

ABOUT REV BRANDS

Founded in 2018, Rev Brands is a leading cannabis manufacturer and wholesale operator exclusive to Massachusetts. Rev Brands is committed to delivering greater reliability from seed through service with a focus on quality and variety in its product lines. Rev Brands is guided by customer feedback to meet the demand for novel products and searches for the most unique and viable strains to deliver high-quality products throughout dispensaries in Massachusetts. Revolutionary Farms, its grow facility in Fitchburg, is the largest and most high-tech in the state with more than thirty-five grow rooms. The facility supplies over 150 retail establishments with sought-after products and flower. Rev Brands employs more than 250 employees across its manufacturing and wholesale operations and proudly supports the local industry by using local vendors and donating time and money to community causes. To learn more, visit https://revbrands.org/ or follow along on social at @rev_clinics.

marijuana-culture-industry-business-alliances-cooperatives-elblunto-logo

ABOUT EL BLUNTO 

El Blunto is a California-based cannabis brand that offers ‘The World’s Finest Cannabis Experience’. Born from a passion for craftsmanship and quality, El Blunto is an evolution of the historic cigar-making tradition. Borrowing age-old techniques from master cigar rollers, we create products of the highest caliber with the highest level of finishing. Product design and development is approached like a true science, ensuring customers get the same, phenomenal experience every single time. The El Blunto lineup includes El Blunto (cannabis cigar), El Bluntito (mini-blunts), El Jointo and El Jointito (joints and mini-joints), as well as pouches of full-flower and Roll Your Own Blunt Kits. El Blunto products are available in 1000+ dispensaries across the United States. El Blunto is a subsidiary of Albert Einstone’s. For more information, visit www.alberteinstones.com.

Categories
5 Questions Skunk Magazine Tasting Notes

LET’S DO FIVE QUESTIONS WITH RED HOUSE/VAN BRUNT CANNABIS COMPANY

Five questions with “Red House” and the Van Brunt Cannabis Company

Warren Bobrow: I’ve been a member of the CSA for a couple of months now. Please let me share with you some of what I learned from the experience so far.

  • There is a real sense of direction in the CSA. I love the approach- similar to a vegetable CSA, it reminds me of Sonoma Hills Farm out West with their terroir driven-cannabis/vegetable CSA
  • Quality is off the charts. It’s pretty evident that the flowers are perfectly cured which in my limited experience means everything. An art form lost by mega grows and their hands-off, high-volume philosophies.
  • Craft truly means Craft! I’m looking at something gorgeous from the CSA in front of me right now, it’s Crème de la Chem x Sour Stomper x Crème de la Chem… This is the cannabis that unlocked my mind after the two-week sojourn of not writing. THANK YOU!
  • This is the model for micro-grows city-wide. I cannot wait for a cannabis tasting of what is going on, right now in New York. Interesting. I’m not here to compare apples and oranges. I’m well known to write about outdoor grown because that’s my passion. Finding micro-grows, both indoors and outdoors grown that treat their plants with love and compassion is clearly my path in life. Being able to share this experience with others? Priceless.

Tasting Notes:

The Crème de la Chem is all about pine, gas, and snipped garlic chives. I want to decarb some of this luxurious cannabis in my Ardent and whip the toasty, activated craft cannabis into my favorite cream cheese mashed potatoes- 3 cups boiled Yukon Golds, a cup of high-fat butter, ½ cup of cream cheese, and those beforementioned chives. Of course, freshly ground pepper and salt to taste. Whip in the decarbed cannabis at the end and eat up. Pro-tip: always use a fork when making mashed potatoes. And get down that nice ceramic bowl from your grandmom’s house to make your mashed potatoes. Take your time, there’s no rush. Wash this down with a Belgian Kriek Ale or a glass of iced buttermilk. Deliciousness.

Warren Bobrow: Please tell me about yourself. Where are you from? How did you discover NYC? 

Red House: I moved to Brooklyn from Richmond, Va. in Dec ’08. NYC had always been on my mind.

My father is from NY, my sis went to med school here too. She was holding the door for me, and I would have come much earlier but I was always happy where I was.
My only regret in coming to NYC was not moving sooner than I did. As I outgrew RVA almost ended up in Asheville, NC, and Philly a couple of times. Working in the restaurant industry, NYC was the obvious choice.

Warren Bobrow: What are you working on right now?  What makes you different than your peers? 

Red House: Just beginning the CSA, it’s a side project to Van Brunt, and being on a monthly schedule it’s at its own pace. In addition to getting Van Brunt up and running, developing the CSA, I’m involved with some projects more focused on hospitality.

I have strong connections to the restaurant industry and the idea of high-end consumption lounges and canna-friendly restaurants in NYC is exciting. None of this 420 stoner vibe, but something Sam Sifton would write about.

What makes the CSA different though is the socialist model. It’s not even close to how the traditional cannabis market works. Cannabis has been going by capitalistic business values forever and ever.  This is operated more like a traditional CSA farm or co-op.

Warren Bobrow: What is your favorite strain right now? Who taught you the craft? 

Red House: Impossible to choose. Always loved Durban Poison, anything with some pine I’m always interested in. Citrusy/hazy sativas are a go-to also… I think Cherry Ghostenade from King Greens is a recent favorite.

I taught myself to grow cannabis through lots of reading and lurking on the net. It’s all really easy, knowledge is key. My initial interest in plant life, that credit has to go to Mom. She grew up on a farm in PA, so learning how to grow peas and carrots as a kid and take care of houseplants and all that, yeah that was the foundation.  Once you understand plants’ basic nature, cannabis is easy.

