Mercari Independence Day

This Friday January 31st Mercari will be celebrating our independence at the Centre for Social Innovation (192 Spadina 3rd floor) at 4:20pm with drinks provided by Iconic Brewing. Lifford Wine & Spirits has just announced the sale to Select Wine. Mercari will be relocating back to Centre for Social Innovation and we've invited our friends and clients to an open house along with CSI members during Happy Hour! We'll also be pouring Hill St Beverages tropical mimosas, so come early to taste the future.

To complement the Color in Mercari's portfolio, we are excited to announce that we have some new cannabis beverages coming out starting in Ontario and moving west to BC and Alberta just in time for 2.0. Mercari is extremely blessed to welcome A1's newest THC and CBD beverages, Summit and Basecamp. A subsidiary of Iconic Brewing, A1 will be coming out across Canada in the new year! While these beverages come in low dose formats, they can be personalized with drink drops.

Select Wine Merchants acquires Lifford Wine & Spirits

January 13, 2020                                                                                   PARTNER ANNOUNCEMENT

Select Wine Merchants announced today that an agreement has been reached to purchase 100% ownership of Lifford Wine & Spirits. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Select Wines, Lifford will continue to operate as a separate wine agency with its own field sales team focused on the on-trade and direct to consumer channels. The objective of this transaction is to accelerate Lifford’s growth while increasing Select Wines’ distribution to Ontario restaurants and consumers.

Commenting on the acquisition, Lifford’s President, Steven Campbell said “This is an important milestone for Lifford. Select Wines is an established national agency with strong values, proven leadership and performance. By partnering with Select Wines, Lifford’s brands will benefit from their competency in markets beyond Ontario. At the same time, Select Wines’ partners now have the opportunity to capitalize on Lifford’s strength, as Ontario’s leading on-trade distributor. As we continue to see rapid marketplace evolution, we felt the timing was right to make a major move that best serves the needs of our customers, our people, and our partners.”

Select Wines was established as a Vancouver based boutique wine agency in 1982. Today, Select is a management owned and operated national wine agency with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. Driving sales growth that significantly exceeds industry trends, Select has a relentless focus on performance and deepening customer relationships in all markets and segments. Select’s CEO Chris Hoffmeister said “I am very enthusiastic to be working with Steven and his team who have done a tremendous job of building equity in the highest value trade channels. Our company was founded on selling fine wines to fine dining establishments. Providing best in class service to this channel is at the heart of our priorities. With the acquisition of Lifford, who I consider as the top on-trade distributor in Ontario, Select now offers one of the most robust and diverse distribution networks available in Canada.”

Lifford Cannabis Solutions rebrands as Mercari Agency Limited

TORONTO, ON -  December 10th, 2019 --  Lifford Cannabis Solutions announced today that it has rebranded itself as Mercari Agency Limited as the company expands nationally in preparation for Cannabis 2.0 products launching in 2020. Mercari will follow a similar sales model to Lifford Cannabis Solutions, which will now include wholesale cannabis brokerage between federally authorized cannabis licence holders.

The Mercari rebrand was guided by the introduction of legalization’s second wave pertaining to edibles, vapes, concentrates and topicals. As part of the rebrand, it will take a proactive approach to supply the industry’s growing demand for wholesale products. Founded by father and daughter team Lisa and Steven Campbell, the pair have combined their passion for cannabis to procure the most quality products on the market:

“Mercari is rooted in Latin and means merchant. As we’ve developed an evolved business model to include wholesale, we are ready to help source premium cannabis for Canadians.” - Lisa Campbell, CEO of Mercari Agency Limited

Over the last year Mercari’s sales team has educated budtenders in retail stores across Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia provinces, along with consumer educational events, seminars and pop-ups for licensed cannabis brands. Since launching, cannabis retail has exploded out west, with over 400 licensed cannabis retailers in BC and Alberta combined.  

“As Cannabis 2.0 rolls out we are excited to help retailers source the most premium products.  Cannabis is the new wine in Canada.” - Steven Campbell, President of Mercari Agency Limited

Is CBD the new THC?

Lisa Campbell, CEO of Lifford Cannabis Solutions, foresees another possible drawback. “Some producers are attempting to make this claim, although products still have residual THC,” Campbell says. While it is possible to extract 99 percent CBD isolate, she says that hemp-based CBD can still contain minuscule amounts of THC.

