Upstart companies tinker with ways to dial down ‘oily grass’ flavors and notes of dish soap, urine

Cannabis drinks are hitting the global market, promising anxiety reduction, pain relief and better sleep. One thing none of them tout is taste. “Like a barnyard,” Ron Silver, owner of Bubby’s restaurant in New York, says of the cannabis oil used to make weed-infused drinks. The self-described cannabis advocate says he started cooking with hemp oil about five years ago and was initially dismayed by the results. “The oil tastes terrible, and it floats,” he said. “It’s very grassy and very funky.” He began tinkering with ways to reduce the intensity of the flavor and is confident enough in the results that he recently launched Azuca, a company that sells cannabis-infused sweeteners.

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