Spark & Chill: Deep Desert/SōRSE Hall of Flowers’ Happy Hour Recap

After 8 years working in the cannabis industry, I finally went to my first Hall of Flowers this month.  I’ve been going to MJBizCon for years, but never Hall of Flowers. To me, HOF in Santa Rosa is a legacy event, one of the first to allow consumption on the fairgrounds with live samples and dispensaries onsite for additional sales and discounts.  In the past I’ve experienced extreme FOMO seeing all the pictures from my favorite brands and thought leaders on LinkedIn and Instagram – but FOMO no more!  I wanted to try new products and brands, meet up with clients and contacts, and end my day in the bean bag chairs in the middle of the fairgrounds.  Mission complete.  But we took it a step further – we co-hosted a happy hour with one of our beverage partners, Deep Desert. 

Deep Desert is a line of THC-infused beverages designed to help consumers chill or energize, with the ultimate goal of enabling meaningful conversations and relationships. They are low dose beverages that recommend starting with a half dose (2.5mg) so you can build your high and have fun making mocktails using their drinks as the active ingredient.  There are a few recipes on their website that will help you get the full Deep Desert experience; this also tells you that their team knows their beverages, so what better way to meet than over drinks, especially after a long day at a conference? 

We hosted an exclusive happy hour after Day 1 at Stark’s Steak & Seafood with complimentary drinks and appetizers. We had about 50 people attend, with a mix of colleagues, media, other strategic partners, and some industry friends. If you’ve had the pleasure of meeting the Deep Desert team, you know they know how to have a good time and entertain.  So much so, I actually never even made it to the other side of the room to grab food because of the great conversation – and even better company! 

Many conversations revolved around the future of cannabis consumption, the beverage segment specifically due to social acceptance and general consumer behavior, and other functional cannabinoids growing in popularity like CBN.  We also discussed how many consumers of CBD beverages are more likely to eventually consume THC drinks than the other way around.  With beverages being the fastest growing segment within cannabis, there is a lot of excitement around this space, but also a lot of conversation about what can be done better and more efficiently to accelerate this growth.  Collectively, we’re stronger together and can move this beverage segment forward through collaboration. 

I heard a number of people say they felt HOF was thin on attendance, but ultimately an event’s success depends on what you make of it.  Through our happy hour and preparation, both Deep Desert and SōRSE left feeling like we met with the right people and had valuable conversations.  We also ran into our guests the next day while walking the show and continued those conversations. 

We’re grateful for Hall of Flowers for bringing the best of the cannabis industry together year after year, and we look forward to partnering with Deep Desert on next year’s event. Who’s ready for round 2?