Blue Moon’s Keith Villa Is Crafting A Pot Beer That Will Actually Get You Stoned

Keith Villa, who developed and oversaw the Blue Moon brand for MillerCoors for more than two decades is now getting into the’ pot beer’ biz.

And unlike many recent cannabis infused beers that are making their way into the marketplace, Villa hopes introduce the first beer with no alcohol that will actually get you high…like stoned high.

In January when Keith Villa, Ph.D., the creator and head brewmaster of Blue Moon Brewing announced his retirement from MolsonCoors , he briefly mentioned plans to create a new beverage product with “cutting edge” ingredients.

We should have known then that he was hinting at pot…After all he’s a Colorado brewer and that state was the first to legalize recreational marijuana…and in doing so opened the door to all kinds of legal cannabis infused options.

Under the CERIA BEVERAGES banner, Keith and Jodi Villa intend to be the first to introduce a line of cannabis-infused non-alcoholic craft beverages containing THC, a key psychoactive chemical from cannabis plants that enhances one’s mood.

This is a dramatic shift from beers like Lagunitas’ Supercritical and New Belgium’s just introduced The Hemperor both of which use pot terpenes that duplicate the aromatics of pot but not the high.

In a press release announcing the launch of CERIA (pronounced “SAIR-ee-uh”), not that correct pronunciation matters much once you’re stoned, Villa seemed bullish about what he refers to as “cannabis-infused craft beer”…

“I’m ready to introduce another high-impact brand to the industry again, this time with a new line of custom cannabis-infused craft beers. Today, the opportunity and the demand are here, inviting Americans to enjoy a more social way of consuming cannabis – by drinking rather than by smoking it or through ingestion of edibles.”

Villa goes on to explain explains that “CERIA will be brewed just like an alcoholic craft beer to maintain its beer taste and aroma, but will then be de-alcoholized prior to the infusion of cannabis.”

So basically the company will be crafting beers that taste like beer, but deliver a pot high rather than an alcohol buzz.

Villa is but the latest beer veteran to be transitioning into the pot biz. Last February Lagunitas founder Tong Magee a vocal proponent of the cannabis industry and an enthusiastic consumer himself delivered a keynote address at the National Cannabis Industry Association’s Seed to Sale Show.

And Villa is entering this burgeoning industry at a time when the development of pot drinks is clearly accelerating.

Last February a Canadian firm filed a patent for marijuana beer. And drinks giant Constellation Brands purchased a 10% stake in Canadian marijuana company Canopy Growth  last fall with plans to make cannabis-infused drinks.

 Pot Beer Image Credit: Mitchell Maglio

Banner image credit: CERIA