A FEW MONTHS BACK, I was at a cannabis dinner event. I got to talking with the gentleman sitting across from me, and he mentioned he was a brewery owner with a good news/bad news scenario.
The good news: The OLCC had approved his request to brew a beer infused with cannabidiol, or CBD, the non-psychoactive component of cannabis prized for its medicinal properties. The bad news? He had not been able to find a source in Oregon for CBD, despite numerous attempts.
Although I had spent the past 90 minutes getting all the dinner guests high (once again I was at a cannabis event where no one seemed to have brought any weed), I had the presence of mind to mention that I knew of someone who could supply him with CBD—Jerry Norton, who I profiled in a column last year [Cannabuzz, Dec 2, 2015]. With resin-coated fingers, I typed out a quick email intro during the cab ride home.
I recently got a response from my dinner companion—Elan Walsky of Coalition Brewing, to be precise—reminding me of that conversation, and thanking me profusely for the introduction. He wrote that it had resulted in a commercial Oregon brewery’s first CBD-infused beer (with credit to Half Baked Labs for assistance with flavor matching), and he asked if I wanted to stop by and try some. Who says no to such an offer? Not me.
I asked Walsky why he wanted to pair CBD and beer.
