The clanking of dishes. The terpene-drenched aroma of herbs and savory cuisine. The sweet, dank waft of smoke billowing throughout the air. The laughter. Cultivating Spirits, a three-course cannabis dinner pairing, is about the overall combined experience.

Celebrating its 10th year in operation, Cultivating Spirits provides three-course dinners complete with carefully matched cannabis pairings—the first of its kind to offer such services to the general public in the U.S. The journey began many years ago, and founder Philip Wolf now wears multiple hats as an active mover and shaker in the cannabis industry. He also co-founded the Cannabis Wedding Expo, and launched the recent venture CashoM, a cannabis masterclass program designed for consumers.

Cultivating Spirits events bring together three different strains with three different courses of gourmet dishes that are specifically selected to work in harmony together. Since the process involves smoking rather than infusing the food, guests can choose whether or not they want to participate in the cannabis portion. The team helps diners navigate through the flavorful notes of both the flower and the food, and more importantly, how they will enhance each other. Past dinners include items like chef Joseph L. Paire III’s spot prawn bisque with green garlic chili oil, paired with Cherry AK, and a crème brulée dessert by chef Tye Idleman, paired with Bazookies.

Since launching Cultivating Spirits, Wolf and his team have curated experiential dining events and provided educated guidance for over 4,000 people. The concept was born from recognizing a glaring need for a better experience that incorporates both fine cuisine and cannabis. Ten years ago, and still to this day, there is no blueprint for running a cannabis pairing event.

“Essentially, I started wanting to create wine-style experiences,” says Wolf. “This was in December of 2013 and it was really deep-seated in my mind.”

Wolf founded a medical marijuana dispensary in Colorado Springs—Colorado Cannabis Caregivers—in 2009 during Colorado’s medical era. Once Colorado voters approved adult-use in November 2012, that’s really when things began to change. Wolf noticed a rising interest in consumers enjoying edibles as the marketplace began to open up.

When designing Cultivating Spirits, instead of infusing dishes with cannabis, Wolf decided to pair cannabis smoking courses like wine.

“This was a period when we [began hosting events involving] smoking and that allowed for the legalities to be easier to operate with more, from a regulatory standpoint, doing it that way as opposed to doing infusions,” Wolf says, speaking of the early days of Cultivating Spirits and noting that if he was infusing foods with cannabis, it would be regulated entirely differently. “Ultimately, at that point, we’re selling cannabis, and we can’t sell cannabis. And there’s also a lot more, there’s obviously more variables [when businesses operate] in that way.”

Cultivating Spirits, depending on the state, partners with nearby cannabis retailers like Colorado-based High Country Healing—the flagship store they work with today. When they host dinner pairings in California, it’s entirely different and the businesses are not typically vertically integrated. In California, they’re hosting events for brands, so Wolf works with smaller farms as much as possible there. In 2018, Cultivating Spirits moved into Las Vegas.

Upgrading Experiences with Terpenes

Wolf wanted to create a new way to fine-tune his dining experiences by way of choosing terpenes to have specific effects and interact with the flavors.

“That’s what I realized was missing,” he says. “At that point, I created the cannabis pairing protocol. And what that is, is [pairing] terpene profiles of cannabis with flavor profiles [of food] to harmonize the flavors. So opposed to a wine where you want to cut that flavor in their mouth, what we were really doing was enhancing and harmonizing flavors.”

Then Wolf discovered that terpenes actually steer the type of mood that cannabis consumers are going to experience, and that’s what creates the feeling. Myrcene is believed to have sedative properties. Limonene is believed energize the mind like espresso.

“Once I realized that, I started studying,” he says. “And that is when I fully dedicated myself to cannabis at that point, because I realized that on the platform of fine dining, that I could teach people how they can identify what type of high they’re going to have, before they even consume.”

He says he wanted people, “to consume something that’s going to enhance their experience and not take away from it while enjoying the culinary arts. Indulging while also being able to not only break bread, with their friends and family at the dinner table, but also through the sharing of smoking.”

