If you’re reading this magazine, there’s a good chance you like both beer and cannabis. If so, long-time Maine breweries Shipyard Brewing and Sea Dog Brewing have got new products just for you: In March, the companies launched Pumpkinhead and Blue Paw THC Elixirs, respectively, taking the flavors of some of their most popular seasonals and infusing them with THC.

The beer-like drinks will be the first THC-infused beverages available in the adult-use marketplace. 

They’re “beer-like” because while they do have THC, they don’t have alcohol in them, despite being steeped with grains and hops and having a beer-like appearance. At the moment, Maine’s laws don’t allow the mixing of alcohol and THC in the same product. They are, however, designed to “work” like beer, with a relatively short time from consumption to the impact of the THC on your system and a quicker recovery time than many edibles provide. 

Both companies are working with Novel Beverage, a new company in Scarborough, Maine, that provides the THC and other raw ingredients for the beverage you’d like to manufacture, and does all the bottling for you. Shipyard and Sea Dog essentially worked with Novel to take their well-known tastes and replicate them — sort of — with a THC beverage. 

While the medical market already has all manner of sodas, fruit juices, even cold brews (very popular), this is the first beverage of any kind being sold in the adult-use recreational marketplace. Look for Novel and other suppliers to soon be bringing other beverages, including seltzers, in relatively short order, should these prove as popular as they are in the medical marketplace. 

Joining Firestorm, the city of Bangor now has a second adult-use retail operation with the opening on February 6 of Brothers Cannabis, owned and operated by actual brothers Greg and Matt Hawes. 

The spacious, brand-new storefront features wood flooring and counter space, along with calming pale-blue walls and an assortment of glass cases with cannabis products and various paraphernalia. Out of the gate, they’re featuring their own flower — at least five strains, from Peanut Butter Breath to Gelato Cake — along with a selection of pre-rolls from Room 5. For concentrates, they had a number of vape cart options from Full Bloom and Jar, plus some batter and live resin from Jar and a bunch of edible options from Full Bloom. 

As things get off the ground, they’re offering 10% discounts to active and retired military, as well as students (over 21, of course). 

Eben Sumner, CEO of Casco Bay Hemp, got an interesting surprise in the mail in January: A letter from Senator Susan Collins congratulating him on his selection as Small Business of the Year by the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce. 

“I actually got that letter before the Chamber even told me,” Sumner laughs. 

Considering hemp was illegal at the federal level for roughly 50 years, until the Farm Act of 2018, congratulations from a U.S. Senator is quite the turnaround. 

“Your work in Maine as well as across the country and internationally has helped to build the Maine CBD industry,” Senator Collins writes. “I am pleased to join your family, friends, and colleagues in recognizing this wonderful honor.” 

In bestowing the honor on Casco Bay Hemp, which produces everything from tinctures to topical patches to CBD pet supplements, the Biddeford-Saco Chamber praised their fundraising efforts for local non-profits along with their “outstanding customer service” and wide-ranging produce line “that is improving the lives of many people.”

Have a medical card? Interested in putting some of your own plants in the ground so you can truly say you’re growing your own medicine? Then you’ll want to take advantage of a rare opportunity coming to Windham this May. 

Clonify, the largest creator of cannabis clones and seeds for the public in Maine, is holding a “special clone drop event” at Sticky Bud Farms, one of the many dispensaries on Roosevelt Trail. While seeds are nice, starting your plants as clones essentially ensures that your plants will be female, come from healthy genetic stock, and will perform well as long as you apply the proper care and feeding. 

Just like the Farmers’ Market in Deering Oaks, you’ll find 6-, 12-, and 24-packs of seedlings, even “teen-sized” plants that will be ready to transfer right into your backyard garden or five-gallon buckets (or larger) out on the back deck. They promise more than 1,000 clones, in total, and they say the drop will be “geared toward outdoor growers,” so they’ll bring strains that are genetically predisposed to outdoor growing. 

Interested? Head over to www.Clonify.com and let them know you’re coming to make sure you don’t get left out.