With non-alcoholic cocktails on the rise in the Holy City, we connected with Levity Cannabis Spirit, a new venture in Charleston. Levity’s non-alcoholic spirits are made using hemp-derived Delta 9 THC at a concentration of 2 mg per fluid ounce.
We asked the Levity team seven questions about their product and plans. Keep reading to find out more about this beverage alternative and where to find it around town.
Q: Can you tell us about Levity’s drinks?
A: It’s a pretty neat product. It’s meant to be used as a one-to-one replacement for alcohol. One of the cool things about it is the versatility of the product. A lot of the feedback that we’ve gotten from restaurants and bartenders that have been using it is that it’s a great product to use in different mocktail recipes.
Q: Did you all have a specific inspiration for Levity?
A: Yes, industry disruption. We make a lot of products and have for years in this space. And it’s very, very competitive. Some of our businesses have been around since 2017, and in the hemp market just in general, we see a lot of competitors entering the market every month. Here’s an opportunity for us, you know. We’re always trying to figure out, how do we be first to market with an idea?
Q: Why Charleston?
A: In this industry, there’s a lot of products that come out. And we’ve seen the RTDs (ready-to-drink) on the market for a couple of years now. There’s been quite a few of those that have popped up all over the place. The Southeast is certainly no exception. There’s probably two or three dozen just off the cuff, we could run down a list, and we wanted to be at a market that hasn’t had all that influx of competition come into it just yet.
Q: What are some local restaurants that you’re working with?
A: One example we wanted to give you guys, when we’ve been talking about using it as a one-to-one alcohol replacement, is Lowlife Bar on Folly Beach... With non-alcoholic beverages becoming so much more popular, now we’re starting to see non-alcoholic beverage stores such as Sèchey on Upper King. So we just started working with them as well. (See all local spots with Find Your Levity.)
Q: Does a bottle of Levity cost $40?
A: Yeah, that’s generally the suggested retail price, kind of around that area. You’re gonna see a little bit of fluctuation, depending on what the individual retailer’s looking for, for whatever their business commands for their margins that they look for. But around that price is what they can expect to see.
Q: Are the effects of one of your drinks comparable to one cocktail?
A: It’s very similar, but it’s not guaranteed to be the exact same for everyone. It’s really up to a lot of variables here. You know, everyone’s got different anatomy and physiology. Everyone’s got a different endocannabinoid system. Everybody’s got a different BMI. Have they eaten before they had a product? What’s the general state of their health? Are they grossly overweight or are they a marathoner that gets up and runs 20 miles every morning? So there’s a lot of factors there. But the onset of the effects typically are going to be very similar, if not identical, as they would be in consuming traditional alcohol spirits or beer or wine products.
Q: What would you tell someone who’s on the fence about the product?
A: I’d say start slow. Different people react to cannabinoids differently, and that just depends on your body and also your tolerance. So we formulated it to have lower appropriate amounts of cannabinoids, so that way you’re not going to become very intoxicated from one, again relating it to alcohol.
Before you go, dig this: Levity has partnered with a Southeast distributor and will be carried in hundreds of stores and restaurants in the Carolinas. The team is also planning to secure a secondary bottling facility in Tennessee. You can purchase the product online and reach out to suggest a watering hole that you think should offer Levity.