One of the perks of pairings versus infusions is the faster onset (depending on how cannabis is infused).

“To me, it was the most brilliant way to present this plant because it gave people a tool that they can use to consciously consume cannabis, as well as it really made for a night of unification and pleasure,” Wolf says. “And so that’s when we really started taking off with these dinners, and once we fully committed to that. And so since then, we’ve done over four hundred events.”

Wolf explained that most of the Cultivating Spirits dinners seat between eight to 14 people. People usually book private events for celebratory experiences like a bachelor-bachelorette party, graduation, wedding, or birthday party. The company also hosts ticketed events held at different locations such as the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, California. 

On January 21, 2015, Wolf organized an invite-only private cannabis dinner on the opening night of X Games Aspen. The event was city approved and became one of the first cannabis consumption events ever authorized by a municipality.

“That night we did a 56-person dinner with five courses,” Wolf says.

Since then, the concept has expanded and been refined. Now Wolf seeks to move away from the limitations of comparing cannabis pairings with wine events. This is why he has mostly retired the word “sommelier” from his vocabulary in recent years. Cannabis can be so much more than just wine culture, he says.

Educating Dinner Guests

Wolf explains that in general, his patrons are not quite so worried about getting busted by police, as he operates in mature markets in California, Colorado, and Nevada. Instead, they’re more worried about getting too high. Or even worse, being judged for deciding to get high.

“We get a lot of discerning questions from people making sure that they weren’t going to get themselves in trouble. But a lot of them are not worried about getting themselves in legal trouble. It was more like people worried about their photos. And honestly, it was about societal judgments against them from friends, family, neighbors or their job. I felt like that was more of a fear [of getting judged].”

But guess what? Another perk of doing pairings versus infusions is the fact that diners can bring along a friend that doesn’t smoke as the food is separated from the cannabis.

“I would say typically, on average, about 10% of the people on our dinners don’t consume,” Wolf says.

Wolf explains that at the beginning of each dinner, he tells diners that they don’t need to keep smoking after they’re already high.

“It’s important for me, as the steward and server of this plant, to make people understand that this isn’t about mass consumption,” he says. “This is actually about tuning into your body, mind, and soul, and consuming something that’s in alignment with those three areas of yourself, for you to enjoy the best experience around.”

One of his favorite chefs to work with is Jessica Catalano.

“She’s incredible,” he says. “She totally believes in what we have done. And she’s the one who really first opened me up to terpenes over a decade ago, and ultimately has allowed me to land where I’m at today.”

Catalano used to teach the Cooking with Cannabis class and the Sensational Private Dinners class at Cultivating Spirits. He’s also worked with Chris Sayegh, aka The Herbal Chef, and celebrity chefs who wanted to experiment with cannabis infusions such as Hosea Rosenberg, Bravo TV’s Top Chef Season 5 winner in 2009.

Throughout all of the dinners, the concept is a focused intention.

“It’s really communion with yourself. What is the why to consuming? What is the purpose? That’s something that I really try to teach people, let’s be intentional,” Wolf says. “Why are we consuming right now? And to me that’s gonna allow for the best experience possible when you are consuming cannabis.”

This article was originally published in the May 2024 issue of High Times Magazine.

The post Pairing Made Perfect first appeared on High Times.

The post Pairing Made Perfect appeared first on Paradise Found.

At the auspicious time of 4:20 p.m. on April 20, 2023 I’m in a state of supreme zen, floating on my back within a mineral pool heated by underground hot springs to 85° F. With my shades pointed upwards at the warm springtime sun, I feel absolutely euphoric as tension dissolves from my body. It’s only in the absence of the tightness and stress I’ve been holding that I begin to feel the impact of the weight I’ve carried with me on the drive from Oakland all the way to the top of the Napa Valley. This 4/20, I’m incorporating the cannabis plant as one element of a full holistic jump towards joy. A new company, Cannescape, is hosting an overnight event in wine country that spotlights the best of California’s famed agricultural bounty and cannabis is on the carte du jour.

