From a black currant sour to an espresso martini riff, here are five THC cocktails to pour this summer, plus the bottles worth keeping in the fridge. No hangover required.
There is a moment at almost every summer party when the bar opens. The wines, the whiskeys, the canned cocktails, the cold beers. I am not anti-alcohol. I drink it. I just do not always want it, and lately neither do a lot of the people I end up pouring for.
I already made the case for the bottle itself in a recent review. This is the follow-up, the part where you actually make something with it. The appeal of hemp-derived THC drinks is that you get the social lift and the ritual of a good cocktail, the glass in your hand, the thing to sip, without the next-morning tax. Over the last year, the category jumped from flavored seltzers to something you can actually build a drink around, and that changed what a weed cocktail can be. So here is the practical version: five cocktails worth making this summer, the bottles I would keep in the fridge, and how to pour all of it without ending the night on the floor.
Why A THC Drink, Not A Seltzer
Most hemp-derived THC beverages started life as seltzer-style cans: low dose, single cannabinoid, one note. They are fine. They also tend to bottom out at a certain point in the night because the format has nowhere to go. The newer move is the spirit format, a mixable base you pour like liquor and dial for social use instead of sleep. Some of these drinks lean on THCV alongside THC, a rarer cannabinoid that tends toward clear-headed, energizing effects rather than couch-lock, so the lift puts you further into the room instead of taking you out of it.
Heidi Minx, CMO of Hightails, LLC, the company behind Black Market, came to the category as a fan before she came to it as an employee. “I didn’t work with the company when the founders gave me my first bottle,” she says. “I asked them if I could work with them after I tried it.” Her case for the format is the one I would make too: “I don’t always want alcohol, and I don’t always want to pay a cocktail price for a mocktail when I’m out.”
On why the lift lands clean instead of heavy, Minx points to the formulation. “They spend an incredible amount of time making sure the terpenes, cannabinoids and companion ingredients create a social uplifting high,” she says, “without the anxious or quick-crash effects consumers old or new to the category can be wary of.”
“I firmly believe it’s a means for breaking down the stigmas created around the plant, one glass at a time.”
Heidi Minx, CMO, Hightails, LLC
Five Hightails To Pour This Summer
The recipes below are built on a hemp-derived Delta-9 base in a spirit format. I have been pouring Black Market, which runs about 5mg of THC and 10mg of THCV per 1.5-ounce serving, so that is the dosing baseline for each drink. Any comparable THC spirit base works. Mind the milligrams and adjust to your own tolerance.
Black Market Sour
A nod to the Penicillin and the Whisky Sour. Bright, herbal, a little tart, the one I have made more than any other. The kombucha gives it the acidity a sour needs without the citrus going one-note.
- 1.5 oz THC spirit base
- 1 oz fresh lemon juice
- 0.5 oz honey syrup
- 2 oz kombucha
- Ice, plus a lemon wheel to garnish
Combine the base, lemon juice and honey syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled. Strain over fresh ice. Top with kombucha and garnish with a lemon wheel. Per drink: about 5mg THC, 10mg THCV.
Rock The Casbah
A Black Market original that nods to traditional Persian and Indian cooling drinks, and to The Clash. Floral, citrusy and made for heat.
- 1.5 oz THC spirit base
- 1 oz fresh lime juice
- 1 dash rose cordial
- Fever-Tree sparkling lemonade to top
- Salt and sugar for the rim, edible rose petals to garnish
Use the rose cordial to rim the glass with salt and sugar. Pour the base, lime juice and rose cordial over ice. Top with sparkling lemonade and garnish with rose petals. Per drink: about 5mg THC, 10mg THCV.
Pineapple Express
Whether you are a fan of the flower or the film. Tropical, easy and the most crowd-friendly drink on this list.
- 1.5 oz THC spirit base
- 2 oz pineapple juice
- 2 oz ginger beer
- Splash of lime
- Mint sprig and a pineapple wedge to garnish
Build over ice in a tall glass. Stir gently. Garnish with mint and pineapple. Per drink: about 5mg THC, 10mg THCV.
Man In Black
An espresso martini riff, and the move when you want the drink to do the work a second coffee used to. Rich, frothy, a little sultry.
- 1.5 oz THC spirit base
- 1.5 oz cream
- 2 dashes chocolate bitters
- 2 oz chilled espresso or cold brew
If you want to get fancy, smoke a coupe glass with hickory first. Shake all ingredients with ice until frothy and serve immediately. Per drink: about 5mg THC, 10mg THCV.
Black Currant High
An adaptation of the Japanese highball, or “hi,” that you find in just about every izakaya in Tokyo. Two ingredients, ready in ten seconds, and the easiest thing to hand someone who has never had a THC drink before.
- 1.5 oz THC spirit base in an ice-filled highball
- Top with Calpico
- Fresh mint or shiso to garnish
Pour the base over ice, top with Calpico and garnish. That is it. Per drink: about 5mg THC, 10mg THCV.
Other Bottles Worth Pouring
A few bottles worth keeping in the fridge this summer. High Times selected these independently. Some I pour regularly, others are on my list to try, and I have flagged which is which.
Black Market. The one the recipes above are built on, and my current go-to. A hemp-derived Delta-9 spirit, black currant with a custom terpene blend, 5mg THC and 10mg THCV per 1.5-ounce pour, about 16 pours per 750ml bottle. The THCV is the difference: clear-headed and social rather than sleepy. Around $50 for the flagship bottle.
CANN. The brand that arguably made the social tonic a category. Low-dose, easy-drinking microdose cans built for the poolside-and-patio crowd, with branding that carried cleanly from licensed cannabis into hemp. A reliable entry point if a full spirit pour feels like a lot.
Rebel Rabbit. A South Carolina maker with its own bottling facility and a 750 designed to drink straight over ice. As co-founder Pierce Wylie put it, “Our goal was to create a spirit that was really easy to drink, and did not require a mixer. Kind of like if Tito’s vodka was meant to only need ice.” On my list to try.
OG Sodas. A Florida maker with restaurant roots that runs THC-infused, CBD-infused and traditional sodas side by side, which makes it a handy mixer line as much as a finished drink. On my list to try.
Gigli. Multiple formats, including punches and canned cocktail riffs, which makes it an easy pick for a crowd. On my list to try.
Lorea. An effect-focused line with deep roots in Northern California cannabis. Worth a look if you want a drink built around a specific feeling rather than just a buzz.
Also on the radar: Wynk and Pamos, both in the lighter, sessionable lane.
How To Pour It Responsibly
The rules are simple. Start with one serving and give it fifteen minutes before you decide on a second, because the onset is real but it is not instant. Know the milligrams in your glass, which is why every recipe above lists them. And do not treat a THC cocktail like a mixer-free free-for-all just because it is not alcohol.
One honest note on the category itself. Hemp-derived Delta-9 drinks exist because of how the 2018 Farm Bill defined hemp, and that definition is changing. A federal shift to a total-THC standard is set to take effect in late 2026, and several states are already moving these drinks into licensed cannabis channels. Translation: what is on the shelf, and where you can legally buy it, may look different by the end of the year. Check what is legal where you live and read the label before you pour.
These are adult-use THC products. Must be 21 or older. Effects vary by person and dose. Do not drive or operate machinery after drinking. Not for use if pregnant or nursing. THC may show up on a drug test. Know and follow your local laws.
Disclosure: Black Market supplied several of the recipes and the accompanying images for this piece. The brands featured in the roundup were selected independently by High Times.