Warren Bobrow: Tell me a little more about the CSA? How do you get involved? 

Red House: The CSA (community-supported agriculture) model fits best because I don’t intend to ever be in the flower market, not even wholesale. I just enjoy growing and want the excess flower to have a home. Edibles, white label, and private label, are the main focus for Van Brunt. The garden being a cooperative keeps my time more available to work more on that. Some of the members are excited to learn about growing or just want to get involved and hands-on. That’s great, bc I just want to grow.  We attend industry events to meet people and talk memberships. Planning meetups and trim parties for members in the future too. So, there’s a community aspect to the plan which is always welcome.  No work or time given is required with membership, that’s optional and shares are offered in exchange for time spent “in the garden” …  The value is great for people who use flower on the regular and like lots of variety, supporting their local economy and cleanly grown flower.  Going to be including edibles or pantry items infused with the trim and kief of the harvests with the shares from time to time as well as including other local producers. January, we have Kings Greens joining us with some Bushwick-grown Huckleberry in addition to Orange Haze and Grapewalker Kush strains from mine.  Contact on instagram @ van.brunt.nyc or email: VanBruntCSA@gmail.com for more information.

Warren Bobrow: What is your passion? 

Red House: I’m a music lover first and have appreciation for all peoples’ creative talents. I would never do that professionally over concern music may become too much like work.  Was very lucky to work in the right spots while I was young. Was drawn to food as a profession and that’s easily 2nd or 3rd to music as my first passion. Worked in a bunch of high-end joints for years and years and I’m into the discipline, detail, and refinement but need a more relaxed space to work.   Really dig on classics done right. Not fancy high-end soignée, just done right.  Modern takes and trends are fun but dishes that have been popular for hundreds of years are popular for a reason. Doing a dish entirely in its truest traditional sense is one of the things I love most. You know how ppl are sometimes looking for the “most authentic” or “traditional” thing?    I’m kinda like that. I want the most basic bitch Al Pastor taco. but when everything about it is just right. Talking fresh tortillas, a real adobo, and all that.  That’s something I will gush all over.

***I’m proud to belong to the CSA and taste these marvelous herbs, grown with care and love in New York! WB***

Let’s Do Five Questions With Red House/Van Brunt Cannabis Company

Follow on Instagram: @van.brunt.nyc

Feature Photo Courtesy: Red House 

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Uncategorized

This Morris County mixologist has high hopes for canned cannabis cocktails

Morristown businessman Matthew Rosenhaus grew rich selling Geritol in the 1950s and 60s, marketing it as a curative tonic for people with “iron-poor tired blood.”

“It was snake oil,” his grandson, Warren Bobrow, recalls today. Yet Bobrow still embraces the family’s entrepreneurial spirit. He’s trying to forge his own legacy by manufacturing a cannabis-infused beverage that, unlike Geritol, delivers precisely what it advertises: good flavor and a good buzz.

Sold in bottles and served by the spoonful, Geritol was hawked shamelessly from coast to coast with a relentless ad campaign that sponsored “The Lawrence Welk Show,” among other 20th-century TV hits.

“It was ethyl alcohol, caramel colorings and flavorings,” said Bobrow, 61, who grew up in Morris Township. “All it was was whiskey. It didn’t even have vitamins in the early days. And it was sold in every pharmacy in the United States, if not the world.”

Klaus is a cannabis infused drink. Warren Bobrow of Mendham has developed the first cannabis infused drink named Klaus, after his lucky traveling gnome. The author of Cannabis Cocktails Mocktails and Tonics, manufactures and sells his canned drink in California. He talks about the beverage in his Mendham home on December 2, 2022.

In 1972, a Geritol TV ad campaign also coined the cringe-worthy tagline, “My wife, I think I’ll keep her,” which was mocked by the growing feminist movement of the time.

“It made my grandfather a pretty successful guy until the government sued them,” Bobrow said. Rosenhaus at one point was the largest individual shareholder of filmmaker Columbia Pictures Industries and also served on the board of Nabisco Inc.

Geritol is now manufactured as a vitamin supplement by Meda Consumer Healthcare of Georgia, but it’s no longer a staple of U.S. medicine cabinets as it was for decades.

The formula worked for years until the Federal Trade Commission derailed the gravy train. In 1973, the agency imposed what was then the largest fine in its history, accusing Geritol of “false and misleading claims” and leading to the company’s decline.

Can Klaus Mezzrole ‘transform’ cannabis drinks?

Bobrow, a graduate of the Morristown-Beard School, would eventually grow estranged from his family. So he carved his own niche in the spirits industry as a brand ambassador known as “The Cocktail Whisperer.” He has authored six mixology books including “Apothecary Cocktails: Restorative Drinks from Yesterday and Today.”

A subsequent book, “Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails and Tonics,” put him on a new professional path: formulating, manufacturing and distributing his own concoctions to ride the wave of marijuana legalization across the U.S. Last year, he introduced Mezzrole, the first in a planned line of “Klaus”-brand beverages. They’re sold exclusively in California’s legal cannabis market.

Klaus is a cannabis infused drink. Warren Bobrow of Mendham has developed the first cannabis infused drink named Klaus, after his lucky traveling gnome. The author of Cannabis Cocktails Mocktails and Tonics, manufactures and sells his canned drink in California. He talks about the beverage in his Mendham home on December 2, 2022.

The drink is a variation on a rum-based cocktail known as a ti’punch. But the “punch” of the rum has been replaced by 10 milligrams of infused cannabis resin in each 8-ounce can, from an “Indica-leaning hybrid” strain of marijuana known as “Hippie Crasher.”