'Historic moment': At least one cannabis retail store opens today in Toronto

TORONTO, Ont. — There’s a money pot waiting at the Hunny Pot — emphasis on pot.

So naturally owner and Mississauga realtor Hunny Gawri is excited his Hunny Pot Cannabis Co., located at 202 Queen St. W. in Toronto, passed its final inspection and will open its doors today to sell recreational cannabis.

April 1 is the earliest day 25 applicants who won the provincial lottery back on Jan. 9 to operate bricks-and-mortar cannabis retail stores can welcome customers in Ontario, which until now has only offered sales online via the OCS website.

“Cannabis was on the horizon and I definitely wanted to be a part of it,” said Gawri, standing outside his 3,500-square-foot store earlier last week. “I’ve always been a part of new emerging markets so whether it was tech or real estate (previously).”

Of the 25 stores in Ontario, five are set to be in Toronto proper.

There was a lengthy process following the lottery, including a 15-day public notice on each proposed cannabis store space before a Retail Operator Licence (ROL) and Retail Store Authorization (RSA) is issued by the province followed by a pre-opening store inspection — sometimes several if anything is found to be wrong — before you can put your shingle out.

“There is no disqualification for not opening April 1,” said Raymond Kahnert, a spokesman for the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.

However, applicants for the cannabis retail stores did put up an initial $6,000 fee and a $50,000 letter of credit.

“If you’re not open on April 1, the first draw (from that letter of credit) happens of $12,500,” said Kahnert. “Having said that the registrar of the AGCO has the discretion to review the circumstances under which the doors are not open.”

As it stands, the Hunny Pot is the first retail cannabis store in Toronto to jump through all the necessary hoops.

The AGCO has promised to put up an interactive website by around 6 p.m. Sunday showing which Ontario stores will actually be operational today.

“It’s definitely been a challenge,” said Gawri. “I knew I had to build a great team, and it was all about hitting April 1. It’s definitely a shorter period than normal (to open a store of this kind) but it’s been amazing. The AGCO, the OCS, everyone’s been very open with communication.”

Gawri says the Hunny Pot will offer customers knowledgable “budtenders,” a beautiful, four-floor space with skylights, and what he calls “responsible retailing.”

“Being one of the first we want to pave the way and make sure everything is done properly,” he said. “If we have two people, if we have 10,000 people (today), we want to be prepared.”

He said the store will have cannabis flower, pre-rolled joints, oils, soft gels and accessories.

Of the four other Toronto stores, Ameri, located at 20 Cumberland St., had been issued both a ROL and RSA but the owner refused to say if they would be open by April 1.

Meanwhile, Nova Cannabis, at 499 Queen St. W., was still waiting for its paperwork to be processed and a spokesperson confirmed Friday it won’t make the April 1 opening.

Tokyo Smoke at 333 Yonge St, the sight of the former HMV, and Canna Cabana at 435(B) Yonge St, weren’t ending their 15-day public notices until April 2 and 9, respectively, so logic says they can’t be opening April 1.

One loophole for the other Toronto stores, said Kahnert, “there is nothing in the legislation to prohibit opening and selling non-cannabis accessories.”

Otherwise, Kahnert said if operators are not open by April 15, another $12,500 is drawn, followed by the remaining $25,000 if they’re still closed by April 30.

Once everyone in Ontario is open, he says “the AGCO will still be monitoring, will still be dealing with the operators to ensure that they’re in adherence to all the governing laws and regulations.”

“It’s a historic moment for the industry as a whole, even to be one of 25 was amazing,” said Gawri. “If we’re the only ones (open) in Toronto on (April 1), that would be monumental for us for sure. ”

WHILE SUPPLIES LAST

Cannabis supply seems to be an ongoing issue for retailers in other provinces, so what can we expect in Ontario once all 25 stores are up and running?

We asked Toronto cannabis expert Lisa Campbell, founder-CEO of the year-old Lifford Cannabis Solutions which provides sales and marketing to licensed cannabis producers to get their product to retail across Canada, to explain why there has been supply issues:

“There’s a huge bottleneck in terms of the supply chain in certain areas,” said Campbell. “For example, Health Canada has said that licensed producers do have inventories of cannabis even though it’s not getting onto the shelves. A lot of licensed producers weren’t anticipating the demand of recreational so they don’t necessarily have automated packaging yet.”

