Cannabis

As laws evolve, a sophisticated cannabis market has emerged. There are now connoisseurs with money spend on craft products infused with extra-special strains. If you’d like to dip your toe into this rarified circle, here are a few brands angling to become the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti or Pappy Van Winkle of the marijuana world. Kaneh Co. Kaneh Co. founder Rachel King worked as a pastry chef at top San Diego restaurants Searsucker and Nine-Ten before she launched this craft confectionary. Her brownies, blondies, cookies and caramels each contain either five or 10 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive compound in cannabis. You can find them in California and, for medical cannabis patients, Oklahoma. The company plans to expand distribution into Arizona, and is rolling out three new flavors of infused fruit jellies for 4/20. Vertus It’s bubbly and comes in a Champagne bottle, but Vertus will give you a very different feeling than sparkling wine. The non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused beverage is designed to replace traditional celebratory sparklers. It’s available in two strengths, with 50 or 100 milligrams of THC (five and 10 servings, respectively) per 750-ml bottle. It can be found at dispensaries throughout Washington. The company behind Vertus also makes Happy Apple, an infused, non-alcoholic cider made from Washington apples. 1906 This Colorado company combines single-strain cannabis extracts with assorted herbs in tasty chocolates designed to provoke specific feelings. The Love chocolate, for example, combines THC extract with five herbal supplements some consider aphrodisiacs. Meanwhile, Midnight pairs relaxing indica with an herb used in traditional Chinese medicine as a sleep aid. The tasty, gem-shaped chocolates come in elegant, modern packaging. Recently, 1906 helped establish Friends in Weed, a coalition of 11 Colorado cannabis companies that has bought more than $30,000 in gift cards from local restaurants and given them to area “budtenders.” Mindy’s Edibles Chicago pastry chef Mindy Segal won a James Beard Award for her bakery Mindy’s HotChocolate. In 2016, she added cannabis baked goods to her repertoire. In partnership with Illinois’s largest cannabis cultivator, Mindy’s Edibles makes a line of infused gummies and, soon, fruit chews, hard candies and chocolates. Flavors include clever combos like Key lime-kiwi and grapefruit with a hint of gin botanicals. The candies can be found in dispensaries throughout Illinois, Massachusetts and California.