The Mezzrole formula, like a ti’punch, is non-carbonated and flavored with French lime puree, rice vinegar and a ginger beer syrup Boborow substitutes for rum: “When you leave out the rum, you need something to give it a little spice and backbone, because it’s extra hot and spicy,” he said.

A July review on the “Good Spirits” blog described the drink as “tropical and vibrant,” noting it contains only 16 calories per can and is “alcohol-free, so no need to worry about mixing booze with your buzz.”

A ” first-of-its-kind product,” Klaus is likely to “transform the way you think about cannabis-infused beverages,” it said.

Indica strains of cannabis are known for increasing relaxation and reducing insomnia, often referred to as a “body high.” A Sativa “head high” is said to increase creativity and focus while reducing stress and anxiety. Hybrids contain elements of both.

“It’s not overwhelming. It’s a nice calm, no stronger than having a craft cocktail,” said Bobrow, who writes for three cannabis-industry magazines and recently attended the annual MJBizCon convention in Las Vegas with 35,000 other industry insiders. “What it does is offer a little deeper depth and balance to the experience of a craft cocktail, without the alcohol.”

That’s important to Bobrow. While he’s a recognized mixology expert, he quit drinking distilled spirits in 2018 “because it was killing me.” Addiction was not the issue, he said, but rather his need to drink frequently while working as a brand ambassador.

“I’ve lost two shoe sizes and 100 pounds since then,” he said.

Lawrence Welk and his band were sponsored by Geritol, part of a marketing campaign that helped make entrepreneur Matthew Rosenhaus a fortune.

Raised on Geritol Jr.

Bobrow smoked his first joint at age 12 and his taste for weed led to his wealthy family disowning him.

“My mom gave me Geritol Jr. every morning before school,” he recalled with a touch of irony. “It was 20% alcohol.”

Now 61, Bobrow said cannabis has helped him find balance. He acknowledges others may disagree with his preference for pot over alcohol.

“They would be wrong,” he said.

Medical experts may disagree, but Bobrow, who recently moved to Mendham, asserts cannabis “is not intoxicating, is not habit-forming, is not incapacitating and you don’t have a hangover the next day.”

He’s hoping for national distribution, but so far, only California has cleared Mezzrole for sale. New Jersey laws on recreational cannabis prohibit products in edible or drinking form. There’s talk of liberalizing the state’s rules, “but it will take a while,” Bobrow said.

Initial sales of Mezzrole were strong, but they’ve slowed as Bobrow moves to a new distributor and makes plans to expand the product line.

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In California, his business model includes retail sales, but Bobrow expects the bulk of his future distribution will be “direct to consumer” through his website. A can of Mezzrole currently sells for $12 retail, or $40 for a four-pack. The website teases future varieties of Klaus cannabis cocktails, including “Bosphorus” and “1851 Zombie.”

Each has a flavor as colorful as its name. Bosphorus promises a “trip to sunny, sultry Istanbul, not Constantinople” with traces of bergamot (a citrus fruit), apricot and a touch of mirin (Japanese rice vinegar). Meanwhile, 1851 Zombie is “a lovable combination of sour leading into sweet becoming everything naughty” with three cannabis strains in place of rum.

Bobrow chose the name Mezzrole as a homage to Mezz Mezzrow, a musician and the notorious pot “connection” for jazz legend Louis Armstrong, who was well-known for his love of weed.

“He brought tons of Mexican cannabis up from south of the border during the Jazz Era and was very much a favored individual in Detroit and Chicago and New York,” Bobrow said. “A well-rolled cannabis cigarette was known as a ‘mezzrole.'”

William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com 

https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/local/morris-county/2022/12/28/morris-nj-warren-bobrow-mezzrole-cannabis-drink-in-geritol-tradition/69667353007/?fbclid=IwAR2TrJ9qMCeqE2MUi2e0yG8gsTv8o1n8gXmbA95NfGlPEF-mG3ZM2pjGMLo

Twitter: @wwesthoven

Categories
Articles Klaus Klaus Apothicaire Reviews

The Key to Combining Cannabis and Mixology? Remove the Booze.

Led by longtime drinks professionals, brands like MXXN and Klaus think THC can thrive in cocktail culture, sans the alcohol

BY KIRK MILLER / APRIL 20, 2022 6:25 AM

The worlds of THC and alcohol haven’t really crossed over, and to be honest, that’s probably for the best. Not all potentially buzzy experiences need to or should be intertwined.

But if you take away booze from that crossover while keeping the idea of mixology in place, suddenly the small but growing industry of bartender-friendly, cannabinoid-infused “spirits” and mixers makes more sense.

We’ve covered this meeting-of-minds before, although not specifically related to THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis. First there’s Flyers, a line of alcohol-free sparkling cannabis cocktails with full-spectrum CBD distillates that are crafted, in part, by award-winning mixologist Ivy Mix. Then there’s The Pathfinder Hemp & Root, a non-alcoholic “spirit” fermented and distilled from hemp; two of the three founders have extensive liquor brand experience, and the mixer works nicely in both boozy and non-boozy drinks. 

When I spoke with the founders of those drinks brands, they all suggested that THC-infused variations were on the way.

One that’s already here? MXXN (pronounced “moon”). The BIPOC-founded brand claims to be the spirit industry’s first 1:1 non-alcoholic and THC-infused replacement for gin, tequila and bourbon. The company is led by Darnell Smith, a booze industry vet with over 15 years of experience at Diageo, Pernod Ricard and Bacardi. 

