Month: July 2016

Native Roots is Growing Clones all over these Mountains.

Posted on by danielk1

native rootsNative Roots

861 N Summit Blvd
Frisco, CO

Grade: A

Colorado is a haven for many of us in the great middle of America. This great basin is a massive place. It is bigger than most countries. It has long been a liberal refuge in a conservative mass and a purple dollop in the great red middle of America. It is where ideas of a better tomorrow resonate today. Native Roots reflects the confluence of small business, local, and organic hippie Colorado with big business infrastructure that Capitalism defaults to.

Native Roots certainly knows what their core market is. They have shops all over the mountains. Aspen, Dillon, Steamboat, Frisco, Uintah, Colorado Springs, Morrison, and Longmont all have shops. They did a good job covering Denver too. These mountains are a vast playground for many people, and the Native Roots brand is easily recognized throughout these mountains.

The most striking thing for me is their brand design choice. The font combinations put cliché cannabis descriptions on a silkscreen and draped them on the walls. It reminds me of a soda called OK Cola that did a test run in my hometown when I was a young man. The graphics were really catching, but the drink was only mediocre. Actually, it was weird. It was like they took the bottom of all of their empty soda vats and mixed them together. Fortunately, the herbs that Native Roots grows are much, much better.

ok soda

Their storefronts are cavernous and remind me of many of the underground art shows and parties I have been to. These guys could host a fashion show. They seem like they should host a fashion show. They are like a New York designer tennis shoe store inside. Without the DJs.

For all room they have, the space just feels empty. It is a large problem of the industry right now. People can buy herbs, but there is no way for people to enjoy herbs together. Sure, bars are becoming more accommodating for cannabis consumption, but cannabis and alcohol tend to go together like oil and water.

They need art on the walls for sale, food and drinks that the customers can snack on, and general access to the public in a more accommodating way. They want things that stoners want. We live in a world of things that drunks want. Stoners don’t care about the Broncos or Bud Light commercials. They want a fresh fruit smoothie and something to tickle their two other senses.

There has always been a deeply personal connection between the community and herbs. People used to know their herb dealer like they know their barista now. It was a warm feeling. Now it is a lesson in queuing.

The café is coming to the industry. It has to. Experiments like iBake are going nowhere. It sounds good on paper to have a club where people could gather and smoke in public. But they have to pay a monthly fee and there are no perks. There are no barbecues, no summer block parties, nothing that shows that they are a part of the community. Clubs like Skull and Bones and Bohemian Grove have a lot more to offer than a backroom with card tables.

These ganja shops need color to add to their black and white walls. The ganja community does not fit nicely in a storefront, boxed up and bland. The ganja community is Red Rocks and mountain bikes and many other things grand. Café 3.0 is right around the corner. Native Roots is primed to pounce on the opportunity when it happens.

 

 

 

 

Nothing Beats a Little Brown Bag Bud.

Posted on by danielk1

3/14/16

brown bag                      L’Eagle

380 Quivas St
Denver, Colorado 80223

LA Confidential, Girl Scout Cookie

A++++

The recent infusion of legal Capitalism into the ganja game exposed many of the concerns that the hippie underground has maintained for generations. The respect for the plant and natural goodness is overshadowed by the brutish business man. You could once get years in prison for having written proof of your ganja sales. Spreadsheets and break even points are now necessary if you are going to survive the  complex bureaucratic process that we have laid the foundations for. Businesses will rise and fall, pushing income projections forever skyward and breaking banks and dreams along the way. It is the delicate balance that a supply and demand bell curve constantly strives to achieve: the highest quality product produced and distributed for the maximum quantity. L’Eagle is a fresh departure from the plastic bucket trends of the current cannabis industry and an attempt at growing quality herbs.

Another indicator that the peace loving hippie would shudder over is the chemically extracted oils that are fishing for the frat boy funds, shatter. Shatter indicates the drive and ingenuity of the Capitalist machine to find the most superlatives that they can put on a billboard. It is only a mater of time before those dancing inflatable men are in front of stores to catch your attention. “110% THC!” and “Get fuct out of your mind!” will be on neon signs and in commercials

.twerk

An artisan farm cannot compete with the spreadsheets and complex inventory management systems that corporate structures love so much. When the bottom line is a new TT Turbo, time-consuming things like curing are inefficient and expensive barriers to maximum productivity. The time needed to make great flowers is too much of a cost for most.

At L’Eagle, however, the buds are cured for around 90 days in brown paper bags. It is amazing how much cleaner the nugs are. If this were whiskey, it would be a Macallan 7 year old whiskey.

The buds are all nice, little chunky logs. The terpenes are almost oily and like thick frozen sap throughout the buds. The Purple hue peeked out from behind the bright green Girl Scout Cookie buds.

The LA Confidential buds were also solid little stones. The red hairs really stuck out in these buds. They broke up the bright green buds like the dots broke up Seurat’s painting, A Sunday afternoon in the Island of La Grande Jatte.

sunday afternoon la grande jatte

Both of these strains smell great. The Girl Scout Cookie smelled more peppery and sharp, while the LA Confidential smelled more fresh and like a forest. They both smoked incredibly smooth. Like 90 day brown bag sort of smooth.