Down with CBD, yeah you know me

Dateline: Portland, OR (February 18)

Office happy hours are a slippery slope, my friends. While most people steer away, I've never been one to turn down free beer.  This year's happy hour presented some difficult caveats. The first being that I moved further away from my office. Last year, I got a ride from a co-worker but I also lived 5 minutes away. Now, I faced a 12 mile jaunt. The second issue was that the location of the happy hour. It was at one of my favorite bars, in fact one of the bartenders recognized me and started explaining that it was a private function wherein I confirmed I worked for said company. Also, this place specializes in some stronger drink. Needless to say, I navigated well, isolating myself in front of the television and tune out the world around me.

While I was there, I noticed that Coalition Brewing was doing a tap takeover and it piqued my interest. I've had a lot of their offerings, Space Fruit IPA, King Kitty Red, Loving Cup porter and Dropping Science. These guys get smart with their brewing, almost like one of your nerd friends from college tells you he's brewing beers. There were two new brews they were offering: Roselandia and Two Flowers. For the uninitiated, Portland is known as the Rose City. Local lore, and Google say this is to an Episcopal Church holding a convention in 1888 called it "The City of Roses" and a few years later, the mayor renamed the Lewis and Clark Centennial exposition after roses. So, there you go. From the brewers themselves: "We start with a kettle soured golden ale before adding a delightfully sweet rose cordial, a concentrated syrup made from rose petals. The mild sweetness balances out the tartness created by Lactobacillus and makes for a wonderfully approachable sour beer. " They then top it off with rose water. My first experience with rose and beer was Southern Tier's Compass. It was a bottled conditioned beer that used a delicate ale yeast and rose petals to give it a citrus, East coast flavor but it did have more bitterness. Regardless, I enjoyed Coalition's Roselandia. I tend to stay away from sours because I am not a fan of the bite. However, variety is the flavor of life and therefore important to a boozer like me.

Speaking of a change of pace, Coalition's Two Flower IPA was certainly that. It is Oregon's first CBD (Canabidiol) and hemp infused beer. It was cloudier -fitting for Portland, than your average IPA. Two Flower maintained it's West Coast IPA taste and interestingly enough, hemp and hops have related flavors and smells. If you're not getting it, Coalition is dropping Inception level nuance with the naming.  From their release notes, CBD helps in the processing of alcohol. Which for me on that night, was fantastic. But as I was drinking my friend pulled up an article saying the DEA has classified CBD beer in the same class as heroin. HEROIN!!!! You'd think that with one sip, that bar would be an opium den of iniquity! What's with all the damn consternation? CBD and hemp are non-psychoactive. As in, you're not getting high drinking this beer. Fortunately, marijuana is a legal substance here in Oregon - but I made sure to order a second, because you never really know, do you?

It's truly an amazing time we live in. Brewers are able to take more liberties as we surpass the watery water of our forefathers. Beer is constantly evolving as is any medium, however we are still bound by rudimentary laws that stifle progress despite evidence dispelling them. Providing awareness is one of the most important things we can do, in general. Below, you'll find more information from Coalition and Two Flowers.

Na zdrowie!

Footnote: Coalition Brewing "Two Flowers"