“I was working in the spirits industry in product innovation and found myself drinking more than I cared to due to the nature of the profession,” Smith tells InsideHook. “I was looking for a way to cut back on alcohol but still take part in the social aspects associated with drinking and cocktail culture. And I had been a consumer of cannabis for chronic pain after 15 years as a football player and would make my own tinctures at home, so I started bringing the tinctures out to social events, ordering a tonic and lime and putting a few drops in. My wife encouraged me to find a way to bring the tincture and tonic idea to the public in some capacity.”

MXXN’s website offers variations on well-known cocktails, although the proportions are interesting, given the idea that you’re getting about 6 mg of THC per 1.5 oz pour — an Old Fashioned riff, for example, suggests a very small .75 oz measurement of MXXN’s Kentucky Oak, as opposed to a standard 2 oz pour if you were using a regular bourbon.

An Old Fashioned made from The Pathfinder, a n/a hemp spirit that actually works well in boozy cocktails

Review: The Pathfinder Is a Non-Alcoholic Spirit That Shines in Boozy Drinks

We were recently able to try MXXN Jalisco Agave (the drink is available in California and direct-to-consumer in a few markets). It’s a cloudy, straw-colored liquid with grassy and floral notes. On the palate, it’s soft but also spicy and with a pronounced salinity — it’s not offensive on its own, but it feels much better suited for a cocktail. I turned my initial small pour into a very nice Paloma alternative, which lacked the usual alcohol “kick” but maintained the essence of agave and heightened the grapefruit notes (while also a touch of spice). 

I’m not alone in my thoughts on how the product mixes. “When we started MXXN, we were trying to emulate the tastes of spirits in standalone form,” explains Smith, who also notes that bartenders were consistently giving feedback during the product’s formulation. “But we found it to be extremely difficult to find a substitute for the specific flavor and profile ethanol provides in that form, so we pivoted a bit to create a product that emulates the base flavor profiles of these spirits when mixed in a cocktail with other ingredients.”https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca-Ypv9Ma0X/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=12

The recipe wasn’t an easy process. In the brand’s early stages, the technology wasn’t there to get the THC evenly distributed throughout the base formula (“Which for dosing reasons was an obvious problem,” Smith notes). They eventually utilized nanoemulsion technology from Vertosa to solve that problem, but the company also had to finalize the flavor profile and make the product shelf-stable, which proved more difficult to do without alcohol while still utilizing natural ingredients. 

In the end, Smith thinks products like MXXN will appeal to the health-conscious (and non-boozy drinkers), but also believes they offer real potential to unite the worlds of drinks and cannabis.

“We’re not here to completely replace your booze or how you consume it,” he says. “We’re here to provide a new experience and evolve cocktail culture.”

Klaus takes a different approach. And that involves a gnome.

Just launched, Klaus is a ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktail in a can, albeit with a “10 mg terpene-forward cannabis emulsion per drink” as opposed to a boozy ABV. These were crafted by popular mixologist Warren Bobrow, who credits…well, I’ll have him explain.

“The inspiration for my product, funnily enough, was my drinking gnome named Klaus,” says Bobrow. “Klaus traveled the world with me in my prior career in liquor sales. He also came with me to competitions where I served as a rum judge for both the Ministry of Rum and the Florida-based Rum XP.” (That association explains the launch of Klaus with Mezzrole, a take on the classic Ti’ Punch.)

As Bobrow remembers, he was signing copies of his drinks guide Bitters and Shrub Syrup Cocktails at the Pharmacy Museum when noticed an exhibit named “Cannabis in the Early Apothecary,” which led to an idea for his next book, Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails and Tonics. And the success of that book led to the idea of creating a canned, THC-infused cocktail. 

(Yes, but the actual gnome influence? “To me, Klaus is much more than just a German drinking gnome. He represents goodness, kindness and the amalgamation of my life experiences. Sure, he loves to drink, but he’s recently switched over to my refreshing infused mocktails.”)

For Bobrow, it was not an issue emphasizing the cannabis aspects of his drink. “The ‘craft’ in craft cocktails isn’t always about the liquor. It’s the balance of the ingredients,” he says. “My Mezzrole cocktail — named for Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet’s friend and cannabis dealer, Mezz Mezzrow — has no alcohol, but it’s terpene-forward. It smells like a perfectly cured cannabis bud and provides consumers with a lovely, relaxing, talkative yet grounded feeling.” (It’s apparently also great for sleep. We’ll have samples soon to review.) https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ2ObaFDuqb/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=12

Unlike some of his peers, Bobrow feels THC is a versatile and somewhat enviable ingredient to work into mixed drinks.

“It can be flavored with terpenes as an adjunct to the other fine ingredients in a craft cocktail, or it can be flavorless and woven into a seltzer,” he says. “To me, the process is not challenging because cannabis possesses terroir. The plant embodies the taste of the place it was grown, like wine, except there are perhaps even more terpenes in cannabis than wine.”

As for serving suggestions, Klaus’s drinks — which will soon include a riff on the Tiki classic Zombie — only have 16 calories and 0.6 grams of sugar per can; each of those 8 oz cans features 10 mg THC, which Bobrow estimates is perfect for two drinks and a nice mental middle ground. “We’re somewhere between a microdose and the opposite end where the effects are a little too strong.”

https://www.instagram.com/drinkklaus/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=6cf1c6e0-4a98-4a77-9cd6-aba561850ae6

Even if their approaches (and taste profiles) differ, Bobrow and Smith share a similar audience expectation: health-conscious, social, open to a “buzz” but wanting to feel better in the next morning.

