Exploring the marriage of beer and cannabis

For more than two decades, Sweetwater Brewing Co.’s best seller has been its floral 420 Extra Pale Ale, the numerals slyly nodding to the beer’s April 20 birth date and the brewery’s fondness for marijuana: 420 is drug-subculture slang for cannabis.

“We’ve had to hide these things,” said Freddy Bensch, who helped found the Atlanta brewery in 1997.

In June, Sweetwater removed the cloak by releasing 420 Strain G13 IPA. It mimics the dank pungency of the G13 variety of marijuana — minus the high — by blending hops, hemp flavor and terpenes, organic compounds that are responsible for the distinctive fragrances of plant products from oranges to pine trees to, yes, cannabis.

“There’s nothing better than watching a consumer pop a G13 cap, put it to his nose, take that first smell and see his eyes light up,” Bensch said. Within two months, G13 became Sweetwater’s second-best-selling draft beer available year-round.

As state regulations on marijuana have relaxed and recreational use has become legal in several places (most recently Michigan and Canada), breweries have been looking for ways to use cannabis or its derivatives in beverages. The players range from conglomerates like the Corona importer Constellation Brands, which has invested $4 billion in the Canadian marijuana producer Canopy Growth, to small craft brewers.

“It’s not that often that you see an area that’s so wide open,” said Gerry Khermouch, editor of Beverage Business Insights.

This fast-moving quest for a potential windfall is also a confusing one, because laws and enforcement can conflict and change. Federal law forbids mixtures of alcohol and THC, marijuana’s psychoactive component; brewers are trying to get around that by putting THC into nonalcoholic drinks, and infusing alcoholic beers with other cannabis byproducts.

Breweries say they are willing to leap over legal hurdles, in part, because cannabis and its associated compounds can deliver novel aromas, flavors and experiences. This allows beers to differentiate themselves in a crowded market. “It’s like a whole new

LEAH OVERSTREET / THE NEW YORK TIMES This new pale ale from Sweetwater Brewing Company evokes the G13 variety of marijuana without the high by blending hops, hemp flavor and terpenes. As laws relax on recreational use, marijuana derivatives — from THC to terpenes — are showing up in beers and nonalcoholic drinks.