Enjoy this intimate conversation with Zach Squire, the culinary mind behind Squier's Specialty Elixirs. Together we slip into the world of craft cannabis elixirs where the marriage of professional cooking prowess and the finest cannabis ingredients brews an unforgettable experience. Zach takes us through his evolution, from wide-eyed experiments with the infamous firecrackers to the sophisticated allure of his full spectrum hash rosin elixirs. His commitment to quality showcases why choosing the path less traveled in the edibles industry makes all the difference.
Imagine a community where food, drink, and cannabis create a tapestry of connection, a place where edible aficionados and newcomers alike are embraced. This episode paints that picture, with Massachusetts' blooming market as the backdrop. We discuss the intricacies of various consumption methods and the beauty of the cannabis community's inclusivity. We also get a sneak peek at Squier's upcoming creation, Go Time, the THC-infused yerba mate mixer that promises to invigorate and focus your mind, blending the buzz of caffeine with the chill of cannabinoids.
Navigating the cannabis industry's labyrinth of regulations is complex, yet it's all part of Zach's quest to deliver exceptional products. From dissecting the unique properties of THCV to contemplating the hurdles of cross-state distribution, our discussion illuminates the highs and lows of bringing groundbreaking products to a market ripe with potential. Enjoy this great conversation with Zack and here's to staying high!
Visit the website for full show notes, free dosing calculator, recipes and more.
Enjoy this intimate conversation with Zach Squire, the culinary mind behind Squier's Specialty Elixirs. Together we slip into the world of craft cannabis elixirs where the marriage of professional cooking prowess and the finest cannabis ingredients brews an unforgettable experience. Zach takes us through his evolution, from wide-eyed experiments with the infamous firecrackers to the sophisticated allure of his full spectrum hash rosin elixirs. His commitment to quality showcases why choosing the path less traveled in the edibles industry makes all the difference.
Imagine a community where food, drink, and cannabis create a tapestry of connection, a place where edible aficionados and newcomers alike are embraced. This episode paints that picture, with Massachusetts' blooming market as the backdrop. We discuss the intricacies of various consumption methods and the beauty of the cannabis community's inclusivity. We also get a sneak peek at Squier's upcoming creation, Go Time, the THC-infused yerba mate mixer that promises to invigorate and focus your mind, blending the buzz of caffeine with the chill of cannabinoids.
Navigating the cannabis industry's labyrinth of regulations is complex, yet it's all part of Zach's quest to deliver exceptional products. From dissecting the unique properties of THCV to contemplating the hurdles of cross-state distribution, our discussion illuminates the highs and lows of bringing groundbreaking products to a market ripe with potential. Enjoy this great conversation with Zack and here's to staying high!
Visit the website for full show notes, free dosing calculator, recipes and more.
Welcome back, my friends. Today's going to be a great episode because I sit down with Zach of Squire's Specialty Elixirs for a fun conversation. Stay tuned, welcome to Bite Me the show about edibles, where I help you take control of your high life. I'm your host and certified Gange Marge and I love helping cooks make safe and effective edibles at home. I'm so glad you're here and thank you for joining me today. Welcome back, my friends. I think you're really going to enjoy this conversation and I'm so glad that you're here to listen to it along with me, if you're a longtime listener. Thank you so much for your support. It truly means the world to me and if you're just tuning in for the first time, you are going to hear a fun conversation with Zach of Squire's Specialty Elixirs.
Speaker 1:We covered quite a bit in this episode and of course, much of that was about how Zach got into making edibles in the first place and he does things differently with his specialty elixirs and that's what really attracted me to what he was doing in the first place.