While weed-infused dinners are not uncommon in the Golden State, their grey area legality in terms of cannabis consumption means they are often hosted at private homes or event spaces. Founded by San Francisco-based travel writer Chelsea Davis, Cannescape is breaking boundaries in the tourism industry by pairing cannabis cuisine with legendary hotel properties. Her first event, held in February, took place at the Phoenix Hotel in San Francisco, a spot that’s hosted rock ‘n’ roll royalty. Her second event took place on 4/20 at Dr. Wilkinson’s resort in Calistoga, an area known for its mineral pools and volcanic mud baths. When we speak prior to the 4/20 event, Davis is on the heels of a press trip to a luxury hotel in Fiji.

“I have a good sense of what I appreciate as a traveler and when I’m going to a property or a great dinner,” Davis says. “I feel like my background in writing about hospitality, travel experiences, and great dinner events has really helped in terms of planning these events.”

Upon arriving in Calistoga and soaking in the pool, I head to my hotel room to prepare for the Cannescape dinner. I grew up in Solano County, which borders Napa County, and have fond childhood memories of spending time with my mom and brother in Calistoga. In fact, the first time I stayed at Dr. Wilkinson’s was with my mom a few years back. Since then the hotel, which was originally founded in 1952, has undergone a renovation. The property kept its emblematic neon sign and the pools are the same, but it now has a midcentury modern look designed to appeal to a younger demographic.

Out front on the city’s main street under the neon there’s another sign reading, “Where wellness meets happiness.” On the property are directional makers pointing to “detox” and “retox.” Once the producer of crops like walnuts and prunes, the Napa Valley is now known as one of the most famous wine producing areas in the world. Calistoga fully embraces its place within the iconic wine growing region, but it’s an unusual place to host a cannabis event as the city does not allow commercial cannabis cultivation or adult-use dispensaries.

“Obviously there are a lot of people who are against [cannabis], who are kind of very set in their ways. They think it’s going to tarnish Napa Valley’s reputation,” Davis says of hosting a weed event in wine country. “There’s a lot of push and pull, but I think ultimately when I was trying to figure out a company idea that was also relevant and something that people were interested in, I was betting on this only continuing to grow in terms of a feasible tourism industry.”

The idea for Cannescape was sparked through Davis’s background in tourism and travel, more specifically her social media work for the Napa Valley Cannabis Association.

“Napa is known for its incredible wine experiences, beautiful vineyards, fine dining, very luxurious experiences, but they also want to cater to a younger demographic and this demographic wants more experiences,” Davis says. “So not just fine wine, but obviously something that makes California unique is the fact that cannabis is legal.”

California cannabis law dictates that only licensed dispensaries can sell THC infused-food and beverages. To work around this restriction, the dinner at Dr. Wilkinson’s is composed of CBD-infused dishes and does not include smoking.

“Most hotels have rules against smoking and that’s just an extra layer of complications that I’m trying to avoid right now,” Davis explains.

Upon heading to the glass-enclosed event space where the CBD dinner will be held, I realize I’m still a bit early and join in a yoga class that’s happening in the grassy area in front of the hotel lobby. The Cannescape overnight is happening in conjunction with Calistoga Wellness Week and I’m taking it all in. After forming what feels like an instant friendship with another guest attending the dinner, we join in another one of the Wellness Week activities and make scented candles together. Next we head to the six-course meal, which is being presented by a connection Davis made through her writing, chef Solomon Johnson. Johnson won the fourth episode of Chopped 420, a cannabis cooking competition produced by the Food Network. After he and his business partner chef Michael Woods started the Pan-African take-out restaurant, the Bussdown, out of an Oakland ghost kitchen, they opened OKO, a restaurant located in Oakland’s famed Tribune Tower. When I speak to Johnson he’s in his home state of Maryland where he is working to open a restaurant within a food hall.

“I’m not a cannabis chef and I try to remind everyone that, you know, I am just a chef who loves cannabis,” Johnson says. “I look at it like any other ingredient in my pantry.”

Johnson sees himself as an advocate of plant medicine. Microdosing is a key concept behind his CBD dinner.

