UK Brewery Is Making Legal Cannabis Beer

The U.K. is going to have an extra mellow 4/20 this year. Even though marijuana is illegal throughout the country, one brewery is introducing a cannabis-oil infused beer. Jolly old England is suddenly sounding much more jolly.

Stockton Brewery Company’s Buffalo Soldier Hemp Ale is infused with marijuana, but not quite in the way you might expect. It’s made with CBD oil. Not to be confused with THC, CBD is a non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis—aka, it won’t get you stoned. But CBD is often used to help ease anxiety, alleviate inflammation and reduce pain. It also happens to be legal in the U.K., so the Stockton Brewery Company won’t be doing anything wrong when they start stocking coolers next month.

Coming in at a very modest 3.8-percent ABV, the “refreshing blonde ale” is the U.K.’s first ever weed-infused beer. “The lads were excited about creating the product and are happy to be part of the first ale in the U.K. to contain cannabis oil,” a Buffalo Soldier spokesperson told Gazette Live. “The first batch will be ready in six weeks and after many enquiries we’ve got a feeling the product will be in demand and sell out quickly.”

Of course, marijuana-spiked booze is nothing new to us Yankees. Colorado’s Dude’s Brews has been making cannabis-infused beer for a couple of years now, and the first legal weed wine (which actually contains THC) was recently released in California. There’s even a marijuana-infused cocktail mixer on the market right now in Washington. That said, those of us who don’t live in a 4/20-friendly state can’t easily get our hands on a CBD brew. U.K. residents, on the other hand, will have no problem snagging a pint, as long as their local pub isn’t sold out. So, to our friends across the pond, we say drink ‘em if you got ‘em.