Cocktail Whisperer
Amanda Ostrowitz, CEO & Founder
Cannaregs makes it easy to keep up with the deeply confusing world of regulations pertaining to legal cannabis in one, easy-to-use database. It’s essential to always have the most up to day information at one’s hands for immediate use.
I’ve traveled out to see Canndescent near Palm Springs, California when they were still a pretty small company. They had some really big dreams and were well on their way to deep success when last I touched base. I’d read that they had secured some massive funding and they were ramping up production to satisfy the need for truly elegant, top-of-the-house cannabis. Fast forward to present day. Canndescent is a market leader in the niche of craft cannabis and with legalization moving eastward and new markets opening, the world of legal cannabis doesn’t seem like such a small place any longer. Canndescent is growing organically and the legal cannabis market is finding out that quality and quantity are no longer misnomers. They mean the top end of the world, that rare place where quality translates into profit!
Five Questions with Andrew Mack: Founder and CEO of Project Make and OLO
I’ve enjoyed the good fortune to have shared time at the dinner table with Andrew Mack, the gracious and humble owner of Project Make & OLO. We spent a lovely several hours drinking some pretty serious wines along with some well matched “Country Cuisine” from the restaurant named simply, Lazy Bear in San Francisco. Andrew is humble about his many achievements with an easy smile and a kind voice. He may be from the Big City (New York) but he speaks patiently offering tidbits of what he is thinking of working on next, without saying too much. There is much going on in Andrew’s brain, he is an entrepreneur and a dreamer of big things. Aren’t they similar? No, not at all. Andrew thinks in crisp metrics and dreams in possibilities. He’s an intellect without making everyone else feel uncomfortable. Share a meal with him, you’ll see! Until then, please enjoy meeting Andrew Mack. He’s a good guy, enjoy his energy and enthusiasm. Cheers! wb
Erin Gore, Founder of Garden Society
It’s ironic that the very flowers that I desire the most are the ones which are the most illusive to find out east. Of course if circumstances permitted, I’m pretty sure I could find the time to taste through the line of Garden Society offerings out on the west coast if I only got out there more often! Hence the written word and the ability to create thirst out of words. When I started to dig a bit deeper, I learned that Garden Society, like the wine propagated in the region had many similarities. One of the most profound was the use of Biodynamics. My own childhood farm was for a time, Certified Biodynamic. It’s pretty stringent and Organics are another route entirely. Rudolph Steiner, the father of Biodynamics may not have used cannabis, but his theories and practices adhere to these principals in the garden with alacrity.
Digital marketing professional Iram Cesani is the kind of gentleman I’d love to spend some time talking with over a multi-course meal. Always smiling, much like myself, I was compelled to meet one of the core team members behind the MagicalButter machine at Hall of Flowers in Santa Rosa, so I did. Afterwards, I thought it wise to learn more about him and what an interesting conversation this turned into.
I love the new crop of entrepreneurs in the cannabis space. These are hardy, mostly young people who need to be celebrated for their nerd-like intensity and deep intellectual agility. Gordon Loi is my choice for a cannabis industry entrepreneur who seized my attention through his unique style of high-end smoking apparatus. He’s enlightened and he speaks with a easy-going cadence. I can tell he’s inspired by more than just cannabis. It’s discovery in life that excites him.
Cannabis-infused drinks aren’t legal yet, but that doesn’t mean would-be purchasers shouldn’t be prepared. Here’s what four experts have to say in anticipation of the cannabis cocktail quaffing expected in just a few short months.
Now that Canada is legalizing cannabis beverages, the iterations of alcohol-free drinks containing cannabis are manifesting, quickly. Cannabis cocktails are less odoriferous than smoking a joint and can be dressed up to look just like an alcoholic cocktail, making them a refreshing option for social occasions.
The GrowthOp asked a few experts to weigh in on why they believe consumers will be clamouring to try the new bevvies once they become available to Canadian adults, expected this December.
Forget horses; let’s talk cocktails. “Cannabis cocktails raise the bar on flavour. The language of cocktails is one of excellence, so what we’re looking for with making cannabis beverages is to create flavours and combine flavours that we are unaccustomed to, but that intrigue us.” As a mixologist specializing in craft spirits, Bobrow likes to combine cannabis with low-alcohol spirits, such as vermouth, to create what he calls “lo-fi” cocktails for private clients and at private parties.
The new regulations for cannabis drinkables forbid alcohol to be added to beverages in Canada, but that doesn’t mean cocktail lovers are barred from experimenting with the two substances at home.
“We know about different cultivars and different strains,” says Bobrow, “but when it’s combined with either craft spirits or in a mocktail situation, it brings flavour to a new place where it hasn’t been before, and that’s intriguing,” he adds.
Bobrow also mentions that while a cannabis edible has a delay of up to two hours, someone drinking a cannabis beverage could feel the effect much faster compared to other consumption methods, putting cannabis cocktails more on–par with their alcoholic counterparts.
Burb, a cannabis lifestyle brand launching out of Vancouver, Canada is forging an original narrative in the industry with a new retail concept that joins e-commerce, street wear, and media, giving British Columbia Cannabis Culture (BC Bud Culture) its rightful place on the cultural map. Burb’s recently launched dynamic e-commerce platform – shopburb.com features its debut collection which is entirely Canadian made and tastefully nods the end of prohibition with a clean and explicit collection of street wear staples.
I work with cannabis and have done some wild things in life m
Mark and Brian Davis – Cofounders of Mozen
I work with cannabis and have done some wild things in life.
I’m usually not impressed by outlandish showings of wealth, but there always is a possibility that someone will go even further than anything that I’ve ever seen possible. With that said, Ray Ramtin Nosrati is now raising the bar of building one of a kind ultra-high-net worth mega-mansions for the person who truly has everything. Well, they do have everything except for one of Ray’s custom designed homes. Oh sure they might have a Gulfstream, or a Hinkley yacht. But they don’t have Ray’s sage advice. Which is exemplified in his cannabis-centrist talent.