Speaker 1:And of course, we cover what his first experience with weed was like. He's a chef by trade, so we talk about that, so he's got a lot of experience in the kitchen and was experimenting and kind of fell into this whole edibles game in an unusual way. We talk about some of the decisions he's made as a company to do things like use full spectrum hash rosin instead of the distillate that you find in most dispensary edibles, and we touch on a whole lot more. So, without further ado, please enjoy this conversation with Zach of Squire's Specialty Elixirs. All right, everyone, I am really excited to be joined today by Zach from Squire's Specialty Elixirs, and we're going to get into some pretty interesting stuff today. So I was just hoping, before we get started, zach, that you could take a minute and introduce yourself to the listeners of Bite Me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you, marge, and yeah, happy to be here. So, yeah, I'm Zach Squire, portland-based chef, chef-owner of Squire Specialty Elixirs, and we focus on baking cannabis-infused beverages made from 100% real fruit and salt and less inputs.
Speaker 1:Excellent, and so, for anybody who was also wondering where the name Squires came from, now we all know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that is my name.
Speaker 1:So, before we get into it, maybe you can tell me a little bit like what your first experience with weed was like and when did you discover that you enjoyed edibles with weed was like and when did you discover that you enjoyed edibles?
Speaker 2:So my first experience with cannabis was actually the last day of middle school. Me and a few friends met up with some friends who had been a little bit older than us and experienced users and we scored a bag of. At the time we called it headies because that, uh, that meant you know top shelf flour at the time and uh, bad weed was pretty prevalent at that time, which I'd soon find out. But um, yeah, so it was a you know beautiful day.
Speaker 2:Um, heading into high school it was kind of just like a surreal kind of textbook first time smoking weed and ended up going to a buddy's attic, kind of like that 70s show style of sitting in a circle, smoked out of a homemade two-liter Coca-Cola bong. Nice, yeah, got absolutely wrecked. Great first experience. We're right on the ocean. Ended up eating going to a classic kind of old school burger joint in my hometown called Gilly's and I just remember it definitely tasting the best it's ever tasted, for sure. But yeah, that was my first introduction to cannabis and definitely started messing around quite a bit after. That Sparked my interest, definitely fell in love immediately and probably shortly after that I tried my first edibles. I think my first edibles were I think we called them firecrackers actually.
Speaker 1:I've heard of those.
Speaker 2:I've heard of those, yeah, yeah, they were awful. Just grind up pretty shitty weed and put them on some just crackers with peanut butter and I think you know the fats from the peanut butter kind of extracted the cannabis, and obviously we'd bake them, you know, to kind of decarbonize and activate it and just eat those, basically just eating raw flour. That in hindsight I haven't thought about that in a while, but, um, but yeah, this was obviously well before. Edibles are regulated here in the states and the ones that were you I wasn't getting you know. Um, so it would be a lot of, uh, eating a brownie, eating a cookie and have no idea where I'd be headed, and it was usually a pretty intense experience. So, because I'm sure some of those were hundreds and hundreds of milligrams, Right, yeah, I've had some of those experiences too.
Speaker 1:I don't think I've ever tried a firecracker, though I've heard a lot about them. I don't know if I'm missing a whole lot, but no, no, we've.
Speaker 2:We've come a long way since then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thankfully, yeah, yeah, yeah so have you always been interested in cooking? Because I know you're a chef by trade.
Speaker 2:Yeah, big influences so I started cooking. I started working in restaurants I think that same summer washing dishes, pretty much spending my whole paycheck on a bag of weed when I was 14, 15. And just kind of fell in love with cooking. Well, I mean, for a while it was just a job, you know, summer job, after school job. But as I got older I took two years of culinary in high school and that was pretty educational and eye opening. And as I got to the end of high school I realized I didn't necessarily want to go to college and I found, you know, I'm pretty good at this cooking thing, figured I'd pursue that.
Speaker 2:You know, have fun Restaurant industry is definitely a fun party scene in that. You know, have fun, restaurant industry is definitely a fun uh party scene in that in, you know, in the in the town I'm from Um, so that kind of uh, you know, just developed on its own. But I worked with, you know, amazing chefs along the way who taught me a lot and um helped, shaped, shaped me into, you know, the chef. I became um, but yeah, nice.
