Brewers to unveil CBD products
R.S. Taylor & Sons Brewery to host Cannabis Curious event Saturday
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » The owners of a local farm brewery are breaking into a new market with their own line of CBD products.
R.S. Taylor & Sons Brewery, owned and operated by Richard and Kelley Taylor, will host a Cannabis Curious event from 4 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23 at its Saratoga Springs Tap Room at 26A Congress St. in Congress Plaza in Saratoga Springs.
The event will offer an opportunity for attendees to meet and greet their local hemp farmers, talk with CBD experts and check out CBD oil, along with CBD-infused cocktails, CBD and beer boilermakers and smokable CBD.
It will feature the newly launched Land Craft Wellness, which is the Taylors’ new CBD company, as well as Outcast Acres in Hartford and Slack Hollow Farm in Argyle.
Representatives from these farms each thought an event like Cannabis Curious would help to
educate consumers on what CBD is, and that it is made right within the region.
“We want to make people aware of what hemp is and what CBD products are, and that there is a difference between qualities, and anything grown in New York state, by the state regulations and mandates, is going to be of the highest quality you can get, because everything has to be tested and highly regulated,” Richard said, noting that the plants grown and used in CBD are very low in THC.
The Taylor family first became involved in the CBD business earlier this year after a new law passed allowing New York state farms to grow hemp.
On why they wanted to start this new business endeavor, “We started using CBD oil ourselves,” Richard explained, “and realized that it had such a dramatic effect on myself and actually our little dog, that we decided we really needed to do something with this.”
From their Washington County farm, where hops are grown for R.S. Taylor & Sons Brewery, the Taylors planted nearly 6,000 hemp plants over four acres of land.
This fall the farm harvested its first-ever hemp crop, which is now being used to create Land Craft Wellness CBD tinctures, topicals like lotions and lip balms, and tinctures for pets too.
In addition to the hemp being grown in New York, the CBD products are produced in New York by a processor in the town of Hoosick in Rensselaer County. “The hemp is grown here, processed here, packaged here, and so far sold here,” Richard said.
Land Craft Wellness products are available at Old Saratoga Mercantile in Schuylerville, Four Seasons Natural Foods in Saratoga Springs, Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany and soon at Healthy Living Market in Wilton, in addition to several other locations throughout the region, including the R.S. Taylor & Sons Brewery taprooms in Salem and Saratoga Springs.
The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce recently held a workshop exploring the economic impact of cannabis, at which Rich was a speaker.
“This is an industry that’s already growing,” said chamber president Todd Shimkus, adding that more CBD products are being sold every day across the country.
“I think what Rich and the folks at R.S. Taylor are attempting to do on Saturday is to sort of extend an invitation for people to get educated as to what types of products are already legal and available here in New York,” Shimkus said.
Locally, the Taylors are some of the industry’s pioneers, and they’re setting a good example, Shimkus said. “Farms that might be interested in the cannabis industry really need to get educated in the same way that R.S. Taylor has become to understand what types of plants are legal, what species of plants don’t do harm to the local agricultural community, and then which ones have the best opportunities for the market as we look into the future.”
Looking ahead, Land Craft Wellness plans to grow another batch of hemp again next year and expand its product line, Richard said, while extending the company’s reach throughout New York state and possibly farther.
Beyond this, much of the future of Land Craft Wellness and the local cannabis industry depends on what lawmakers will decide.
Richard first started growing hemp figuring he’d use it as an ingredient in R.S. Taylor & Sons Brewery beer. Though that isn’t a product yet, because it hasn’t been legalized, he still thinks it’s a good idea and is hopeful that it will become legal soon.
On marijuana, a plant related to hemp, “I think a lot of farms are hoping that it becomes legalized,” Richard said, “and that the legislation does recognize small farmers as priority for getting growing licenses instead of large, out-of-state corporations.”
More information about Land Craft Wellness is available online at landcraftwellness.com or by calling (518) 662-0064.