Holiday buzz: A guide to THC drinks on Chicago liquor store shelves
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The THC beverage aisle at the Binny's in the South Loop. Photo: Justin Kaufmann/Axios
The ongoing debate about regulating or banning hemp-derived products comes at a time when seltzers and other THC drinks are being sold at Chicago-area liquor stores.
The latest: Gov. JB Pritzker recently said he would support a bill that would ban some THC products, but not seltzers and other drinks.
State of play: In what seems like a blink of an eye, stores like Binny's and Garfield's Beverages have started stocking more and more cannabis drinks on their shelves, massively expanding inventory.
Zoom in: With the holiday season upon us, you may be looking for an alternative to alcohol to rev up your celebration.
Reality check: These drinks may taste like booze, but THC drinks are designed to get you high in one can. So it's important to observe the potency, which is usually on the side of the product.
- There is no regulation or oversight for these drinks so they can vary wildly on what kind of high you can expect.
Here are three THC drinks we tried for the holiday season:
Cann social tonic: This is the granddaddy of low-dose THC drinks as the Brooklyn-based company was one of the first to the marketplace. The tallboy-style cans offer tonic flavors like lemon lavender and orange cardamom, which are tastier than your run-of-the-mill seltzer. Cann also goes conservative with its potency, only producing drinks that have 5mg of THC.
- Verdict: These are very tasty, but still get you bleary-eyed. They go down smooth so be prepared to want another. Let the subtle high take effect first (usually takes 15-20 minutes).
- Price: $18.99 for a 4-pack.
Delta Cannabis: This Charlotte-based company offers a wide variety of seltzers and flavored waters. The star of the show is the Pink Lemonade cannabis water, which packs a wallop at 20mg of THC. This isn't for beginners, but if you are a regular cannabis consumer and have built up a tolerance, this could be more your speed.
- Verdict: The water is tastier than their seltzer, which resembles hard seltzers you'd find at the grocery store. Buyer beware: I thought 20mg was extremely intense. The high lasted a long time and made me feel much more zonked out than I expected.
- Price: $14.99 for a 4-pack of seltzer, $19.99 for a 4-pack of water.
Choom: Local craft breweries have jumped head-first into the THC drink space, including Chicago's own Hopewell. Their mini-cans of Choom make you think they might be harmless, but they squeeze in 10mg per can. Also, it's more of a sparkling wine than a seltzer.
- Verdict: My favorite of the bunch. Don't let the small can fool you though, this high will smack you in the face.
- Price: $19.99 for a 4-pack.