Cannabis beer? Pot-brewed beverage could be the future of consumables

'Pretty unique to the market' From CTV News Channel: Province Brands' Jennifer Thomas says cannabis-infused beer is unique to the market and is taking on the alcohol.

Cannabis is now legal in Canada, but edibles remain on the outside looking in when it comes to the law.

That isn’t stopping companies from getting into the cannabis edibles business, including Province Brands, which produces a beer that’s brewed with the drug.

Jennifer Thomas, co-founder and chief legal officer of Province Brands, said the company’s patent-pending process allows their brewers to use cannabis instead of some of the traditional ingredients in beer, such as barley and wheat.

The result is a beverage that produces a similar buzz to beer, but is non-alcoholic, low in sugar, low in calories and is gluten-free.

“It is a much healthier alternative in many ways to alcoholic beverage products,” Thomas told CTV News Channel on Thursday.

Thomas says Province Brands hopes to one day expand to the point of challenging not only the cannabis industry, but also the traditional beer market.

“We see our product as an alcohol killer and we feel our beverage will hopefully take the place of a lot of beverages and alcoholic products,” she said. “We’re trying to create a space that’s completely different because of the way that we brew the beer.”

There are other cannabis beers on the market, but they infuse cannabis into an existing non-alcoholic beer, rather than brewing with the drug. Province Brands says this method produces an inferior product.

Edibles are not expected to be legal in Canada for at least a year.