Your humble narrator woke up on February 6, thinking to myself that I and I had been in Babylon too long.
Even if you are lacking the page-a-day calendar that your intrepid liquor reporter uses to keep track of all booze-related holidays, you may have guessed from the opening line that Bob Marley’s 69th birthday has just passed us by.
How exactly, you might be wondering right now, does Bob Marley’s birthday have anything to do with booze? Patience, gentle reader, and all will become as clear as the blue haze that normally surrounds those listening to Bob Marley.
Jamaica’s favourite son was a devout Rastafarian, and partook freely of the holy herb to attain enlightenment. For those in the audience who are not ex-hippies, the holy herb is known around these parts as the waccy tabaccy.
This all ties back into the booze-related theme of this column because the hop plants use to make beer are closely related to the cannabis plant. The chemists in the audience may even recognize that humulone, the main bittering agent in hops has a chemical formula of C21H30O5, which is very close to C21H26O2, the formula for cannabinol, the ingredient that gives people the munchies when listening to Bob Marley.
Because hops and hemp are closely related, a number of craft brewers have been making beer with hemp, and what better day to combine the two than on Bob Marley’s birthday?
Since hemp seeds contain similar terpenes (bitter oils) to hops, they can be used as a bittering agent, although they tend to also add a nutty flavour to beer, so adventurous brewers normally use a blend of hops and hemp seeds to provide a more balanced beer.
Bowen Island Brewing from BC has been producing Hemp Blonde Ale since 1998, which has consistently been one of their top sellers.
Starting with a base blonde ale, hemp seeds and a Pacific Northwest hop variety are added for a well-rounded slightly nutty-tasting brew.
Nelson Brewing, also from BC, brews up their Harvest Moon Organic Hemp Ale, which is made in the style of a Kölsch, using locally sourced barley and wheat, as well as organic toasted hemp seeds for flavouring and bitterness.
Remaining faithful to the Kölsch style of beer, the Harvest Moon Organic Hemp Ale uses a top-fermenting ale yeast, but is fermented and aged at low temperatures like a lager, making for a uniquely crisp and flavourful beer.
Howe Sound Brewing, also from BC (noticing a trend here), releases a spring seasonal every year called Hightide Hemp Ale, made in the style of an English Bitter, with the hemp seeds in the brew complementing the caramel malts common to this beer style.
Your humble narrator has long been a fan of English Bitters, and is always happy when this seasonal shows up on the shelves in March. With a restrained floral aroma from the hops just barely peeking out from behind the herbal complexity from the hemp seeds, the contrasting solid malt structure makes for a highly sessionable beer.
Like most of the offerings from Howe Sound Brewing, the Hightide Hemp Ale is only available in Alberta in one litre bottles, so it is best shared with a friend or two so the bottle doesn’t get too warm while you are drinking it.
There are a few other brewers in Ontario and New Brunswick that brew up hemp ales, but the bulk of this market seems to be in bud-friendly BC. Whether this has anything to do with the de facto decriminalization of the ganja in parts of BC is left as an exercise for the reader.
If beer isn’t your thing, or if you prefer to drink more local products, look no further than the Alberta-made Stoked Vodka from Grande Prairie. The brainchild of a pair of hemp-loving ladies in Northern Alberta, who had a lightbulb moment when mixing in a bit of liquid hemp with their cocktails.
Visibility spiked when they pitched the spirit popular Dragon’s Den, getting as far as securing an offer to invest from one of the show’s titular Dragons. Since then, the product has been flying off the shelves.
All of these beers and spirits are available in well-stocked liquor stores near you, so pick up a six-pack and crank up the reggae!