Speaker 1:So you've been working in restaurants, it sounds like, for quite a while yeah what was the aha moment where you decided you wanted to get into the world of edibles with squire like? Was there anything that sparked the inspiration?
Speaker 2:Well, I sold weed as a teenager for a while, got in some pretty serious trouble with the law, so that kind of let me pursue cooking and not worry about cannabis for a while. And fast forward 10 years. I have a lot of friends in the industry and they kind of sparked my interest, um kind of, you know, hey, you should do some savory things, you should do some, you know, um, fun items like that. So that's kind of when, uh, we started, or I started, messing around in the kitchen, you know, after work, after after hours, um, but yeah, that's kind of what sparked my interest. And then, you know, looking more into the market, seeing that there was really no, you know, not healthy. But I guess when you have healthy options, you know, when it came to edibles, I wanted to kind of mess around with some edibles made with real ingredients.
Speaker 1:Right. I love that because I do find here in the I'm in canada and the like a lot of the dispensary. Edibles are gummies and candies, that kind of thing, and if you're health conscious it's nice to have some other options as well, but cannabis and edibles are. It's a super regulated market, so why, did you feel like you need to bring this to market, and why elixirs versus other forms of ingestible cannabis?
Speaker 2:Um. So we actually started as a, uh, savory edible company. We put out a hot sauce, a barbecue sauce, um, some olive oils and different butters, um, kind of more geared to what I was used to and my, uh, you know my little more geared towards my, my expertise, um, but that one thing turned to another. We actually put out a cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, um, and I put out a drink recipe using the cranberry sauce. And, you know, come January, uh, people started asking for more cranberry sauce. And that know, come january, uh, people started asking for more cranberry sauce. And that's kind of when a light bulb went off in my head, um, because they wanted it for more drinks. So, you know, it's kind of a uh, oh, hey, these, you know, giving people an option of a drink mixer or ready to drink beverages made with real ingredients, um, could be a a big hit. And that's kind of when we put out the elixir line and kind of took off from there.
Speaker 1:Nice. Are any of, like the hot sauces and olive oil, still available, or is that just no?
Speaker 2:I mean, we have some stashes that we, you know, I give to friends and family because people did love them. But you know, a bottle of hot sauce is going to sit in your fridge for you know a few months. You know it's kind of a more novelty product, which was awesome. But I quickly realized that this was going to be a, you know, sustainable business. To grow, it would have to be some, you know, a gummy like someone takes every night.
Speaker 1:You know something like that and drinking, you know alcohol.
Speaker 2:It's just a great alternative to alcohol. You know, being from the restaurant industry, uh, alcohol is pretty prevalent. You know, partying in that scene and I was in that for a while Um, so you know, giving people an alternative to alcohol um was kind of a also helped spark my interest and, um, I know it's helped a lot of people. You know, the past few years we've been doing it.
Speaker 1:Right, and that's. It's very interesting that you mentioned that, because I do think there's people very interested in drinkable cannabis, because they are looking for alternatives and every time I feel like I turn on the news, there's another article condemning alcohol for all its horrible health effects. You know it's. I think the people are looking for new things. Now that we're in a new, whole new market. It's definitely an opportunity. So thus far, what has been your biggest challenge?
Speaker 2:Our biggest challenge. I mean everything is difficult in this industry. Nothing has come easy, like absolutely nothing. But if I had to put, you know, put out what's what's the hardest thing has been is definitely expansion. You know, growing, scaling your business, it's. You know we've been in the main market. We started in medical, did that for a year or two, finally launched adult use. That was difficult on its own. That was the same state you know it's like. It's like its own separate business, um.