“We’re going to make sure everyone is mindful of their consumption…Too much of anything is a bad thing obviously,” he says. “Being mindful and intentional about how you medicate, why you medicate, and when is an important part of growth as a cannabis consumer.”

The dinner event begins with a presentation from some of the event sponsors. That includes author and certified sommelier Jamie Evans, the Herb Somm, speaking about cannabis and wine pairings. During her presentation Evans passes around wine glasses filled with different botanicals, including cannabis, to showcase terpenes—aromatic elements present in both cannabis and wine that contribute to their taste. Stephanie Honig, board president of the Napa Valley Cannabis Association, speaks to the group about her experience promoting cannabis in a region known for wine. Honig is also the director of sales and communication for her family’s business, Honig Vineyard and Winery.

“We all want the best thing for Napa,” Honig tells me in a phone call prior to the 4/20 event. “We’re third generation, our family business, and have four kids and want Napa to be successful and valuable and prosperous in the future obviously, but we just disagree on what that looks like. For some vintners or some Napa residents it’s really about sticking to wine exclusively. To me it’s looking at, you know, there is no other industry that doesn’t look at consumer trends and adapt to some extent.”

Most of the people who visit Napa Valley are Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, Honig explains, noting that the region needs to look towards attracting a younger demographic in order to remain successful.

“We’re losing [young tourists], we’re losing them to places like Mendocino and Lake County where they can go and have an experience of going to a winery, but also going to a brewery and having great food and going to a cannabis garden and having a diverse experience,” Honig says. “Napa has had double digit success for the last 20-30 years and it’s amazing, but I don’t believe in hanging your hat on that. I think you really just need to move forward and look at what’s next.”

During the 4/20 event Honig says she believes low-dose cannabis beverages can be an alternative or additive to alcoholic beverages. The Cannescape dinner reinforced this idea by beginning with non-alcoholic cannabis aperitifs from Artet. Next, myself and the other diners jumped into Johnson’s meal. Each course incorporated 10.5 mg of CBD, but we were all also offered a side dish containing 30 mg of THC-infused avocado oil to add to our dishes as we pleased. Highlights of the dinner included a black bean soup with a tempura cannabis leaf crisp and a crab tart with maltaise sauce and caviar. The whole experience felt decadent and by the end most of the dinners were smiling and sedated by the effects of the CBD.

“Think about [CBD] not being psychoactive, but being more relaxing, it’s a notable difference and I think that’s part of the education process,” Johnson says. “A lot of people at this dinner may be first timers and they may not have experienced the quote unquote ‘medicated’ feeling so I think it’s great. It’s like the kiddie pool, you know what I mean?”

Johnson says participating in dinners like the one hosted by Cannescape are a “powerful social experience” that should include educating diners so they can break down the stigmas associated with cannabis. It’s also a chance to boost tourism dollars in the local economy.

“Having this opportunity to work with so many iconic spaces is fueling the fire in a way that we would not have been able to do on our own had we been trying to provide this service without them. But it’s also a symbiotic relationship in the sense that these spaces don’t always get booked out,” Johnson says. “Whether people want to admit it or not we are in an economic crisis where people are very smart with their money in the Bay Area just in general.”

After the dinner, I part ways with cannabis entrepreneur and activist Amber Senter whose company Landrace Origins provided the coffee during the next morning’s two-course CBD-infused breakfast. Senter spent her 4/20 holiday getting a massage at the resort’s spa and was headed to Washington, D.C. the next day for the National Cannabis Festival. We both agreed that the Cannescape event was one of the classiest 4/20s we’ve ever experienced. “Wellness” is a buzzword that gets thrown around often in both the cannabis and travel industries, but the magic point of ultimate relaxation arrives when you combine cannabinoids with other healthy habits like eating fresh food, participating in physical activities like yoga or taking in the waters of natural mineral springs.

“We’re premiering a new section of cannabis tourism which includes fine dining with travel and cannabis-infused dining,” Davis says.

The post Weed Wellness appeared first on High Times.

The post Weed Wellness appeared first on Paradise Found.