Fresh on liquor store shelves, in time for an unofficial holiday celebrating marijuana use, is a new vodka distilled in Alaska with hemp seed - but it won't give drinkers a pot-induced high.
Alaska Distillery, based in Sarah Palin's home town, Wasilla, this week introduced "Purgatory," which it says is the world's only vodka distilled with the seed associated with the marijuana plant.
"For 4/20, it's a great alternative because it's legal," said Bella Coley, chief operating officer for the micro-distillery. Among cannabis users, "4/20" is code for consumption of the drug, and April 20 is treated as a high holiday in the subculture.
Coley said the company used only sterile hemp seeds, imported from Canada, that contain no THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical that gives marijuana its high. The product has been cleared by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, and each batch is sent to the DEA to ensure the absence of even traces of THC.
Purgatory Vodka plays on Alaska's image as a frontier state, with a history of more permissive laws governing marijuana, hemp and privacy.
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