August 2019

trends

LIQUID ASSETS

A New Take on the Highball

CBD is showing up everywhere, even in cocktails. So luckbox asked contributing editor and Fake Financial News columnist Vonetta Logan to check it out By Vonetta Logan

Kuma’s CBD cocktails are presented in handcrafted bongs and served with skull shot glasses

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luckbox | august 2019

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARRETT ROODBERGEN

K

uma’s on Fulton is at the epicenter of Chicago’s new food mecca, the Fulton Market District. Even before you set foot inside, the thrashing beat of heavy metal rearranges your internal organs. On the day of the “drinking for science” challenge, the temps had climbed well into the 80s, so Kuma’s sliding front windows were open and people sat outside happily munching on towers of hand-cut fries and burgers so large they should have their own cardiologist. The place’s newest claim to fame is offering one of the area’s first selections of handcrafted CBD cocktails. As bar manager Bryn Gleason explained: “Making cocktails that we light on fire, that are smoking and things like that are definitely embraced here. So I figured why not go over the top? I had custom bongs made, we got dry ice and we made three different drinks inspired by three different strains of weed.” Her curated offerings include drinks aptly named: Ablaze—Pineapple Express: sweet pineapple balanced with a sneaky hint of spice and rum; Dopethrone—Purple Haze: delicately floral, gin-based with hints of hibiscus and lavender; and Hazemaze— White Widow: a Mezcal based drink with notes of anise and lime and mint. Gleason admits she’s not that into cannabis, so when she took a field trip to a cocktail lab she brought bussers, bar backs and bartenders who were…let’s just say more well-versed. Like any good cocktail curator, she had questions. Does Pineapple Express actually taste like pineapples? Chicago-based Euphoric brands created a CBD-based simple syrup that Gleason uses