Welcome to Weed Weviews, a verbal foible that’s become the very real name of this monthly column. Think of it like our Doin’ Beers series, but for weed. This month I tried some solid efforts and some real duds. Alright, let's do this!
Falling Knife’s Grape Vape
About: Northeast Minneapolis's Falling Knife Brewing Co. is known for its beers, its pinball-filled backroom, and the ever-faithful T-Wolves fans in the taproom. It’s also making some really great THC bevvies.
Where I got it: Found this at Flipside Dispensary for $6.50.
Flavor: Good grape soda is supposed to look and taste like liquid candy, and this delivers. It’s the real deal, made with cane sugar and enough artificial coloring to tint your tongue, and it’s absolutely delicious, with no weird flavor notes or staleness.
Blast-off time: Probably around 20 minutes?
Experience: This is a 10 mg can made with real sugar, so you get two highs in one. Video-game and house-cleaning stoners will appreciate Grape Vape.
Castle Danger’s Trailblazer
About: You probably know this Two Harbors brewery for its cream ale—one of my default beers to order when I’m too lazy to ask for a bar’s tap menu.
Where I got it: $5.50 at Flipside Dispensary.
Flavor: This one broke my heart. I love strawberries and rhubarb, so I thought this would be a home run, but it’s weird. I’m going to get real specific here, but do you remember children’s makeup kits from the ‘80s and ‘90s? They used to have a Chapstick-y, plastic strawberry scent and taste to them. Add in the smell of Barbie legs (we all sniff Barbie legs at some point in our life—don’t lie!) and you have this drink. There’s also a note of corn nuts on the back end.
Blast-off time: I actually poured this down the sink.
Experience: I’m going to seek out the key-lime flavor, because I suspect it will be better and I want a redemption story. But sorry, this one was undrinkable for me, which is very rare. I love weirdly flavored drinks—I even love dirty soda!
Drekker’s Puff Stuff
About: This Duluth-based brewery is into something it calls “unpillaging,” aka donating a portion of its profits to good causes. So far, it’s raised over $100K for local nonprofits. Nice!
Where I got it: $7 from Marigold.
Flavor: The can says it’s raspberry and “mallow,” which I think is supposed to be marshmallow. The taste can best be described as medicinal, kinda like a flavor of Dimetapp I can’t quite place. I guess I don’t mind cough syrup; I drank all of it, but I don’t know that I would do it again.
Blast-off time: This is a 10 mg-er, and it does the job.
Experience: I appreciated the carbonation here, and I do like a good raspberry seltzer, but this is a very artificially flavored drink that doesn’t go full candy like it needs to. And its weird, perfumy smell that kept me from grabbing it for another sip. I drank it all, but it took a while.
MLLW’s Blueberry Limeade
About: This Minnesota-based company makes THC gummies, chocolate (as featured in our Weedeater column), and drinkables.
Where I got it: $7 at Marigold.
Flavor: OK, it’s nice to end this month of a good note. The blueberry flavor here is artificial, but not overly fake. The limeade is the right balance of sweet and tart. I got no complaints; this is easy drinkin’.
Blast-off time: Probably 20-ish minutes. I consumed this pretty quickly because it actually tasted good. No Barbie legs here!
Experience: This is a 10 mg can, so it will make it harder for you to get through a New York Times crossword puzzle, but you will be able to get through a few sidequests of Cyberpunk 2077 should you need to for some reason.
