Boston-based Harpoon Brewery is expanding beyond bev-alc and into cannabis, announcing the launch of Rec. Weed, a THC-infused non-alcoholic beverage.
Rec. Weed (the name is a play on Harpoon’s Rec. League brand family of beers), contains 5 milligrams of THC and is available in 12 oz. slim cans with 25 calories and three grams of sugar. Made in partnership with Novel Beverage Company – a Massachusetts-based cannabis beverage development, manufacturing and distribution company – the beverage is “hop-forward” with “tropical juiciness and citrusy hop notes,” and a “clean, crisp finish.”
Rec. Weed will be a year-round offering sold at recreational dispensaries in Massachusetts, with a suggested retail price of $6.99. The company hopes to rollout into other states later this year, a spokesperson told Brewbound.
“The adult beverage space is constantly evolving,” Harpoon CEO and co-founder Dan Kenary said in a press release. “With THC now legalized in states across much of the country – especially here in the Northeast – we saw not only high demand for a THC-based beverage, but an opportunity to experiment in a way that would uniquely leverage our strengths in the beer world.”
Rec. Weed is “brewed similarly to a session ale, but without fermentation,” avoiding any crossover of alcohol and cannabis, according to the release. The offering begins with a base of green tea “and a bit of added sugar,” “followed by the cold steeping of Citra,” some West Coast hop oils and passionfruit puree. THC is then added to the liquid base before the beverage is carbonated, creating a “minimal THC flavor or aroma.”
“And because the THC is absorbed into the liquor, people feel its effects quicker than with more common edibles,” Harpoon stated in the release.
Rec. Weed is the first cannabis product for Harpoon, but the second for the brewery’s parent company, Mass. Bay Brewing. Harpoon’s sister company Long Trail Brewing Co. – acquired by Mass. Bay in 2022 – has offered CBD Seltzer, a hemp-infused non-alcoholic seltzer, since 2019, at both its taproom in Bridgewater Corners, Vermont, and through distribution in Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey.
“Our consumers come to us with an innate curiosity to try new THC products from brands they can trust,” Donal Wyse, COO of Salem, Massachusetts-based Seagrass Dispensary, said in a release. “Rec. Weed meets them at the intersection of what they want – a buzz through a non-alcoholic and low-calorie beverage that doesn’t sacrifice on taste.”
Kenary called out THC as a “real frontier in the beverage world,” during a fourth category panel discussion for Brewbound’s Boston Brew Talks event in July.
“No one’s talked me out of the idea that if you had a beverage that’s low in calories, that’s as predictable as a 5% or 6% beer, that did not give you a hangover, that was kind of sociable like an [alcoholic] beverage, why wouldn’t that do really well,” Kenary said. “If people can nail that, there’s a real market there.”
Massachusetts voted to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older in 2016, with sales beginning in the Bay State in late 2018. Adult-use marijuana establishments in the commonwealth have since surpassed $3 billion in gross sales, through May 2022, according to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission.
As more states have begun to legalize adult cannabis use, craft breweries have been exploring adding CBD- and THC-infused products to their portfolios. Last summer, Minneapolis-based Indeed Brewing Company launched Two Good Sparkling THC Seltzer, with 2 mg of THC and 2 mg of CBD. In early 2022, Yakima, Washington-based Bale Breaker Brewing launched Sungaze Cannabis Seltzers, with 1.5 mg of THC and 5 mg of CBD.
Larger companies are getting in on the cannabis wave as well. In 2018, Heineken’s Lagunitas launched Hi-Fi Hops, a cannabis-infused sparkling water. And in 2022, Boston Beer Co. launched TeaPot, a cannabis-infused iced tea, available in Canada.