Craft Brewery & Award-Winning Cultivator Collaborate to Create Cannabis-Inspired Beers

From TJ’s Gardens  & Claim 52 Brewing:

Oregon businesses have teamed up to create a product that highlights what Oregon is known for: craft cannabis and craft beer. In time for 4/20, Claim 52 Brewing will be offering two limited-release beers, both inspired by TJ’s Gardens’ award-winning cannabis

For the second year running, Eugene businesses have teamed up to create a product that highlights what Oregon is known for: craft cannabis and craft beer. In time for 4/20, Claim 52 Brewing will be offering two limited-release beers, both inspired by TJ’s Gardens’ award-winning cannabis.

There is a reason cannabis characteristics can be used to create an exceptional beer. Humulus lupulus (hops), used by brewers to flavor and preserve beer, is derived from the same ancestor as Cannabis sativa (cannabis) and both are members of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. Female hops and cannabis flowers have physical similarities, and both contain terpene compounds. According to Travis Mackenzie, co-founder of TJ’s Gardens, “At TJ’s, we focus on using plant genetics with unique terpene profiles. Terpenes are the organic compounds that give each of our cannabis strains a unique taste, aroma, and effect.”

After smelling the different cannabis strains that TJ’s Gardens had to offer, Claim 52 head brewer Bryce Fisher decided to create a recipe for a hazy IPA that captured TJ’s famed strain, Durban Poison. Using citrus zest, grapefruit puree, Simcoe and Citra hops, the beer mimics the strain’s fresh piney, citrus flavor and aroma. For the IPA, Fisher made an excellent choice of cannabis type. HighTimes magazine, the definitive resource for all things marijuana, named TJ’s Durban Poison the “Best-Tasting Bud on Earth” in 2016.

The sweet berry aroma and floral flavor of TJ’s Mountain Berry Kush inspired the head brewer to create a Berliner Weisse style of beer. Fisher brewed the sour beer with x hops and over 900 lbs. of blueberry, strawberry, and blackcap raspberry puree grown in the Willamette Valley by Stahl Bush Island Farms.

Partnerships between craft cannabis and craft brewing industries have, to date, been rare. Even without much precedence, collaboration made a lot of sense to both Eugene companies. Claim 52 and TJ’s Gardens focus on developing flavorful and enjoyable offerings, and they value community involvement highly. As head brewer Bryce Fisher put’s it, “Claim 52’s goal is to make dank beers, being inspired by Tj’s flower helps us do just that.”

Claim 52 and TJ’s will be celebrating the release at both their locations on Willamette St in downtown Eugene, Oregon, on April 20. The newly opened taproom and the TJ’s on Willamette dispensary will feature custom glassware and merchandise to commemorate the event.

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About TJ’s Organic Gardens

With farms in both Oregon and Washington, TJ’s Gardens is committed to growing perfect marijuana—developing and acquiring spectacular genetics and then allowing the plant to reach its natural genetic potential before processing at the optimal time. TJ’s Organic Gardens is also known for donating free hemp oil to any child with a seizure disorder and OMMP card. Their signature dispensary, TJ’s on Willamette, is located in downtown Eugene, Oregon. There they offer a hand­picked collection of flowers, edibles and extracts sourced from their own gardens as well as from trusted partners. Learn more at tjsgardens.com and at visittjs.com.

About Claim 52 Brewing

Claim 52 is a community-scale brewery serving Eugene and surrounding areas since 2012. With a pioneering spirit and unwavering attention to quality, they strive to put a unique stamp on traditional beer as well as a rotation of seasonal varieties. Their new taproom opened in April 2018 and is located in downtown Eugene, Oregon. Learn more at claim52brewing.com.