“Many folks in my former world of liquor struggle with alcohol, and several have already reached out to tell me how much this beverage means to them,” says Bobrow. “Alcohol and cannabis provide different experiences. I feel out of control when drinking liquor, and I think a lot of people can relate. But I’m not here to preach. I’m here to make the world’s best craft cannabis libations and raise the bar.”

https://www.insidehook.com/article/booze/mixology-cannabis-thc-spirits-klaus-mxxn/amp

Categories
Articles Klaus Klaus Apothicaire

Leaf Magazine’s Cannabis Edibles Hall of Fame

Introducing the first ten inaugural inductees into our Leaf Magazine Cannabis Edibles Hall of Fame honoring lasting contributions to the world of marijuana-infused foods. These pioneers and legends changed the way we consume weed, from brownies to beverages and beyond. Send your nominations for future inclusion to dan@leafmagazines.com. 

Warren Bobrow a.k.a. The Cocktail Whisperer

Author, chef, mixologist and “Cannabis Alchemist” Warren Bobrow got his start in the alcohol industry, having studied food writing at New School University and the French Culinary Institute. He’s also written multiple books, including “Apothecary Cocktails, Whiskey Cocktails, Bitters and Shrub Syrup Cocktails” and “The Craft Cocktail Compendium.” His 2016 book, “Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks & Buzz-Worthy Libations,” introduced the mainstream to marijuana-infused liquid beverages – now an entire segment of the legal weed industry. In fact, he’s also the co-founder and CEO of Klaus (@drinkklaus), creating terpene-forward craft Cannabis cocktails for the marijuana marketplace. 

Leaf Magazine’s Cannabis Edibles Hall of Fame
Categories
5 Questions Interviews Skunk Magazine

THE ARTIST TREE: THOUGHTFUL CANNABIS RE-IMAGED IN FIVE QUESTIONS


Warren Bobrow: Please tell me about yourself. What are you striving for in your professional career? What differentiates your dispensary from others?

Courtney Caron: I am a co-owner of The Artist Tree – Fresno. I am also the Founder of Adamant Law Group, a cannabis centered boutique law firm focusing on the representation of cannabis retailers, which led to me meeting the founders of The Artist Tree and co-owning The Artist Tree Fresno!

Professionally, I wear many hats. Whether engaging in the practice of cannabis law in California, consulting out of state, or checking customer IDs at our Fresno location (my favorite pastime), I strive to promote the normalization of cannabis use. As a retail store co-owner my main objective is to ensure that each customer, we welcome through our doors is provided with a unique retail shopping experience that is free from pressure and stress. Our ultimate goal is to provide an environment where all of our customers feel welcomed, appreciated, and safe. Because our business model is so unique and truly a community benefit in itself, I would love to see an Artist Tree retail store in every major city across the state of California and the US, giving artists one more platform to present their creations.

Fresno Exterior. Photo Courtesy of the Artist Tree

Warren Bobrow: What kind of research did you do to establish an interior design? Did you work with an architect? What kind of materials did you utilize?

Courtney Caron: The Artist Tree’s original concept was created in 2018 for the city of West Hollywood’s retail application process. Founders Lauren Fontein, Avi Kahan, Mitch Kahan and Aviv Halimi understood that West Hollywood celebrates the arts in so many ways, and we felt that the first cannabis retail store in West Hollywood should too. Unlike the lackluster, windowless dispensaries of days past, focused solely on cannabis, The Artist Tree is as much an art gallery as it is a store. It highlights and enhances the vibrant art community by showcasing a carefully curated mix of local artwork from established and up-and-coming artists.

Our design aesthetic was created by renowned architectural firm Retail Design Collaborate (RDC). Materials incorporated in our design include glass display cases, light colored wood flooring and shelving, custom metal flower tables, custom metal art easels, bright but soft lighting and an open floor concept. Most notably, at both the Fresno location and West Hollywood location we feature a large glass cube where clones are grown and sold.

Fresno Joan Sharma Easel. Photo Courtesy of the Artist Tree.

Warren Bobrow: What are your six and twelve month goals? What kind of obstacles do you face along the way? How do you anticipate removing those obstacles?

Courtney Caron: Within the next 6 months, The Artist Tree plans to open their Oxnard location and their El Sobrante location. Additionally, we hope to bring more awareness to cannabis consumers of our West Hollywood consumption lounge.

Within the next 12 months, we hope to find additional opportunities for retail in California and start to expand beyond the CA borders. We’d love to celebrate art and cannabis across the US.

Obstacles we typically encounter include slow moving municipalities, community push back related to cannabis in general, and more recently, the recession. We tackle slow moving municipalities by being extremely organized and prepared to hit the ground running on all of our projects. We are typically the first retail store to open in most jurisdictions where we hold a license. We try to keep a wide open line of communication, and always welcome dubious municipalities and community members to visit one of our galleries across the state. Tackling a recession can be a bit trickier. The Artist Tree always offers daily deals on top quality products for our customers. This helps even the most budget conscious consumer purchase safe, tested, quality cannabis.

Fresno Joanna Chrys Art. Photo courtesy The Artist Tree.

Warren Bobrow: Do you work with local artists? Who are they? What are their mediums?

Courtney Caron: In each Artist Tree location, we showcase art created by artists from the community where the store is located. Artists may submit their art for any of our locations on our website here.

In our Fresno location, our first art installation featured paintings and photography by Joan Sharma, Nicolas Rattaire, and Lance Anderson.

Fresno Art Portrait. Photo Courtesy of the Artist Tree

Warren Bobrow: What is your passion?