Speaker 2:And now we finally launched in Massachusetts and that took, you know, a solid year and a half of finding the right partner, because you know we have a pretty specific product with, um, uh, priorities that not everyone else has, you know. So we wanted to find the right partner who was down with our cause pretty much and was also able it's not an easy product to make either. So, you know, find someone who had a great team and could follow sops, and we found that in in temple hill, um. But you know, money aside obviously takes, you know, funding to grow. We don't, we're not funded by, you know, funding to grow we don't, we're not funded by. You know, another large entity, like some of these manufacturers are, have big investors or anything like that. So funding is definitely, you know, an issue, but we wanted to grow, you know, organically the right way, and we've been able to do that so far. So it's been, it's been good.
Speaker 1:Well, and I suppose that also helps you stay aligned with your values, like you said, because when you're not beholden to funders or other things like that, you can stay true to your roots. And somebody once told me as well that, being in the edibles market, you're in a double regulated industry as well, because you have food regulations and cannabis regulations, which makes it super challenging, and I guess you're in the States and it's not federally legal which creates other issues.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's, it's, yeah, I mean we're in, we decided to build our facility in portland, maine, and we have a whole another regulations of, like the city, you know. So we deal with the city, deal with the state, and now, yeah, food, food regulations. So it's definitely a definitely a little, uh, challenging not for the faint of heart anybody who's thinking?
Speaker 1:about getting into the edibles business yeah, yeah now you touched on a little bit like that, your product is more difficult to make. Can you talk?
Speaker 2:a little bit about that um, I mean I would using, you know, artificial and natural flavors and food colorings. I mean it's kind of an easy way out, cheaper and easier to do using real fruit. You know we deal with having to process that. So you know, cooking it down, pureeing it, straining it, it's just as another layer of oh hey, just add this into the recipe and it's going to be consistent every time. So you really have to dial in recipes, sops and just purveyors, you know, to get a consistent product because, as you know, one strawberry is not going to taste the same as the other and from any time of year it's also going to taste different. So getting produce in peak season, there's just so many challenges that go into it. But again, once you taste and experience our products, it kind of speaks for itself.
Speaker 1:Right, so you're using all fresh fruit to create the product.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fresh I I mean a lot of it is frozen because I mean you gotta get your peak season, but yes, we come down, it comes down to real, real ingredients.
Speaker 1:You know real fruit. Maybe it's a better term than fresh fruit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that should be awesome you know, yeah, if we were maybe in the west coast we'd get fresh all the time, but being from new england is uh challenging when it comes to weather yes, yeah, I can appreciate that for sure, being in canada but, what's the most unexpected ingredient that you've ever created, incorporated into one of your? Um, I mean Not myself, but one thing that really irked me a little bit was seeing people mix it with milk.
Speaker 1:And I was just like interesting, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:First I was like we can't, you know, share this or, you know, bring any light to this. But you know, I ended up, after seeing a few people do it, I ended up I was like, well, I have to try it, you know, have to see what it tastes like. And it actually works. You know, in my head I'm like, you know, mixing citrus or anything like that with milk not going to work, but not for everyone, but it does work. And we kind of took that like, okay, let's make a milkshake recipe using this and it makes sense. You know, people poured over ice cream, things like that, that.
Speaker 2:But you know that when I saw that at first I was like we can't and I'm not into telling people how to use my product if they like to use a certain way. You know, we always suggest, you know, how to use it, but we're never going to tell someone not to use it a certain way. Another one was coffee. People mixing was a little um, interesting at first, but we ended up, you know, messing with some recipes, trying it and it works. I mean, they are really so versatile you can almost add them into anything anything that needs a little fruit, fruit punch.
Speaker 1:So well, I can see maybe the coffee, depending on the fruit flavor, I guess.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I would say blueberry is safe, raspberry is safe, but probably not I wouldn't go pink pineapple or mandarin mango, but I think the berries are somewhat safe in there right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the citrus and milk sounds questionable to me, but people have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah same. Yeah, I wouldn't let it sit there for a day, but you know, yeah.
