Cantrip Elixir works wonders as a flexible, sippable THC spirit
I appreciate the compact nature of THC spirits.
As someone who uses cannabis as a sleep aid, it's useful to have a sippable drink that isn't 12 ounces of fizzy water that will wake me up for a bathroom run four hours later. But THC spirits are more volatile than your standard seltzers. You're dealing with a more compressed space, and weed-y overtones can wind up giving each swig a too-floral, almost acrid, smoky tang.
Cantrip offers a wide range of legal cannabis products (well, at least through November, we'll see what happens with the 2018 Farm Bill rollback). That includes seltzers and their Elixir, a spirit offering 10 milligrams of THC per 1.5 ounce serving. It's an easy, zero-calorie alternative to booze, even if it mostly just makes me sleepy and difficult to talk to for more than three sentences at a time.
Let's see how it tastes.
Cantrip Elixir: B+
I'm going with the recipe helpfully sent my way in the Cantrip media kit -- a Twirly Shirley, which is just a Shirley Temple with THC in it. It is not the photo above, which was provided by Cantrip because I, in haste to get rid of the Google account storage warning that haunts me across all my apps, deleted my photo of the cocktail.
The spirit itself pours a soothing, creamy light blue color. It doesn't smell like much of anything; slightly sweet, organic and just a bit citric. A quick nip from the bottle backs that up; there's spirulina for flavor (and color) and it gives off a slightly mossy vibe. It's neither offensive nor tasty.
Thus, into my adult kiddie cocktail we go. It's Sprite and maraschino cherries, so of course it's good. The Elixir melts into that with minimal hiccups, showcasing its versatility against the backdrop of two recognizable, but not overpowering, mixers.
The effects roll in quietly after about 20 minutes. It's a calm, gentle buzz, fuzzing the edges of your thoughts and relaxing your shoulders just enough. After an hour I'm staring blankly at the television and drifting off to a series of weird dreams in a recliner. Honestly, that's pretty much all I want in life.
Would I drink it instead of a Hamm's?
This a pass/fail mechanism where I compare whatever I'm drinking to my baseline cheap beer. That's the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm's. So the question to answer is: on a typical day, would I drink Cantrip Elixir over a cold can of Hamm's?
Yes. It threads the needle of providing a solid dose of THC without coming across as too weed-y, making it a flexible addition to a mocktail or an easy sip straight-up.
This is part of FTW's Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Cantrip Elixir works wonders as a flexible, sippable THC spirit
Reporting by Christian D'Andrea, For The Win / For The Win
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This story was originally published June 27, 2026 at 10:01 AM.