Courtney Caron: I am extremely passionate about serving the local communities where we operate. Developing and implementing Community Benefit Plans in each community brings both me and my partner Lauren Fontein great joy. Whether donating funds, conducting in-kind donation drives, or volunteering our time with deserving non-profit organizations, we are passionate about improving the lives of others in a meaningful way. At the core of The Artist Tree is the celebration of the arts. Whether performing arts or fine arts, we are passionate about promoting the creativity present in each of our communities.

https://www.skunkmagazine.com/the-artist-tree-thoughtful-cannabis-re-imaged-in-five-questions/
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5 Questions Interviews Skunk Magazine

FIVE CRISP QUESTIONS FOR SARA STEWART- THE FOREMOST EXPERT ON CANNABIS CONSUMPTION LOUNGES.

For those of you who don’t know my own professional background in Food and Beverage, all you have to do is spend the better part of several decades working your way from the bottom up. In my case, that meant starting as a pots and pans “engineer” better known as a pot-scrubber, then graduating to the exalted place known as the dish sink. After languishing in front of a soapy sink full of greasy dishes for a couple of months, my path to the line… (That’s what we call the actual place where cooking is done in the professional kitchen…) And then, if that wasn’t enough education after college, I took it upon myself to become a bartender, from bar-back on up. Thank you to Chris James for seeing to my education become something actually tangible.

To really learn the food and beverage business, it’s essential to make yourself as well-trained as possible so you can do anything that needs to get done. From taking out the trash to making drinks, this is the way that you become essential to your employer. Otherwise, you’ll be washing dishes for the remainder of your restaurant career. And no… When you graduate from culinary school you are not a chef. Period.

The grunt labor thing in a restaurant was not where I wanted to be for very long. Fortunately, the dish sink was a short-lived adventure into doing really hard work. Manual labor if you will. Which framed the next forty or so years of my life into the person I am today. Working hard, doing something I love. That’s the key to life in my opinion. But that’s just my path, the one of Sara Stewart is quite succinct and I know she is going places. Read her words, Sara is a success story waiting to be discovered, yet again.

Warren Bobrow: Please tell us about your journey into cannabis and how you got into cannabis hospitality. 

Sara Stewart: My initial journey into cannabis started in 2019 at Lowell Cafe, the first true cannabis restaurant in America, serving cannabis alongside food, coffee, juice, etc. I had been in the restaurant, nightclub, and event space for almost 15 years, working for some of the most successful companies in Los Angeles, and I was ready for a change. Although I had been a cannabis consumer for most of my adult life, I was unfamiliar with the legal market. I learned METRC from a hospitality viewpoint, which was incredibly unique. I had also been documenting several of the pain points this kind of business underwent, and I wanted to help others avoid some of these headaches in the future.

Upon leaving Lowell Cafe, I started Highspitality to consult for other lounges and eventually joined Green Thumb Industries full-time as a lounge specialist. My time with GTI opened the door for me to help lobbyists and public officials create some of the regulations in new markets, such as Las Vegas. In October of 2021, I opened my second lounge in Mundelein, Ill., making it the first licensed cannabis lounge east of the Mississippi River.

Sara Stewart
Photo: Sara Stewart

Warren Bobrow: Why do you think consumption lounges are the future of cannabis?

Sara Stewart: We know Americans are consuming more cannabis than ever before, and taxes from the sales of Cannabis are surpassing alcohol in many legal states. As someone who is incredibly passionate about hospitality and customer service, I believe that what we are experiencing now is prohibition 2.0.

In my opinion, cannabis lounges will play an important role in normalizing cannabis use, just as bars did for the reintroduction of alcohol post-prohibition. They will provide a social place for safe cannabis consumption and educational opportunities for curious consumers. Although cannabis usage looks much different than alcohol, I hope onsite consumption will elevate the cannabis industry by implementing hospitality-driven operations that create a familiar environment replicating a social club or lounge.

Warren Bobrow: What concepts do you think will define cannabis hospitality and lounges?

Sara Stewart: I believe the defining concepts in lounges will be hospitality-driven first and cannabis second. Most cannabis companies buy retail buildings with additional square footage and assume they can just “build a lounge” attached to it. Imagine buying a liquor store and then trying to build a cafe or restaurant out the back — you simply wouldn’t do that.

Many lounges that aren’t open yet are grappling with how to make money, struggling to build out unique customer experiences, and aren’t working with their local governments to create and implement appropriate and necessary regulations. This is a major issue, and in my opinion, the concepts that will win won’t just focus on cannabis as their main offering.

Warren Bobrow: What do you want people to know about visiting a lounge for the first time?

Sara Stewart: Start low and go slow — you can always take more, but you can never take less.

If the rules or process seems unnatural or different, it’s most likely a regulation that the company has to comply with (for example, we don’t want to charge cannabis and food on separate checks, but we have to).

Lastly, do some research on the lounge you’re visiting. Every lounge is different; some allow you to bring your own products while others prohibit it and require reservations, so you should know what to expect upon arrival. Keep in mind these models are new and destined to change often.

Warren Bobrow: What are your top 3 favorite cannabis products and why?

Sara Stewart: I love flower, and I’m typically a Sativa diva, so I have to say Lemon Trill by Lumpy’s in California. I also can’t live without the Snoozeberries Chocolate Bar from Incredibles and my long-time love, Cereal Milk by CBX.