Speaker 1:Some of the berry flavors, though, I could see working well. It kind of reminded me of that Nesquik syrup stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, strawberry milk yeah yeah, it does make sense, and our products don't have too much citrus in them or in an overpowering way, so it is very fruit forward.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that was kind of something that was a little, um scary at first, but it works yeah, now can you talk about you mentioned this, you touched on it briefly earlier, but that you use full spectrum hash rosin instead of distillate, and can you talk about the decision to go that direction instead of the distillate you find in almost everything in the dispensers?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so hash rosin is, you know, basically the purest form of concentrate you can get. You know, no solvents used and we kind of, you know, obviously use the best food ingredients possible, food ingredients possible. So, um, just quality side, we wanted to use the best. You know, kind of match our match, our priorities from the food side to the concentrate side and use the absolute best concentrate possible. Um, and when it comes to the effects, we just think, using full spectrum, getting all the cannabis, the whole, you know, just has a better effect and again, different strokes for different folks.
Speaker 2:But you know, distillate is definitely popular, it's cheaper, it is consistent. You know, when you deal with the full spectrum, you know you're dealing with not every. You know hash rosin is going to have the same CBC, cbg, cbd. You know hash draws is going to have the same CBC, cbg, cbd. So you're going to get different, not too widely different, but that's why it's important for us to have, you know, consistent suppliers and extractors. But yeah, you know, we just really wanted to take, you know, the best concentrate possible to put in our products.
Speaker 1:Right, I love that because I do find like, yeah, distillate is consistent, like you said but, I, find the high is a lot different. It's not nearly as robust.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. It's kind of a I don't want to say this but a cheap, high and in my opinion, I mean again, I'll use a distillate. I mean I pretty much only use my products, but I think it's a little more mainstream. I would say you know it's, it's, there's no short of distillate, that's for sure. You know hash, a little more expensive, a little just higher quality, and you know it takes a lot of education because the average consumer doesn't know the difference, because the average consumer doesn't know the difference.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, that's something we work on. Yeah, and most companies. I mean there's a few companies out there using concentrates like you are, but I would say for the most part it's still distillate-based, but anytime I go into a dispensary I'm looking for the ones that are using like a hash rosin or something like that because I know I'll get something just better, but it's better for me anyway. Like you just better that it's better for me anyway, like you said, I've have done lots of distillate based edibles before and it does the job.
Speaker 1:Yes, sometimes I'm looking for something more, especially if I'm going to a store to buy it, because I do make a lot of edibles. But yeah I'm going to the store. I want. I want what I want yeah, yeah, no, that's yeah.
Speaker 2:That's what we want to give people. So but yeah, as soon as people try it, you know they, they love it. So we've never had anyone asking for distillate, you know, right after trying the pudding, as they say yeah, does that mean like are your beverages like the elixirs?
Speaker 1:are they more like? Like do they hit faster than they would if it was an eaten edible?
Speaker 2:like um, yeah, yeah, faster yeah, so we, we nano most fire products, um, which you know you'll see in pretty much every beverage nowadays um it just uh creates the bioavailability um for your body, you know, to accept it faster, pretty much, um to break it down, you know, and kind kind of feel the effects faster. We actually achieved that, you know, without adding distasteful stabilizers or anything like that. I kind of found a way between the actual emulsion you know the time we emulsify uh, the temperatures we hit, and the natural pectin and the fruit, to basically create a stable emulsion, nano emulsion, without um, yeah, adding, I want to say, distasteful chemicals and things like that, cause that's what a lot of beverages have to do. Unfortunately, it just create a cause. You know water and oil don't mix, so you know they, even if it does, a day later it's going to break, you know, and you'll have the oil sitting at the top Um, and we kind of found a way to get past that, to even stay even more true to our, you know, ingredients and mission.