“Certain licensed producers are still waiting on their processing licence to be able to have more space for packaging, so that has been an issue,” she said. “Also, licensed producers can’t ship directly to retailers, so it has to go to the government warehouse first and then the orders have to be prepared to go out to stores.”

“Because this is just the first few months of legalization, they’re still ironing out the kinks before things can fully flesh out. We’ve seen in other markets similar problems. It’s not unique to Canada.”

— Jane Stevenson

Homegrown herb is here: Cannabis advocates

One person who has no shame about growing at her Toronto home since 2013 is Lisa Campbell, whose medical marijuana licence allowed her to grow up to ten plants for her own use or buy from the government.

“The healthier options for patients at the time was to grow your own,” said Campbell.

“I was able to bring some of those plants outdoors post legalization and those are the plants that I harvested (last October). They were ten feet tall, so I was able to cure them all and share them with my friends. I was able to do a huge harvest with my friends. We were stripping the plants. We were trimming them.”

“You can transform that product into whatever you want,” she said. “So you could dry the buds. You could juice the leaves. I had one friend who created cannabis cream out of the roots. So we used also every single part of the plant.”

Campbell, as you may have guessed, isn’t your typical home grower.

She’s also the founder-CEO of the year-old Lifford Cannabis Solutions — a subsidiary of her family-owned Lifford Wine & Spirits — which provides sales and marketing to licensed cannabis producers across Canada.

“It definitely is a challenge (to grow it at home),” says Campbell. “It requires a lot of information. There’s a lot of really great books and resources online where people can learn about growing your own and a lot of videos on YouTube.”

“Because Canada has had a medical marijuana program since 2001, some of the top growers in the world have come out of that program and they really are experts and they’ve shared so much of their knowledge online,” she added.

Campbell fully expects that come April — also known as cannabis month for the pot community — there will be an increase in trying to grow recreational weed at home alongside the emergence of bricks and mortar retail stores.

“I know in the most recent product calls (by the OCS), they included grow tents, grow lights, seeds, etc.,” she said. “I do think that come April when it’s ‘4/20 season,’ you will be able to purchase the things that you need from the government to start your garden.”

Suds To Buds: Why Cannabis Is Pulling Talent From Craft Beer

Trading booze for cannabis

Vancouver-based Aaron Anderson was also looking for a recharge when he switched over to cannabis. The sales manager for Parallel 49 Brewing was working yet another beer festival when he ran into an old friend. Anderson and his wife had a one-year-old at home and he told his friend that the mix of alcohol and parenting an infant was starting to take a toll on his body.

“He told me he was working for Agrima Botanicals, a medically focused LP, and said I should come and check out what he was up to, so I followed up a couple of days later,” says Anderson.

Aaron Anderson made the career switch from craft beer to cannabis to be on the frontlines of an emerging industry.

A long-time recreational user in a “cannabis-friendly family,” Anderson was passionate about the legalization of cannabis and wanted to be on the frontlines of the industry at the fall of prohibition to help remove the taboos around the plant. He signed on in a sales position at Ascent Industries, taking a pay cut initially. But in less than a year he was promoted to national director of sales operations, where his salary and benefits exceeded any he could expect in craft beer.

As far as knowledge, the learning curve was steeper than Anderson anticipated.

“I assumed my skills and contacts would be immediately transferable, but I quickly learned that it’s absolutely a machine of its own,” he says.

While the paperwork and provincial liquor regimes were similar to that of beer, the people were all new hires, so he didn’t have any turnkey relationships. Still, he was thrilled “to break bread with government bodies” at the end of prohibition.

Plus, he’s applying his understanding of the craft beer consumer — who's thirstier for new releases and flavours than for one or two flagship beers — to the cannabis connoisseur. Anderson now works for Lifford Cannabis Solutions, which assists licensed cannabis companies in getting their products to market.

As for his alcohol consumption? “I’ve been drunk maybe three times this year, when it used to be that many times a week,” says Anderson. “I don’t even think about alcohol anymore.”

Disrupting the cannabis kitchen with infused cocktails

New Jersey-based Warren Bobrow, known as the Cocktail Whisperer in the hospitality industry, is a mixologist, bartender, contributing writer for Forbes and author of, among other books, Cannabis Cocktails, Mocktails & Tonics: The Art of Spirited Drinks and Buzz-Worthy Libations. On Dec. 19, Bobrow was on his first visit to Toronto to talk about what he’s most passionate about: infused cocktails and mocktails.

