Poison City Flying High Following Release of SA’s First Cannabis Beer
KZN-based Cannabis Beverage Company, Poison City Brewing claims it has created ‘Durban’s kiffest beer’ – South African surfer slang for ‘coolest’. And it seems like many of the country’s beer drinkers agree. In October 2018, the company released the country’s first beer containing cannabis – Durban Poison Cannabis Lager – and demand has since outstripped supply every month. W&SR talks to Poison City Brewing Co-founder, Graeme Bird about this beer-Cannabis combo and what we can expect from the exciting business in the future.
One of Durban’s most exciting brands is taking something we all know and love – the classic lager – and giving it the Durbs treatment by introducing a new ingredient – cannabis. You’ve probably heard of the story coming from Poison City Brewing, a Cannabis Beverage Company that initially kicked off with craft beers, based just north of the city centre.
By adding de-husked hemp seeds to the brewing process – along with the traditional beer making ingredients of hops, barley and water – Director of Poison City Brewing, Graeme Bird says that the taste of Cannabis Lager is unrivalled, encapsulating what Durban is all about.
“Hemp and hops form part of the same plant family called Cannabaceae,” he tells Wine & Spirit Review. “Essentially, they both have very similar characteristics and you can brew with hops or hemp but the more common way to do it is with hops. If you do add hemp or any form of cannabis flower, you get similar taste profiles to what you would get from hops.
“Durban Poison Cannabis Lager, which has created the massive impact, is specifically designed and packaged as premium beer. A premium lager looks and tastes like a Castle Light, Windhoek Lager or Heineken. Because we’re a small brand we can’t produce our beer at the same price as the large commercial brands. Our price is more in line with imported premium beers like Stella Artois or Corona. But we think our beer tastes better and it has the unique difference of being a Cannabis product, so the price difference is hopefully justified.”
Durban Poison will be the flagship product in the Poison City range, despite its popular craft beers being older and already distributed country-wide.
“It stands alone as our main market beer. It is a beer for the people, for everybody,” says Bird.
SMOKING HOT MARKETING
The release of the new beer in 2018 came at the perfect time as South Africans began to recognise cannabis as a newly legalised product. In September 2018, the Constitutional Court made the landmark ruling to allow for the private consumption and growth of marijuana plants. It remains illegal to use cannabis in public and also supply and sell it. The country’s ruling followed the lead of Zimbabwe and Lesotho which were the first African nations to legalise marijuana for medical use.
With the news a hot topic for politicians and news readers, Poison City became the first South African company to release a beer product that experiments with cannabis. Bird is quick to remind that the drink contains no Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC (the primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis that delivers the ‘high’), and the de-husked hemp seeds are added to deliver the distinctive and refreshing flavour.
“For those that are concerned because of negative stigma or conservatism, we have from the beginning positioned our brand very boldly with the design of our logo. For us, it was a big step and we wanted to be the first. As it happened, our release date tied in with the ruling of the courts to legalise consumption of cannabis for adults in South Africa. That sparked massive interest in our product. There was luck in the timing, but we were of course very confident with the quality of the product,” says Bird.
“From a business perspective, it’s a marketing idea,” he adds. “Our future goal is to move into products where we make use of Cannabidiol (CBD) and THC. We can’t use them at the moment, so this is a step towards establishing the brand in the sector. We are aware of and support the liberalisation of attitudes towards cannabis. We followed the ruling in the constitutional courts in South Africa closely and we were aware of the massive developments in the industry globally where people are successfully integrating cannabis into other products. Even in South Africa and other surrounding countries, there is a scenario where governments are moving quickly towards the legalisation of cultivation and trade of cannabis. It made sense to get into the market and the earlier we could get in the better.”
Hemp oil, hemp seed and other cannabis derivatives are widely used in health and beauty products (including skincare ranges), foods (such as chocolate), and even pet treats in the USA. Poison City uses the whole hemp seed with the crunchy outer shell removed during the mashing stage of the brew.
“We don’t actually use hemp oil, we use de-husked hemp seeds and we add it to the mash tun. Through the process of the boil and the brew, the oil is extracted. Much like the barley or any other sediment, the remainder falls to the bottom and we crop it so what is left is the liquid,” explains Bird.
“We are using beer as the first vehicle to get a cannabis product onto the market. Beer is the natural first step into the launch of cannabis products. You’re not redesigning the product; all you are doing is using cannabis with hops rather than a total radical change.”
And Poison City Brewing know their beer. The company has been brewing since 2015 and, before the launch of Durban Poison Cannabis Lager, the company had established a popular range of three different products – The Bird (a light lager), The Punk Rocker (an English Pale Ale), and The Other Bird (a Czech dark lager). More recently, the company also added The Poison Cannabis IPA (an American IPA), which is described as mellow, flavourful and unconventional.