Speaker 1:Right. So that would also mean typically that the high doesn't last quite as long as if you're eating it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it kind of uh, you know, first in, first out type thing. Um, it definitely like we. We don't have issues with people. You know, like our sleepy time, Alexa, people take a tablespoon before bed. I've never had anyone complain that they wake up groggy, If anything they're like. You know, we have people come to us say they take melatonin or for the past 10 years, and they always wake up groggy, and you know this was something that was, you know, worked better and wasn't something that stuck around and just kind of slugged them down in the morning right.
Speaker 1:Well, honestly, I think one of the reasons I like beverages and and whatnot is because because it does hit you faster and it doesn't last as long. There are times where I don't want to be high for like six hours yeah, yeah, lots of times, yeah, absolutely. It can get scary especially for those new users, if they're unfamiliar with it. And then you know, if you know it's going to last a couple hours and you've ingested too much that's definitely an easier ride to handle than the six hour like panic attack.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah we've all been there, that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now for myself, the year 2024, I've personally declared the year of community because it's I've been influenced a lot by some of the things going on in the cannabis community, my experience with it. Can you talk about how you personally find or foster community through cannabis?
Speaker 2:Um, I mean I think cannabis just brings people together, you know, and that's kind of why I fell in love with it. The same way I fell in love with food. Um, you know the way a dinner table brings people together, the same way at a joint circle, you know, just kind of can connect people from wherever you're from, whatever you do, you know everyone eats and not everyone smokes weed, but you know when you're around people that do that's. I think that's a huge reason why I kind of wanted to bring my two passions together, because you know it's just creates community, brings people together.
Speaker 2:I mean it's cool to see different parts, like every state you know down here is different. You know there's different communities, different, you know events and things like that. So it's really cool to see, you know now we're getting into the Massachusetts market and things like that. So it's really cool to see, you know now we're getting into the Massachusetts market, it's kind of cool and interesting to see how things are down there, you know, because it's not far but it is a different scene.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, I like that, and food and cannabis does bring people together, and then when you put weed into food, then better.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I do find for me as well, like just because I'm doing this podcast, it's. The cannabis community has been incredibly welcoming and I've had the opportunity to talk to amazing people like yourself who are doing cool things in the cannabis world, so I'd love to see what people are doing now. What would surprise people about you?
Speaker 2:Oh man, I don't know if anything's too surprising about me, but I guess you know there's. I think a lot of people assume you know everyone in the cannabis industry are huge users, you know. But I'm actually a very, very low dose cannabis consumer. Low dose cannabis consumer Um, I, I, I didn't used to be, but you know the reality of stress and life hits. You know kind of needs you to uh either goes either way. You know we either help helps that or magnifies that Um, for me it does a little both. You know so. But when it comes to uh edibles I uh stick to pretty low, like I'm like a five milligrammer um, making myself a few drinks maybe. But hey, I'm not some big pothead anymore, unfortunately yeah, no, I mean, there's nothing wrong with that yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:No, I I still use every day, but, um, just a lot less than I used to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's fun. Well, I've talked to a lot of people who feel the same. I've talked to all kinds of people that are obviously, you know, wake and bakers and smoking all day. I'm not like that anymore either. There was a time in my life when I was, but I'm. I think I've just become more sensitive to thc over the years as well, yeah, I mean it's strong too.
Speaker 2:Now you know it's not like it used to be um, but uh, yeah, I think uh you every once in a while. You know, on a weekend if I have nothing to do I'll wake and bake, but uh, pretty much puts me out of commission for the rest of the day of anything useful. That's my problem too.
Speaker 2:That's why I don't do it Cause I'm just like, oh, I think I might take a nap, or yeah, and honestly, like I find I find, when I smoke flour, for it to be like way more intense than if I hit a, you know, a hash rosin pen or even consume one of my edibles, you know. So I kind of stick to the hash rosin nowadays.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, and I, I again. I feel similar in that. That's one reasons I was one of the reasons I was attracted to edibles is the hive is quite a bit different.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as long as you don't take too much. You know anything can be uh too much to handle. But yeah, if you, you know it's not so like in your face, kind of up front, um sort of more of a smooth ride, as long as you do it the right way yeah, exactly yeah, because I have done it the wrong way uh.