“Drinking is part of our culture. What I have chosen to do with my book, Cannabis Cocktails… is make infused drinks approachable—by mixing together ingredients in a way that’s cohesive and not overwhelming,” says the 57-year-old author of six books.

The book, launched in 2015, drew scathing criticism. “It was termed bad and dangerous, but things have changed now. As per my knowledge, this is the first book and the only book on the topic—on THC-infused cocktails,” Bobrow says. “I wrote this book so that people could enjoy infused cocktails without stigma. When you smoke a joint on the streets, everybody knows your business and has a preconceived notion, right or wrong, on what it is that you are doing.”

The hospitality session, organized by the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers (CAPS) Ontario and Lifford Cannabis Solutions, tastefully coincided with the holiday season and the regulations on cannabis edibles and concentrates to be announced by Health Canada.

To help highlight cannabis’ place in the hospitality industry, Lifford in partnership with CAPS Ontario, has been hosting one such session monthly since legalization. “Whether it’s restaurants or infused beverages, we are interested to see how the edibles regulations will change with the regulations set to be announced. At Lifford, we are a wine and spirits company, we are interested in the potential of creating infused beverages,” says Lisa Campbell, CEO of Lifford Cannabis Solutions.

Apart from a talk by Bobrow, the session also had a cocktail and mocktail station. “Mocktails are the biggest trend of 2018. A lot of consumers are moving away from alcohol, and this session fits right into that dialogue,” says Campbell, explaining the demand for such a session.

Guests, on the other hand, ranged from people who had never tried infused cocktails to others who couldn’t wait to give them a shot. “In the past, I haven’t been interested in infused anything, but listening to him and how he’s been retaining terpene interaction… because in infusion, you often lose the aroma, with the decarb product, I surely want to try it, now,” says Chris Klugman, CEO and president of Paint Box Catering. “There’s has been a huge interest in the overall wine and cannabis combination,” Klugman reports.

Apart from reading some of the recipes from the book, his professional history and his family story, Bobrow also shared some tips to making good cocktails. “There are a ton of things people don’t know about cannabis and cocktails, but predominantly, that they should be decarbing their cannabis—they need to activate the THC. If you take raw cannabis and stick it inside a bottle of liquor… all you will get is a mouldy mass of gunk.”

On judging cannabis, then and now

Gwilt tests 30 to 60 strains weekly, sending three to four g per variety for third-party THC tests and accepts 15 percent to 20 percent of those

Evaluating excellence in cannabis flowers was once the province of either unlicensed growers or dispensary owners. In the new legal market, this task is being shifted largely to licensed producers (LPs), a shift that, interestingly, has brought few changes to the field.

Dana Larsen, who has owned The Medical Dispensary in Vancouver since 2008, employs premier cannabis testers. One is Carol Gwilt, co-owner of Weed, Glass & Gifts dispensary, who has been testing cannabis for 15 years. Gwilt begins this task “by interviewing growers on their methods.”

Checks a staged process

“All cannabis on offer,” Larsen notes, “is then assessed in three stages.” A first, “pass/fail test, examines buds under a microscope at 60 to 100 times enlargement.” Ideally, one sees densely packed bracts [modified leaves] studded with trichomes, the tiny, mushroom-shaped, translucent structures that contain the plant’s cannabinoids.

The second and third stages involve smoking samples. Stage two “tests for cheminess”—a chemical taste that might remind a person of a floor-cleaning agent or shoe polish—which indicates the presence of fertilizers and other additives. Good growing practices require all nutrients to be “flushed out of the plant [by watering intensively] before harvest.”

At this point, states Larsen, “buds are lab-tested for pesticides, and CBD/THC profiles. The final stage assesses fragrance, which should be pleasant [fruity, spicy or lightly floral depending on the variety]; and checks the strength and style of the effect.”

Larsen and Gwilt routinely reject 80 percent—in general, that percentage has remained stable for years—of the cannabis they test.

Gwilt reports that she tests 30 to 60 strains weekly, sending three to four g per variety for third-party THC tests and accepts 15 percent to 20 percent of those. There are slightly fewer growers coming to her since adult-use cannabis legalization on Oct. 17, 2018, she points out, but adds there is no dearth of product from which to choose.