“We have always been set up to get involved in the cannabis beverage sector but it was too early when we first started in 2015. We started with craft beers and we’ve been making those beers for the past three years – They are our cornerstone range and they are not super-trendy flavoured IPAs or anything like that. These got us going in the market. As time progressed, and we started looking more seriously at the cannabis product, we brought out these new beers, an IPA and a lager. The IPA has a similar look and feel to our other three beers and forms part of the craft beer range.
“The craft range is more for people who are really into their beer, and that represents a much smaller percentage of people in South Africa,” Bird explains.
ALL CHANGE
The launch of the Durban Poison Cannabis Lager has been met with a fantastic response from the market and has helped Poison City Brewing founders – Bird and Andre Schubert – to report to their backers that the idea has been a success. Starting out in 2015, the pair found the same as many craft brewers – the market is extremely challenging.
“When we were focussing on our original craft beers, things were very tough,” admits Bird. “In South Africa, there is a hell of a lot of competition and we are in a very tough economic climate where people are spending less. Craft beer consumption in the country has gone backwards in the past year and that creates a tough position for anyone in the industry.”
But the pair saw the obvious gap in the market. Feelings towards cannabis are changing – not just in South Africa but all around the world. “Attitudes are swinging,” states Bird. “Canada is leading the way, the USA is following, and I cannot see European countries not following in that. Sooner or later, the whole world will embrace the change and we recognise that there is a need for legislative change before our final goal is reached but we think there will be a fantastic result for brands like ours as well as the health of society.
“The key to global markets is the USA and Canada, both having moved their cannabis legislation forward. Most first-world economies have moved quickly in that direction and that will open up avenues for us. We are also very interested in expanding our reach into Africa as there is certainly an appetite for it. The response from local South Africans, has been phenomenal. Our beer is flowing in township taverns and award winning restaurants in the plush suburbs. We’ve truly penetrated almost every level of South African society.”
RCL Foods CEO Miles Dally and Spar CEO Graham O’Connor are just two of the Durban-based backers that have thrown their financial weight behind Poison City’s ambitious plans as the opportunity grows.
“We will start with the beer and then move into non-alcoholic products,” details Bird. “We’ll never put THC into an alcohol product. We see this as the responsible approach. Having started with hemp, which does not have any psychoactive elements, we’ll start using CBD in non-alcoholic drinks before, in the longer term, producing non-alcoholic drinks with THC – that is the ultimate future. The consumer in today’s world is health driven and in Colorado there has been a 27% reduction in alcohol sales since the legalisation of cannabis so clearly, a lot of modern consumers are looking for alternatives as social drinks. Instead of someone drinking alcohol, which is definitely not good for you in excess, why not drink a non-alcoholic product with THC which is from a medicinal plant and get that euphoric high using a medical product. That is the future.”
DURBAN AT HEART
One of the drivers at the core of Poison City Brewing has always been to create a business that reflects the Durban and its subtropical, seafront, laidback lifestyle. Bird and Schubert are confident that they have achieved this vision, with Durban Poison only furthering the reach of the brand.
“Our objective was to establish a successful business while at the same time making Durban proud,” says Bird. “We have created a product that is gaining a lot of attention for the city we come from and we are happy with that. We know we have a long way to go, we are still in our early days, but the way things are going, we are on track to achieve our objectives and create employment opportunities, stimulating our local economy.
“To put it into perspective, the volume of orders in the last few weeks outnumbers the total annual orders for all three of our craft products. It has opened doors everywhere. Our funders are ecstatic and everything about the business has changed. We’re moving forward at pace now.”
In November, the company confirmed that JSE-listed beverages group Distell has agreed to distribute and market Durban Poison following the launch of product, when demand considerably outstripped supply. The beer is already available in many chain retailers including Spar, Tops, Game, Liquor City, and a number of bars and pubs around the country.
Around the world, the major food and drinks businesses are starting to wake up to the reality that consumers are very interested in products that
contain cannabis. The world’s largest brewer, AB InBev, said recently that it was ‘keeping a close eye on the cannabis market’, and Constellation Brands, which makes Corona beers in the US, invested $4bn into a Canadian marijuana company in August.
The support of a corporate like Distell has only bolstered Poison City.
“The past few months have been incredibly motivating and invigorating,” laughs Bird. “It was tough when we focussed on craft only, but we were very proud of what we achieved because we could see that people loved the brand. Now that we have huge demand, it changes attitudes of everyone – suppliers, customers, neighbours – and we have seen an outpouring of appreciation. That creates fantastic motivation for all of us.”