—

Feature photo credit: Sara Stewart

https://www.skunkmagazine.com/five-crisp-questions-for-sara-stewart-the-foremost-expert-on-cannabis-consumption-lounges/
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5 Questions Skunk Magazine

FIVE INTRIGUING QUESTIONS FOR CHRIS MARROQUIN, DIRECTOR OF MANUFACTURING/ROVE

Recently I had the good fortune to taste through the line of Rove cannabis products, specifically the vape cartridges. These ultra-luxe products are by far, some of the most authentically reproduced cannabis vape carts I’ve ever enjoyed. I think what makes them so intriguing is the “taste of the place” or in layman’s terms, the terroir of the plant. These carts are so good. They taste like smoking a fat bud, instead of layering your palate with candy flavors. Rove has harnessed the art of the plant, in a simple-to-use format, its well-designed vape pen. Kudos to them!

Warren Bobrow: Chris, please tell me about yourself. Where are you from? Why cannabis? When did you first discover the plant? Do you remember what you were listening to? 

Chris Marroquin: I am the Director of Manufacturing here at Rove. I grew up in Nevada after my family relocated from LA in 1993, and Las Vegas will always feel like home. I first discovered cannabis in high school, when my classmate’s dad was growing it and introduced my friend to growing. I was fascinated with all aspects of the plant: how to grow, cure and store it, its effects, how to cook with it, and how to make extracts. Back then Green Day, Bush, and MxPx would be spinning on my portable CD player.

Photo Courtesy of Rove

Warren Bobrow: Tell me about your Ice Hash and Live Rosin. I’ve been sampling the goods and they are incredibly terroir-driven. I can really taste the plant and I find that quite beguiling. Your thoughts on the process? 

Chris Marroquin: We are lucky to have strong relationships with our farm partners, and I’m regularly out in the literal field meeting new and up-and-coming farmers and touching the plant. When I do this, I’m looking at both the overall health of the grow and focusing on the terpene profile’s potential for becoming a well-balanced flavor profile in any one of our different Rove product lines.

The process for our rosin starts with perfectly ripened plants. Once ready for harvest, they are picked and immediately flash-frozen. This technique preserves the flavor profile of the plant at its most pristine without degrading any core properties. From this stage, the plant is ready to be mechanically separated into bubble hash using water as a carrier. The hash is then filtered and freeze-dried before being pressed into rosin. Terroir is a huge part of rosin. Growing medium, growing practices, environment, and light affect the plant’s ability to achieve its genetic potential.

Cannabis production, when optimized through a careful and hands-on process, can produce high levels of terpenoids, flavonoids, and cannabinoids. Creating the perfect environment and set of protocols, combined with some of our proprietary Rove techniques to decrease degradation and maintain freshness and purity is what gives the rosin that lip-smacking taste. The result is that the original plant profile can be experienced on a level far beyond its original plant form.

Warren Bobrow: Do you have a mentor?  What are your six and twelve-month goals? What obstacles do you face? How do you anticipate removing them? 

Chris Marroquin: My dad has been a lifelong mentor to me, for pretty much everything. His attention to detail and empathic intelligence really resonate with and inspire me. As far as work goes, our CEO Paul Jacobson has been an integral mentor in helping me understand the business side of cannabis. And beyond my family and close colleagues, I’ve followed The Rev for a long time, reading his books and articles. Haven’t met him yet, but True Living Organics is my favorite cultivation book.

Personally, in six months I’d like to have closed on at least 10 more acres of land. I believe land gives you freedom, and because it’s a finite resource I see it as an investment, too.
My twelve-month goals are to maintain balance at Rove while expanding the brand to other states and possibly internationally.

Currently, we are in the final stages of R&D to infuse our Drink Loud with Live Rosin. Edible rosin is a fast-growing market for good reason, it provides a full-spectrum experience in edible form.

I am also researching the potential for CBG eye drops. I’ve had success in microencapsulating the CBG to allow it to blend with water, but the formulation and process still need work. My father lost his vision in his right eye due to glaucoma, and ever since I’ve looked for ways that cannabis could help others struggling with what he did.

Photo Courtesy of Rove

Warren Bobrow: What is your favorite food to complement your creative extractions? Do you have a go-to restaurant that you want to share?

Chris Marroquin: I go for hydrating fruits like watermelon, passionfruit, mangoes, and berries. I tend to eat in excess when complementing with extracts, so I keep it light and hydrating to remain productive and maintain mental clarity. As far as favorite restaurants, I love Garden Grill in Las Vegas. It happens to be vegan, and my favorite thing on the menu is its crispy chicken sandwich and beer-battered avocado tacos. It’s my favorite sandwich, vegan or not.

If we are talking about a bigger meal, say after enjoying several joints or a cannagar, I like to start with a palate cleanser because I know instead of getting “fuller” my appetite will increase. If I’m consuming live resin or rosin it’s a lot easier to go with a richer dish, such as croquetas or a ribeye steak. With edibles, I like to keep the dishes light and nutritious until I’m ready to ‘give in’ to the edible and eat something heavier, like lasagna or pasta.

Warren Bobrow: What is your passion? 

Chris Marroquin: I love to garden and cook. It’s about the experience for me, whether it’s growing heirlooms/rare genetics of a plant/fruit, or learning a new cooking technique. The most recent cooking skill I’ve been learning is Mornay sauce. It’s basically a béchamel sauce with grated cheese. I love nachos and this is the perfect consistency of nacho cheese sauce. It’s a pretty basic technique but I just recently learned both. It’s so satisfying for me to learn new techniques and then make a beautiful meal using the best ingredients.

