Edibles
Calexo’s Sparkling Cannabis Drinks are a Perfect Replacement for Alcohol
Calexo’s premium cannabis-infused sparkling beverages use all-natural ingredients and precise dosing, making them a great alternative to alcohol.
Start the summer off right with some fizzy fun by stocking up on Calexo’s new line of super tasty, sparkling cannabis drinks.
These drinks will keep you going through the hectic work week but are also a wonderful way to sip and socialize after hours with like-minded friends who prefer the high of cannabis to the buzz of alcoholic beverages.
Nano-Emulsified THC
Founded by artists and creatives in 2019, Calexo is a Los Angeles-based beverage brand that launched its first sparkling cannabis beverages earlier this year.
“We wanted to make sure the drinks we created were things you could consume lightly and often without compromising your body,” said Calexo’s founder and CEO, Brandon Andrew, on the podcast Dazed and Infused.
Each bottle of Calexo is packed with all-natural ingredients and 10 mg of nano-emulsified THC, allowing for absorption sublingually through the blood brain barrier rather than through the liver. This Nano-emulsification extraction process (powered by Vertosa) creates tiny THC droplets from cannabis oil, perfect for sublingual consumption. These droplets mix uniformly throughout each bottle, resulting in a precisely dosed product with a quick onset. This means consumers can know exactly what they’re getting each time they pop open a Calexo.
“By using Nano-technology to make cannabis more punctual and reliable, we hope to encourage body sovereignty. We hope that each individual can discover what really feels good in their own body and learn how to fine-tune those experiences. Cannabis, with the right dose, set and setting, often encourages empathy and enhances creativity,” said Ian Colon, co-founder and CMO of Calexo.
There’s no sitting around for an hour waiting for the edible to kick in with these drinks. The onset period is 15 minutes while the offset is about an hour, making it fairly similar to having a cocktail – but without the toll on your body.
“We came at this thinking about our livers,” said Andrew, while on the same podcast. “Our audience is people who are looking to step away from alcohol but still want to keep drinking recreationally.”
Design-Centered Approach
Based in Los Angeles, Calexo brings an artistic and modern Southern California feel to their brand – especially in the presentation of their product.
On a bottle of the Citrus Rose drink, shades of teal and cream weave together while a burst of vibrant coral catches the eye, evoking a California sunset. Santa Monica-based design agency TRÜF is responsible for the branding, visual identity and packaging of Calexo, and they absolutely crushed it. The design is clean and simple while also feeling like a work of art. It doesn’t delve into cannabis clichés, as many edibles brands tend to do.
“Raising the bar on both quality and design of cannabis [products] helps to shift the collective conception of what this plant is,” Colon said.
Colon emphasizes that creating an aesthetically pleasing package design was an aim to reach more people.
“We represent a set of values centered on inclusion and excellence and know that appealing design and fantastic products are key in generating curiosity,” he said.
As a collaborative brand by design, Calexo’s founders intentionally sought out leaders in their field to help shape everything from the package design, content and experiences. Working with experts like, TRÜF, Better/Good, Resource Residency and Hotline helped to crystallize Calexo’s mission of high-quality design and inclusion.
Flavor-Forward
Calexo strives to “bring a smile to your mind” with their brand, and if the packaging alone isn’t able to do so, the flavors of their refreshing drinks certainly will.
Committed to always using carefully selected, premium ingredients with no artificial flavors, sweeteners or colors, Calexo’s Cucumber Citron and Citrus Rose are unique because the flavor is not modeled after a drink that already exists.
Using all-natural juices and botanicals, the goal is to complement rather than mask the nano-emulsified cannabis, and the result is a complex flavor that delights the senses.
Calexo retails around $20 per 22oz bottle and is available for delivery throughout Los Angeles from Sweet Flower and across the Bay Area through ONA.Life. The drinks will be available to the rest of California soon and will launch in Canada this fall.
TELL US, are you going to look for cannabis-infused drinks this summer?