Speaker 1:More times than I care to admit.
Speaker 2:Yes, same.
Speaker 1:Now, as a chef, you've worked with lots of kitchen gadgets. Is there anything that you can't live without? And this doesn't even have to do with making edibles. It's just spending time in the kitchen.
Speaker 2:I mean, obviously, my knives. I have my coveted knives, my knife collection, but honestly, my favorite tool in the kitchen are my spoons. I think I have a great, great collection of spoons, yeah, different silvers, and you know um metals, but you know nothing too fancy, you know, but if I have my knives and spoons, I'll be, I'll be happy in the kitchen knives, spoons, we're talking like, obviously, knives for preparing your food, yes, and spoons have been like serving spoons no, no, no. More so like cooking spoons.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:Kind of a weird answer, but my spoons are kind of my thing.
Speaker 1:No, I like it, and you do need a lot of spoons, because they're always saying you should be tasting as you go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, tasting everything. You know, I'm a sauce guy, right, that makes sense based on what you said, you're experimenting with at the beginning, but what is next for Squire Specialty Elixirs?
Speaker 1:Do you have any future plans that you're excited about?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean in the short term. We're launching this spring a new like as I mentioned earlier, we have our Sleepy Time product, but we'll be launching a new product called Squire's Go Time and it's got a blend of THC from Hash Rosin, thc-v, which is kind of a good upper cannabinoid, good for focus and things like that appetite suppression, and then also CBC, CBG, in there, as well as caffeine from yerba mate. So it's going to be a white peach and apricot kind of yerba mate mixer. Still nailing it down. We've done a few trial runs.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to pack a little bit more caffeine into it and, uh, as you know, our products are smaller so it's hard to get, you know, smaller multi-serving, so it's hard to get 200 milligrams of yerba mate in a in a two ounce with all the other flavors going on, but we'll make it happen and and that's going to be a cool thing and then, you know, long-term is just continuing to grow our brand in, you know, the right way that we've done so far.
Speaker 2:So hopefully, you know, once we get this Massachusetts launch running smoothly and products cranking en masse, you know, moving on to New York, new Jersey, connecticut, rhode Island and Vermont, I think that's kind of our goal just kind of take over the Northeast and expand from there. We've had lots of interest of people wanting to make it in California and Colorado and other states, but that's just too far of a stretch for me right now. I think I really want to do things the right way. I'm not looking to, you know, grow as fast as possible. You know, as I say, the cream always rises to the top. So you know we're doing things the right way and just gonna grow, grow it organically and, yeah, do it the right way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. And you mentioned the Yerba Mate. For people who aren't familiar with it, my understanding, I've and I have Yerba Mate. It's a tea it's highly caffeinated, but it doesn't give you like the jitters that a lot of people experience with coffee, for instance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and everyone's different. To be honest, I don't drink much caffeine. I drink mushroom tea, you know, every morning. So, yeah, I moved away from caffeine. Caffeine, but I know it's a huge uh commodity, so people love it. To give people a product that, uh, you know again, stays true to our ingredients and our mission and uh, yeah, putting a caffeine concentrate really isn't that.
Speaker 1:So we wanted to kind of brew um, organic brazilian yerba mate leaves, turn that into a concentrate and kind of use that as a, as a as a mixer that sounds beautiful and I like the sounds of you using trying out with some of these like alternative cannabinoids, like the thcv, because I know a couple people that were in the states and they tried some thcv flower yeah they're like it was amazing yeah, yeah, it's definitely a new.
