All photos by Claudia C; follow her on Twitter @literalporn.
I moved to Denver right as marijuana prohibition ended. As a weed smoker from New Jersey who had spent a night in jail and been on probation over a few joints, it was like being in an alternate universe: Shops where people just stood in line to buy weed, no more waiting around for dealers that are running late, and—best of all—an almost infinite selection of high-quality weed. It felt like a new kind of freedom, with no more paranoia or fear of being searched while driving around.
I’ve done a lot of dispensary hopping over the months I’ve been in Denver, and one of the first things I noticed at the shops was the wide array of edibles. The sheer variety of ingestible weed products that’s emerge since legalization is astounding. We’ve moved beyond your basic cookies—there are now weed-infused drinks from lemonade and hot chocolate, candies of all sorts, and even savory snacks like pizza.
Back home, I was used to amateur brownies made from mids and shake. But here in front of me was a bounty of neatly packaged baked goods, taffies, hard candies, chocolate truffles, granola bars, popcorn, tinctures, and more, all labeled with their exact THC and CBD content.
Edibles are popular with seasoned smokers and newbies alike. The budtender at my favorite dispensary, Botanico, says he can barely get the edibles onto the shelves because they sell out so fast. Luckily, I got there on a day where they had just gotten a shipment in, so they a good variety in stock.
What you need to know about buying edibles and weed in Colorado is there are recreational shops and medicinal shops. Recreational shops are open to the general public (ages 21+), and they carry lower potency product at a higher price. Medicinal shops require that you have a special license to buy, but their products are generally more potent and more reasonably priced.
The edibles reviewed here are recreationally, so any of you passing through Denver will be able to cop if you’re of age.
Mountain Medicine Milk Chocolate Berry Bite
Price (before 25% tax): $10
Potency: 50mg THC
How high (1-10): 7. The high was a relaxing body high that lasted four hours.
Taste: It tasted like chocolate with bits of craisins in it—kind of like Raisinets.
Verdict: Thumbs up. I ate one before therapy and kept forgetting what I was saying mid-sentence. I also ate all the candy she keeps on her desk.
Incredibles Mile High Mint
Price (before 25% tax): $15
Potency: 75mg THC
How high (1-10): 10. It was a nice warm body and head buzz that lasted five hours.
Taste: Just like a Junior Mint or Andes mint—you can’t taste the weed at all. It’s very minty, to the point where it can double as a breath mint.
Verdict: Wow. The budtender told me to only eat a quarter of this at a time at most. I was like “that shit is for amateurs” and set out to eat the entire thing. I didn’t make it all the way through. Halfway through the chocolate bar I knocked the fuck out on my couch drooling, then woke up three hours later still buzzed.
Sweet Grass Kitchen Mini Cookies
Price (before 25% tax): $10
Potency: 70mg THC in 7 cookies
How high (1-10): 5. Heady high that kicked in really quickly but also wore off really quickly—I would say about 2 hours max.
Taste: You can really taste the weed in these; the cookies are soft and chewy.
Verdict: I ate five for breakfast on an empty stomach and I can say these are kind of like the Xanax of edibles. They kick in really fast and you feel warm and fuzzy for a little bit before the high wears off within a couple of hours.
Dixie Dew Drops
Price (before 25% tax): $15
Potency: 100mg THC in 1 fluid oz.
How high (1-10): 7. Two droplets of this hit me in a 15-minute period. It was a nice, light body high.
Taste: Tastes just like the flavor on the label: watermelon, ginger mango, or vanilla. Extremely sweet when taken directly. You can definitely taste the weed.
Verdict: Think of it as weed sizzurp. I mixed the ginger mango into ginger ale and the watermelon flavor into juice and Sprite. I tried these while driving, underestimating how quickly they would kick in. Within 15 minutes my eyes were low and I was slumped; I completely lost my sense of direction. I also mixed the vanilla flavor in with my coffee for a hippie speedball.
BlueKudu Original Chocolate Bar
Price (before 25% tax): $11
Potency: 80mg
How high (1-10): 8. I got high enough to lose track of time.
Taste: Bittersweet chocolate with a hint of orange
Verdict: Do not plan on doing anything productive after taking this. I ate half the bar and melted into the couch. The only thing I was able to do was marathon Walking Dead on Netflix, which was pointless because I don’t remember it at all.
Dixie Edibles Chocolate Truffles
Price (before 25% tax): $9
Potency: 50mg in 2 truffles
How high (1-10): 5. In hindsight, I should’ve eaten both of them, but I only ate one. Light body high.
Taste: Exactly like a chocolate truffle, down to the buttery texture. You can barely taste the weed.
Verdict: I originally meant to cop the Dixie Colorado Bar which is 100 milligrams in one serving and puts me on my ass, but they didn’t have them so I bought these. Still mad I didn’t eat both the truffles; I barely got high.
Aces Wild Hard Candies
Price (before 25% tax): $15
Potency: 100mg in 4 candies
How high (1-10): 10. Popped two for a really spacey heady high. My favorite high out of the bunch.
Taste: Comes in blackberry, cherry, watermelon, and cinnamon. Why they mixed cinnamon in with those fruit flavors is beyond me. They taste like candy with a hint of weed.
Verdict: Me and my girl Molly (not a euphemism for drugs, her name is really Molly) took these at the beginning of a one-hour drive into Denver. An hour and a half later we realized we’d completely forgotten where we were going and missed our exit. Do not drive on these; they turned a one-hour trip into a two-hour trip.