Want to kick back with a can of CBD-infused beer this weekend?
Now you can, if you can make the trip to Long Trail Brewery near Killington, where the company will begin selling cans of a hybrid of an IPA and American pale ale finished with hemp oil and terpenes — the fragrant oils that give cannabis its aroma — from Luce Farm.
CBD is an acronym for “cannabidiol,” a cannabis-derived substance that is abundant in hemp. CBD is non-psychoactive and lacks THC, the compound that makes marijuana mind-altering.
The beer, dubbed Medicator, according to the brewery’s website, is the result of months of collaboration between Long Trail and Luce Farm. The two Vermont businesses teamed up last summer for a limited release of a beer made with Luce Farm’s CBD honey.
They went through about six batches to get to Medicator, which is made with Luce Farm’s hemp extract rather than the farm’s honey, said Joe Pimental, who runs the farm with his wife.
“We were getting CBD in the beer, but we were definitely losing some, too,” Pimental said about the early batches. The process of perfecting the beer focused on how to introduce CBD into the brewing process, and how and when to introduce the terpenes.
Medicator has a “distinctly hemp-forward flavor and aroma,” he said. Long Trail has started off with a 30-barrel brew, which will be available only at the brewery for the time being.
“It’s pretty freaking awesome,” Pimental said.
Luce Farm makes CBD-infused honey and CBD-infused coconut oil, as well as topical balms infused with hemp oil. The products are in about 40 stores in Vermont and 10 outside the state, Pimental said.
His operation has grown to the point where he’s had to move out of his kitchen and into a processing space in Bethel, he said.
Demand for CBD-infused products has been surging in greater Burlington. Ceres Natural Remedies, which sells more than 50 types of CBD-based products, opened on College Street late last year. And CBD drinks have popped up at some Burlington coffee shops, such as Cosmic Grind on Church Street and Maglianero’s on Maple Street.
Bakery-slash-cocktail bar Monarch & the Milkweed began selling CBD truffles last summer, and has branched out to heart-shaped CBD chocolates for Valentine’s Day and CBD simple syrup for use in coffee or cocktails.
If your heart is set on grabbing a can of the CBD-infused pale ale, Medicator goes on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. The “super limited beer” clocks in at 6.5 percent alcohol by volume, and will be sold in four-packs for $19.99, the brewery stated.
