BREWERY PLANS HEMP-FLAVOURED BEER

Ross Rebagliati, this Bud's for you.

Or it will be, if Bowen Island Brewing gets its way.

The Vancouver-based microbrewery hopes to begin selling Hemp Cream Ale in
the next few weeks -- if Health Canada and B.C.'s liquor distribution
branch give it the high sign.

So far, government regulators have been reluctant to approve a beer
flavoured with hemp seeds, despite the fact that it's legal to import and
sell sterilized seeds in Canada.

The problem is that under current laws, it's illegal to process the seeds,
which may or may not include adding them to beer; Bowen officials have been
unable to get an answer to that question.

The liquor distribution branch and Health Canada officials both declined to
comment on the matter.

But hemp industry experts expect any arguments against the beer will be
moot next month anyway. That's when the federal government is scheduled to
enact changes to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, making it legal
to grow hemp for commercial purposes.

Ruth Shamai, president of The Natural Order, a Toronto-based environmental
mail order company, said the changes will also make it legal for Bowen
Island to use sterilized seeds, which have been certified to meet
government standards. Shamai -- who was in Vancouver last week for the
Commercial and Industrial Hemp Symposium -- supplied Bowen with the hemp
seeds for its test batches.

The new government regulations may also help remove the stigma against hemp
- -- an image problem created by its links to marijuana.

Both hemp and marijuana are varieties of cannabis, but hemp is a
fibre-producing strain and its seeds contain only trace amounts of
tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC -- the substance that produces a high when
ingested.

Les Patterson, Bowen's sales manager, said a Norwest laboratory in Manitoba
tested the brewery's first batch of Hemp Cream Ale and determined that any
THC content was below detectable levels.

Bowen Island Brewery, founded in 1994 by Don and Bonnie Bradley, began
working on its new label last spring.

"The word hemp is certainly something that can get your curiosity going at
the best of times -- and it can be controversial," Patterson said. "We had
no idea whether it was even legal to put it in beer."

Then, the brewery learned it wasn't alone. The Frederick Brewing Company in
Frederick, Md., has been selling hemp-flavored beer since last year. In
fact, Hempen Ale is now so popular, the brewery recently added a second
label -- Hempen Gold.

The Maryland brewery waged its own battle with three federal agencies
before finally winning approval.

Patterson said he's heard of at least five breweries in the United States
now in full or trial productions of hemp beer.

For its part, Bowen Island began experimenting with various brews six
months ago, adding sterilized hemp seeds to the barley malt, trying to find
a perfect blend.

The company's "flavor profile" describes the taste as a "delicious,
well-balanced nutty flavor with a hint of fruit and spice."

The name may be easy to market, Patterson said, but it's the taste that
will keep people buying the product. The brewery intends to introduce Hemp
Cream Ale in draught before selling it by the bottle.