Enter the government

With legalization of cannabis for adult use, Health Canada has come to play a role, though an intentionally limited one. Health Canada “requires that all be tested for microbial and chemical contamination, but it has not established grading standards for dried cannabis, reports Tammy Jarbeau, senior media relations advisor for the federal department.

Derek Pedro, master grower and design, cultivation and production partner at WeedMD, appears to have welcomed the challenge. A former licensed medical grower with 14 facilities, Pedro has bred “54 cannabis varieties,” and says he knows them “as well as I know my own kids.”

On quality, he shares much with Larsen. Pedro is careful to flush all plants prior to harvest, and expects all buds to “diamond out”, that is sparkle with trichomes, when viewed under magnification. “Taste and smell,” he adds, “should be enticing” [smell should never be acrid, or reminiscent of cleaning agents]. All buds are then sent out for third-party lab testing, as per the federal requirements.

To fine-tune his assessment, Pedro uses a focus group, which currently consists of 12 clients. He grows small, select batches of plants, offering “samples of these at reduced cost, to medical clients.” They provide feedback, and that determines what he grows in quantity.

Lisa Campbell, CEO of Lifford Cannabis Solutions, which markets LP cannabis, agrees with these criteria, emphasizing the need for testers to try products first-hand. Ash colour in smoked cannabis is a good indicator of quality, Campbell notes. “Ash should never be dark. White or very pale gray ash indicates thorough flushing,” she explains.

One key difference between Larsen and Pedro, however, is their respective views on curing cannabis. Curing entails hanging cannabis branches upside down in a dark room at 10 C to 20 C for a set time, in a controlled environment.

Pedro cures his buds for a week; Larsen and Gwilt favour three to four weeks. “The extra time,” explains Gwilt, “breaks down the starches and sugars that moulds and yeasts feed on, and mellows the resin, producing a milder, smoother smoke.”

Books on cultivating cannabis by renowned experts, Jorge Cervantes and Daniel Boughen, who is from B.C., side with Gwilt.

Medical and recreational: different or the same?

Pedro’s choice of testers raises a question. Is there a difference between medical and recreational cannabis? Maybe not.

Gwilt sees “all use as medicinal”; while Larsen rejects the term, “recreational,” maintaining that it trivializes the plant. Pedro calls cannabis “preventive medicine,” and Campbell says she believes the key always is good quality.

While sources share more views than not on quality assessment, their hopes for the future inspire more lively debate. Larsen wants to see a wider range of substances legalized, Gwilt would like to see greater stability in the cannabis menus on offer, Pedro’s wish is for more randomized controlled trials, and Campbell would like a special category established for organic growers.

Cannabis-infused edibles top food trends ready to hit mainstream

The beginning of winter is both predictable and exciting. Many of us flood social streams with our top restaurant picks from the previous year while taking a stab at what trends and movements will become prominent throughout the next 12 months. While some can be subjective, others are absolute, like an impending tidal wave you can see gathering momentum in the distance.

As we wave goodbye to peaked and slowly fading trends, such as double IPAs and charcoal (thank the lord for the latter), here are four things to watch this year.

CANNABIS EDIBLES

Of all the trends poised and ready to hit the mainstream, cannabis-infused edibles and drinks are at the forefront. While the legalization of marijuana in October excluded edibles, that is expected to change next fall – and plenty of industry professionals have been recipe-testing and fine-tuning potential products to be ready. Edmonton’s Token Bitters currently offers a lineup of cocktail bitters that is popular with local bartenders, but its main focus these days is testing oils and capsule products for the impending cannabis-edibles market.

“We started our company with the idea of [eventually offering] drinkable cannabis products. We did a lot of market research and believe a lot in the idea,” says Token’s co-owner Cameron O’Neil. “There are still a lot of questions in regards to what will be allowed to be used in edibles and drinks, so it will be interesting to see what happens in the fall.”

His co-founder, Keenan Pascal, says they have been approached by all types of people, from chefs wanting to open a cannabis-infused bakery to doughnut companies and even dairy producers looking to work on a line of cannabis butter.

The two agree it will still be quite some time before restaurants and bars will able to serve cannabis-infused food and drink and when they are, they’ll likely be completely separate establishments from the standard. In other words, you’ll have to go to one bar to sip your gin martini and another for that Dark and Stormy spiked with a marijuana tincture.