First chances to taste Wisconsin’s various THC infused drinks came to The Rigby as bar patrons sampled products from local cannabis companies April 22.
The tasting, hosted at The Rigby, 119 E. Main St, brought out three vendors from Wisconsin to give people samples of low-dose THC-infused drinks. Featured in the lineup was Canndigenous’ Tempo THC seltzers, Untitled Art’s Mystic Orbit sodas, Honeybee’s seltzers and The Rigby’s own new housemade “Unicorn” THC drinkdrink.
Both bar patrons at The Rigby for trivia night and people who came out specifically for the tasting indulged in the experience. While not many were willing to talk about their own experience tasting the line of THC infused drink — possibly due to the legally gray area in which Delta 9 products live — vendors relayed testers’ surprise while sampling drinks.
“The number one thing is that we are educating instead of just handing over something and saying ‘Drink this. It’s orange,’” said David Michalski, sales and distribution manager at Canndigenous.
Canndiegenous, Wisconsin’s first Indigenous-owned cannabis company, centers itself on plant based alternative medicine. Education on the potential benefits continues to be one of its strongest focal points. Its founder, Rob Pero, started multiple organizations to advance cannabis advocacy in Wisconsin and Indigenous communities around the country.
Michalski reports that people were shocked by how good the drink was. Some told him that they would be willing to buy the drink even without the THC.
Canndigenous infused seltzers have found popularity around the country and were dubbed “the best-tasting THC drink I’ve ever had” in a recent review of cannabis goods in USA Today.
Surprise on the taste was a common theme from samplers. One slightly buzzed bar patron named Frank from Ankeny, Iowa happened to be at The Rigby while on a cross country booze cruise. He had never tried THC infused products before, but was pleasantly surprised by Honeybee’s pineapple mango seltzer.
Honeybee has three different variants of its drinks: pineapple and mango, ginger and lime, and strawberry lemon. It sets itself apart from other cannabis companies with being available on tap at bars across the state.
Untitled Art, a Waunakee based brewery, fairly recently launched its own line of THC infused drinks. Its Mystic Orbit sodas completely mask any flavor of THC in drinks. Four flavors — Cosmic Orange, Galactic Grape, Lunar Lemon and Planetary Peach — capture nostalgic tastes made for easy sipping.
Zach Mason, brand representative for Untitled Art, likens the experience of THC infused drinks as enjoying a few beers.
“A lot of people are familiar at least with THC as a concept even if they haven’t tried it.,” Mason said. “Similar to a five percent (alcohol content) beer, you’re only going to have small bumps, but it will build overtime if you continue to have some like it would as a beer.”
The day also marked the first chance to get a taste of The Rigby’s own THC-infused drink. Its purple lychee and lemon Unicorn is a far cry from what its long list of craft beers and alcohol infusions found at the downtown bar.
“A lot of people are going into the THC realm, so we’re like ‘Why don’t we have a couple options for people that want a cocktail, but not a liquor cocktail,’” said Kim Harvey, marketing and social media intern at The Rigby.
Unicorn will be available soon at The Rigby.
