Instead, McLachlan encourages drinkers to contextualize terroir in THC beverages through what she calls “‘chain of custody’ documentation that shows the provenance of the cannabis extracts, as it moves through the supply chain system, from the grower, to the extract manufacturer, to our manufacturing facility.”
Similarly, Will Spartin, COO of Triple Cannabis Beverages, sees terroir as playing a more technical role in the overall process, one that drinkers frankly need to be less concerned with relative to the safety and testing of products.
“Similar to how winemakers harvest at specific times to affect a grape’s sugar content, acidity, etc. a hemp grower harvests at the right time to ensure it does not exceed the [federally mandated] 0.3% THC threshold,” he says.
How Are Infused Drinks Made?
One way that brands like Nowadays achieve transparency and consistency in the potency of their drinks is by partnering with businesses like Oakland, California–based Vertosa, which provides liquid emulsions (the most popular technology to make infused beverages) to deliver cannabinoids like THC and CBD to over 160 brands across the country. Roughly 95% of them are in the beverage category.
“Emulsions are everywhere in food, from salad dressings to ice cream. Our process builds on that familiar science, but with pharmaceutical-level precision to achieve consistency, potency, and long-term stability while minimizing any cannabis taste,” says Vertosa’s CEO, Benjamin Larson.
To break it down: Cannabinoids come from oil extracts of the cannabis plant. These oils are refined to achieve the desired cannabinoid profile, then blended with carrier oils, water, and food-safe emulsifiers. The mixture goes through a homogenizer, which breaks the oil into microscopic droplets that stay evenly suspended. The result is a stable emulsion—a vehicle that can reliably deliver cannabinoids and other active ingredients in beverages without separating or losing effectiveness over time.
“We rigorously test all incoming cannabis extracts for potency and contaminants such as pesticides, heavy metals, and microbes [to] ensure a clean, consistent starting material,” Larson says. “Because our emulsions are ultimately diluted thousands of times when they’re infused into a beverage, this conservative approach ensures the final drink is safe, consistent, and exactly what’s on the label. We also partner with brands to conduct stability testing, so consumers can be confident that what’s in the can on day one is still there when they take their last sip.”
Infused beverage brands that make the effort to go to these lengths are eager to show off their investment by including QR codes or shortened links to detailed authenticity reports on their packaging or online. The absence of either can and should feel like a big red flag to drinkers.
