This Canadian company wants to bring cannabis beer to Ireland

Canadian cannabis drinks company Province Brands is hoping to bring some of its weed-infused beers to Ireland.

Province Brands, a Canadian company developing the world’s first beers brewed from the cannabis plant, is aiming to raise €70 million (£63.5 million) by the end of 2019 to fund its commercial launch in the US, Canada and Europe.

The company has appointed Niall Phelan, who co-founded Rye River Brewing in County Kildare, Ireland, as its chief operating officer, reports Irish Times.

Phelan said the company is considering building a European headquarters in Ireland, which will include a production facility.

“We’re meeting with various government officials over the next few weeks to hopefully start those conversations.”

Since launching in 2016, Province also signed a distribution deal with Ayre Resorts, a new collection of five-star properties opening its first resort in Antigua in 2021.

It claims to be the first “global company” to produce beers brewed entirely from the cannabis plant. It has a number of patents to brew beers using cannabis stems and stalks of cannabis left over after the buds are sold in Canada for recreational use.

“We brew directly from the cannabis plant with no grain in it,” Phelan said.

“We’re the only company in the world who can do that. We’ve effectively reinvented the brewing process.

“We effectively extract the sugars and the cannabinoids out of the plant through quite a natural process, and then we brew.

“So you’re getting a product that just has effectively plant in it with hops and yeast and water. The yeast gets removed before its served.”

Province describes its products as “alcohol-free, yet highly intoxicating, and with a dose-response curve similar to that of alcohol.”

Although Province filed a patent for a cannabis-based beer back in 2017, the company struck a deal with craft brewery Yukon in November last year to sell a pilsner brewed with cannabis, while it was still developing a beer laced with THC, the psychoactive component of the plant.

It is illegal to mix cannabis and alcohol in Canada, so Province’s beers are all 0% ABV.

While it is illegal to sell products that contain THC in Ireland and the UK, a number of businesses have begun to drinks that are made with hemp or contain CBD.

UK-based wellness company OTO launched a range of “high strength” non-alcoholic cocktail bitters infused with cannabidiol (CBD) earlier this year to cater for a growing demand for cannabis-infused drinks.

Cornish-based rum brand Dead Man’s Fingers also launched its own hemp-infused rum in July.