Cannabis Edibles and Drink Review was fortunate to speak with Xander Shepherd, Co-Founder of Artet about their delicious cannabis infused drink.
CEDR: Xander, could you please share a little bit on how you guys got started.
Xander: Artet is a family business. Two brothers and a cousin. We’re New Yorkers by trade. Born and raised in the City and born into a very tight-knit, boisterous family that was always looking for any reason to get together over good food and beverage and any get-together was an excuse to go through a case of wine.
Our grandmother was in the luxury travel and hospitality industry. We grew up around food and beverage culture in a very direct, but also kind of organic way that I think culminated in this idea when we also were just sort of personally fascinated and interested in cannabis.
A kind of challenge we posed to ourselves was, what would it take to get cannabis onto the dinner table and into a moment that has traditionally been reserved exclusively for alcohol?
And that idea was something that we became obsessed with and over time slowly chipped away at the idea of formulating what we thought the opportunity was. This was long before we got connected with Vertosa. We started with home brew R&D around flavor profile, taste and potency.
We felt like if we could create a product that was controlled, consistent and dosed with a sort of social and sessionable mentality in mind, that there could be something really interesting to tell a cool story around cannabis. And that was ultimately how we landed on this idea of a cannabis aperitif; a beverage that is uniquely cannabis but inspired by the flavor profiles and the rituals of French and Italian style liquors. And frankly, in general, the French and Italian kind of drinking culture.
CEDR: Did you give thought to creating a beverage that had both alcohol and cannabis in it or were you set from the start on a drink that was cannabis only?
Xander: We look at this as we’re sort of pioneering cannabis mixology and really starting to challenge and ask questions about what the definition of a well-made drink looks like, and whether or not that requires alcohol to be present at all times. I think if anything, we feel like we’re helping to expand and open the aperture of what drinks makes sense for different moments based upon your own personal preferences. This is not an indictment of alcohol by any sense, it’s almost a bit of a love letter to the best elements of cocktail culture and to the drinking culture.
We felt like by creating something that was uniquely cannabis, it was also allowing for people to make their own choices in terms of how they like to imbibe, whether it’s booze free and just cannabis or whether it’s a combination of cannabis and booze. We thought it would be more interesting to us by having it be discretely cannabis, allowing consumers, mixologist bartenders, home bartenders to make those drink choices themselves.
CEDR: How did you all come up with the name?
Xander: We collectively had this desire to develop a brand and a name that sounded nice off the tongue. In alcohol. they talk about what’s the “bar call” when you order a drink at the bar. We felt “Artet on the rocks” just sounded so lovely. That was more of a strategy before we got to Artet.
The reason we got to our Artet was that on one hand it felt elegant and sort of like a premium product, but it also still had its name or nomenclature rooted in cannabis. So, it’s actually the “T” in THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), spelled backwards.
CEDR: When was the product first introduced to the market?
Xander: We actually had our one-year anniversary of hitting shelves this past Saturday (8/15/20). It’s been an incredibly wild whirlwind of a year; so much learning and so much validation to our initial conviction that we believe there’s a lot of room for expansion in terms of the role that cannabis can play in social beverage consumption.
CEDR: How did you arrive at two and a half milligrams per serving? It seems on the low side.
Xander: We, as I said, are really inspired by aperitif. The culture and kind of backbone of that drinking tradition is beverages that are low proof, that help open your mind and your mood to more social and epicurean moments; something that is not overtly or extremely boozy. We felt like there was a really nice parallel between that and the idea of a low dose cannabis product.
CEDR: What’s it been like educating budtenders about your product when you’re often situated next to other products in the (dispensary) fridge that are higher dosed?
Xander: I think introducing anything that is new to the world has unique challenges, but that’s part of the excitement of introducing something new and educating all parties involved. The constituents that we need to educate aren’t just the end consumer. It’s everybody that participates in the kind of funnel of getting a product from production to shelf.
A year ago, the challenge was a little different than it is today. Part of that has been being able to explain how people can consume and enjoy Artet on their own terms. Whether it’s the primary means of consumption, where maybe you have a lower tolerance and that’s what you’re looking for, or you just don’t like to partake in more of the traditional forms of consumption or it’s something that complements that form.
We feel strongly that we are a beverage company first and foremost, so that we’ve taken the whole user experience and made sure that at every level we’re delivering.
All of those culminate in a very specific point of view that allows, I think, consumers and shops (and budtenders) to understand what we represent. If some people are able to say maybe this isn’t for me, that’s okay. In a year from now, maybe it will be.
Additionally, there are good brands that sit alongside us on the shelf. They’re helping us all collectively validate this newer proof of concept of the market relative to more traditional forms of consumption
CEDR: Thanks so much Xander. We look forward to following Artet’s growth.
