Cocktail Whisperer
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Warren Bobrow=WB: Tell me about yourself? Why cannabis? When did you decide to leave traditional business for a much different path in legal cannabis?
Tim Keogh=TK: I got involved with cannabis initially as a medical advocate in 2011 in New England. In 2012, after the ballot initiatives passed in Massachusetts for Medical and Colorado for Adult-Use, the ‘industry’ presented itself as the opportunity of a lifetime. I had witnessed the benefits to patients firsthand through my advocacy, and my background in real estate development and operations gave me a unique perspective on what the industry needed to reach its full potential. It all happened naturally and the transition to cannabis full-time always seemed like the right thing to do every step of the way.
You’d be hard pressed to find an authority figure when it comes to cannabis cocktails. But Warren Bobrow, the author of Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails and Tonics, doesn’t think that’s because the combination is a bad idea. He should know — he literally wrote the book on the subject. He’s a strong believer in a good cannabis cocktail. It’s just that everyone else (other than a few brave bar owners) is too scared to tackle the subject.
“I don’t think anyone has had the nerve to do it, nor have they found a publisher to take that type of risk,” Bobrow tells me over the phone, chuckling. “This is not a big lucrative project. I wish it was, but there’s so much preconceived stuff about it.”
There’s that, and the fact that making cannabis cocktails the right way — in a safe way that actually tastes good — is a lot harder than just throwing a couple nugs into a cocktail shaker. Luckily, Bobrow has it mastered, and it all started with a dream and a passion for quality cocktails and cannabis.
Warren Bobrow=WB: Where are you from? What did you originally want to be when you were a younger person? How did you achieve the honor of working with our plant?
Maggie Connors/Besito=MC/B: I grew up in Connecticut, where I wanted to be everything from a designer to a doctor, an architect to a therapist. I’ve been driven by impact, human connection, and design as long as I can remember. I fell in love with cannabis as soon as I tried it in high school, and always sought the healing it provided though it was difficult to access. There was a strong stigma, and I kept the solace I found in cannabis hidden from my parents and professional life for another decade. Because of the misinformation from prohibition, it took years for me to realize cannabis wasn’t just an illegal indulgence, but a deeply therapeutic natural remedy for my anxiety and chronic pain. Above all it gave me the quiet and presence to live in the moment and know myself better.
With Veterans Day around the corner, we catch up with Jane Technologies CEO, Socrates Rosenfeld, a former Army commander who discovered a new way to serve his country and fellow veterans, by increasing education and access to cannabis.
Barry Walker, and Geoffrey Yeterian , co-founders of Dub Bros.
Attention Dabbers! What would you do if I offered a solution to your pesky eNail problems? Ok, if you were like me, please eschew the dangerous blow torch and ditch your other possibly non-functional electronics. What I suggest uses your own expensive borosilicate dab rig glass right now. No need to bring in even more glass because G Pen eNail makes some valid suggestions. Higher Standards, already a fine producer of quality borosilicate (high temperature) cannabis/rig glass has partnered with the hardware manufacturer G Pen to make a hybrid device that absolutely begs your attention.
Warren Bobrow=WB: Why cannabis? What brought you to this path?
Paul Botto=PB: I had a catastrophic leg injury where I nearly had my leg amputated and was in the hospital for over two weeks. When I came out of the hospital, I was immediately put on 48mg of Dilaudid, which is 2.5x the clinical definition of “opiate dependency.” I heard you could treat pain and wean yourself off of opiates much faster through cannabis. With five surgeries, 23 screws, and three plates stacked up against me, I set out to learn about its benefits and experiment on myself to get off that killer cocktail as soon as humanly possible. This happened nearly three years ago, when the market was even more nascent than it is now. I was so impressed with my own recovery experience with cannabis that I was determined to turn it into my next business. While I was raising capital for the new venture and building out a retail team, my business partner Larry Levy, who I worked with at my last company in supply chain data technology, called me and excitedly pitched his idea for us to go into business together. Coincidentally, he had the same idea to make the leap into the cannabis industry. After I told him what happened since we had last spoken, he yelled, “Brilliant! I mean, sorry about your leg, but it is an even better fit than I had hoped!”
Not only can you see my incredible 5 Questions for Forbes Vices! here but you can also go to the source!! Click link below.
Cheers!!
I’m just back from Denver and just before that, California. It seemed like every dispensary I walked into carried Coda Signature’s excelsior confectionary products. As I silently smiled inside, knowing that not only have I met the principals of the company in person, plus I’ve also seen where they manufacture the exceptionally fine goods (at least the ones from California) that is a gift that most will never experience. Thank you for allowing me this honor, it means everything to me. Not everyone gets this chance in life. I seized the moment and now it has started to reap the benefits. A far cry from being an executive assistant in a bank. If you knew me then, would you have known? Probably not.