ROCHESTER, NY -- Hemp is hot and Upstate New York’s oldest brewery is now putting it into a cold beverage.
Hemptails, infused with hemp seeds for aroma and flavor, will launch in February from FIFCO USA, the parent company of Rochester’s Genesee Brewery. The drinks will be made and canned at the brewery on St. Paul Street in Rochester.
Hemptails are malt-based beverages, like beer, and will be 8 percent alcohol, similar to strong beers like some double IPAs. But they do not contain psychoactive substances, like THC, which give hemp’s cousin, cannabis, its ability to deliver a “high.”
“Hemp is an amazing, versatile plant and by introducing it into the (flavored malt beverage) space, we’ve created an entirely new drinking experience,” Jennifer McCauley, brand manager for Hemptails, said in a news release. "Hemptails allows consumers to enjoy hemp in a completely different and exciting way.”
Hemptails will come out in three flavors: Hemp’d, which showcases the flavor of hemp and hemp seeds; Citrus Gold, which blends hemp and blood orange; and Passionfruit Express, with hemp and tropical fruit. The company says the drinks are low in sugar.
They will be available in individual 23.5-ounce cans and 4-packs of 16-ounce cans. They will be sold nationwide.
“Hemptails is a ready-to-drink, alcoholic beverage perfect for consumers looking to embrace the hemp movement in their drinking experience,” the company said in its news release..
Hemptails arrives as hemp- and cannabis-based products are enjoying a surge in popularity. It’s also comes as New York is poised to legalize recreational marijuana, giving the hemp and cannabis business an added boost.
Genesee Brewery, which last year unveiled a $48 million modernization and renovation project, is New York’s oldest, dating from 1878. It is now a part of FIFCO USA, which is itself a division of FIFCO, or Florida Ice & Farm Co., best known as the brewer of the popular Central American beer, Cerveza Imperial.
FIFCO USA has been rolling out an increasing number of new products, including Pura Still, a flavored malt beverage similar to hard seltzer but with no carbonation.
Don Cazentre writes about craft beer, wine, spirits and beverages for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.