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https://rovebrand.com/
https://www.gardengrilllv.com/

https://www.skunkmagazine.com/five-intriguing-questions-for-chris-marroquin-director-of-manufacturing-rove/
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Interviews Klaus

From craft cocktails to weed mocktails: How Warren Bobrow of Klaus reinvented cannabis in a can

Warren Bobrow fell in love with cannabis long before he took his first sip of alcohol. But when talent with mixing earned him the moniker, “The Cocktail Whisperer,” alcohol took center stage in his career. As Bobrow puts it, “I was a pretty established drinker—people would come to me and say I made them the best drink they’d ever had.” But swearing off the hard stuff in 2018 has allowed him to bring his true love to the fore without sacrificing his passion for intoxicating concoctions. Now, the only cocktail whispering Bobrow does involves cannabis, his go-to secret weapon for the perfect drink. 

Before Bobrow became a world-renowned cocktail connoisseur, his dream was to become a chef. But as he is quick to point out, he started from the bottom up. “I’ve worked plenty of the least glamorous jobs in the industry,” he says, recalling his first job washing dishes in York Harbor, Maine. “Working as a dishwasher teaches you to work hard and be diligent and treat people exceptionally well, because you never know when they’ll come back into your life. Always, always be nice to the dishwasher.” 

The grunt work paid off when Bobrow trained as a chef and started his own fresh pasta manufacturing business. He lost the business in 1989 after Hurricane Hugo, and was deep enough in debt to accept the necessity of a twenty-year detour in banking–though he hated every minute of it. In 2009, he took the chance to reinvent himself. “I took some classes with the New School in food writing and became a published food writer,” says Bobrow, referencing his tenure with publications such as Saveur Magazine. “Then that led to six books on cocktail making, and it seemed to work out very, very well for me.”

According to Bobrow, his foray into writing didn’t necessarily turn down the pressure of the service industry. “My publisher only gave me a month for each of my books,” he says, cheekily suggesting that if you can’t write 160,000 words in a month you have no business in publishing. “But I’ve been writing magazine articles all over the world, so that’s easy for me.” 

Asked how he comes up with his recipes, he just shakes his head. “I dreamt them up. I sleep on my successes—everything that I come up with is delicious, I just can’t explain it.” Of course, not all of his material was dreamed into existence—in his 2013 book, Apothecary Cocktails, Bobrow drew on the centuries-old history of herbal concoctions for curing ailments. He argued that drinks like the Milk Thistle Spritz or Lemon Balm Gin and Tonic do more than just intoxicate—they heal. 

When a promotional tour for one of his books took him to the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, which featured a temporary exhibit on the history of medicinal cannabis, something clicked. He began to see that his beloved potions didn’t need to involve liquor, a substance which no longer felt medicinal to him. “After seeing the exhibit I knew immediately what I was going to do with the rest of my life,” he says. The deal was sealed when he enrolled in the New Jersey medical program and successfully used cannabis to treat a terrible case of glaucoma that had been plaguing him for years. In 2016, Fair Winds Press published Bobrow’s Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics.

warren bobrow

Now on its tenth printing, the book contains tasting notes and descriptors that illuminate the medicinal and recreational aspects of the plant. Recipes often combine cannabis with alcohol—though with caution—but  are focused on cannabis.  In addition to cocktails and mocktails, the  primer contains basic recipes for butter, oils, tinctures, and creams, followed by a plethora of fun and healing ways to apply the infusions. 

Of course, making a craft cannabis cocktail from scratch is a whole lot of work, and it’s perhaps best left in the hands of the master himself. So it’s no surprise that as cannabis beverages storm the market, Bobrow is throwing his hat in the ring to show us how it’s done. Enter Klaus, a craft cannabis cocktail company named for Bobrow’s Internet-famous traveling “1850s German drinking gnome,” who apparently now agrees that cannabis cocktails are to be preferred. 

“It’s not like one of those seltzers that, you know, people are chugging to get stoned,” Bobrow insists. “This is a carefully composed craft cocktail that’s made with love and non-industrialized ingredients.” 

The cocktail currently on offer is called the Mezzrole, named for Mezz Mezzrow, a jazz clarinetist who earned his notoriety in the Swinging 20s for being the weed dealer to Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Bix Beiderbeck. The ingredients include Pickett’s Hot N’ Spicy ginger syrup, Les Vergers Boiron Lime, and Fee Brothers Bitters. And Bowbrow is careful not to offset the medicinal aspects by overloading the drink with sugar. “I’m very sugar-conscious,” Bobrow says. “Added sugar is a big problem in the liquor industry, so we’ve only added 6/10 of a gram of sugar.” 

And of course, as the star of the show, the cannabis is just as lovingly selected. “I’m using an emulsion created by a company called Virtuosa in Oakland, California, a cannabis-infused nanotechnology based on coconut oil,” he says. “It’s a beautiful product that gets you really high.” 

For the time being, California is the only market that can benefit from his potions, and even then supplies are limited. “This is carefully, carefully crafted with small run, small producer products that are not industrialized—we’re not making 20,000 cans, we’re making 5,000 cans,” he says. Though he hopes to increase his reach eventually, at the moment Bobrow is content to be clamored for. “There’s nothing wrong with saying that you have the best tasting beverage that no one can buy,” Bobrow says. ”But eventually the market is going to demand it.” At least Bobrow hasn’t left us completely without recourse while we await the day we can pop open a can of Klaus. In the meantime, we can flip open Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics to try our own hand at a cannabis concoction—if only to better appreciate the beverage when it arrives.

From craft cocktails to weed mocktails: How Warren Bobrow of Klaus reinvented cannabis in a can
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Different Leaf Klaus Reviews

Different Leaf loves Klaus!