Speaker 2:You know it's a new uh, not new cannabinoid, but one that's kind of catching on right now out here, at least on the East Coast, and you know people are starting to explore it. I think it's great. Definitely, people have described it. I'm not saying this. People have described it as the Adderall of cannabis, the Adderall of cannabis.
Speaker 2:Right and just helping folk, you know obviously way better and natural, but helping you know with focus and things like that. So yeah, excited to see where that goes and, you know, I think it's going to be a cool product once we have it dialed in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it sounds like you. You have an exciting year ahead of you now. Where can people find you out in the world?
Speaker 2:me personally or my products. Me, I'll be in, you know, new england all around, but uh, no, my products, you know we're pretty much, you know, everywhere in maine, um, and we plan to be pretty much everywhere in mass come this summer. Um you know you can find our. Find us on our website. Uh, drink differentco, um and, you know, find a store locator. Hopefully someday, you know, maybe we'll be in Canada, you know if we find the right partner there.
Speaker 2:Um, I know they got some. You guys have some, uh, different regulations. We might need to dial back our color, back our color scheme and things like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not even that so much it's the potency limits that I think are pretty troublesome for a lot of people who want to come into the Canadian market. It's 10 milligrams a package right now.
Speaker 2:Does that include tinctures and things like that?
Speaker 1:Tinctures and oils. They can sort of get around that. But beverages for the most part are still 10 milligrams a container.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I mean that works for a lot of people obviously, like there's tons of people out there with five milligrams, two and a half or you know they have those sessionable ones. If you're wanting to have more than one because you're at a social gathering, then lower dose works. But I do know a lot of people that could eat 100 milligrams or ingest 100 milligrams and barely blink an eye oh yeah doesn't serve those people.
Speaker 2:I'm not one of those people, but that's, you know, that's actually, you know, in massachusetts, our product is categorized as as a tincture because it is, you know, concentrate. You know, in Massachusetts, our product is categorized as as a tincture because it is concentrate. You know, people, people dose what they want. Um, but, yeah, you know, then that's the thing with. You know something I forgot to touch on. When it comes to, uh, different regulations is like every state has different, you know, rules and regulations. So we're having different labels, different compliance labels, different dosing. It's, you know, a lot of hoops to jump through, as you, you know, try and grow this business. But, yeah, you know, maybe someday we can be in Canada. We do have lower dose products as well. We do have 10 milligram little bottles. Obviously, our 100 milligram multi-serving bottles are a little bit of a better seller and I think, I think, what most people want. But, um, yeah, we, we have a good array of products for for, you know, both high dose and low dose users.
Speaker 1:Right? Well, I would love it if you did come to Canada and bring your products. That'd be fantastic for those of us who are looking for some alternatives that we can't necessarily find here, but I will be sure to include your website and your socials on the show notes when this episode comes out, and I just want to say thank you, zach, for spending some time with me today, and I'm wishing you all the best.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you, I appreciate it. It was a blast for my first podcast. Yeah, that's awesome for my first podcast. So, yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I hope you enjoyed that conversation and if you haven't had the chance to check out the white miso pesto recipe that he shared with me before, you can check that out in last week's episode or go find the recipe on the website, bitemepodcastcom. And, of course, zach generously also shared some recipes with me that use his specialty elixirs. So if you have the opportunity to find his elixirs out there in the wild, he has some great recipes for how to use them. You'll find one of them over in the show notes and I've put one over at bite me cannabis club. So be sure to check those out and I will be list linking to his website as well, so you can find out where to buy if you happen to be in a place, in a location where he is selling them, because I would love to try them out. The next time I'm in the States I'm going to be seeking them out myself because I love what he's doing.
Speaker 1:If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with somebody that you think would also enjoy it, and you can always provide feedback. Hit me up, let me know what you think by email, podcast, hotline, dms, whatever works for you. I would love to hear from you and consider using the products and services on the Marge recommends page Until next week. My friends, I'm your host, marge, and stay high.