Jimi DevineThe family of Grateful Dead Guitarist Jerry Garcia has announced today they’re launching a cannabis brand in his honor that will hit shelves next month.
The Garcia Hand Picked line was developed by Holistic Industries in partnership with the Garcia family. Faithful Deadheads can expect lines of both merchandise and cannabis products honoring the legacy of Jerry Garcia.
Garcia’s daughter, Trixie Garcia, spoke for the family in the announcement: “We handpicked the best possible partner in Holistic Industries to create this brand in Jerry’s honor in an authentic way that would delight the fans.”
With how important their late family patriarch was to so many people who already love cannabis, the process was not rushed. Garcia noted the final decision came after a five-year search for the right partner to make the brand a reality. They settled on Holistic based on “shared values, a proven track record of successful operations, scalability across multiple states and their ability to launch and market new brands; not to mention they have a senior leadership team full of Deadheads.”
According to the announcement, the Garcia family was going for something spontaneous, harmonious and that can bring people together in the way only Jerry could. In this case, they hope the lineup of old school genetics will make people feel reminiscent of their trips to Shakedown Street through the mid-1990s to pick cannabis and a spread of other exciting recreational substances.
Chemdog is the sativa pick of the bunch and its history is wildly intertwined with the Grateful Dead since its breeder and namesake first discovered the seeds for it in a bag of herb he got in a parking lot at a show. As cannabis consumption got a lot more sophisticated following Proposition 215 passing, when Chemdog finally made it to California, discerning fuel palette aficionados found it to be among the best imports to date after OG Kush.
We asked Greg “Chemdog” Krzanowski what it’s like to see two brands affiliated with members of The Dead align themselves with the effort he put in over the years at launch?
“Well it’s pretty cool and I’m grateful,” Krzanowski told L.A. Weekly, “But to be honest, kinda sucks to watch these companies use the Chemdog to sell their products and use it like they put in the work and not give me much recognition when I put in a lot of work and lost everything I had when the feds took it in 2012.”
The other strains the lineup features are a bit less dated but still technically old school in a sense. SFV OG is one of the best OG’s of all time. Back in 2010 when there were about 40 different OG Kush variations on medical shelves, I frequently placed it alongside Skywalker and Tahoe as my favorite since I hadn’t been introduced to the Triangle or Florida phenos yet. You’ll certainly still see jars of SFV here or there, but some might not consider it as commercially viable as a decade ago. I don’t count myself amongst them. If Holistic and the Garcia’s got their hands on a legit SFV pheno it could certainly do well on OG Kush nostalgia to add to the Jerry factor.
The Fire OG never quite hit the heights of the line’s other offerings, but there was plenty of great Fire OG out there over the years. And we can’t even speculate how many random OGs ended up with the name just because they were a decent product.
“Each product is paired with a curated playlist of Jerry’s music that corresponds with the strains and will bring out the best in people’s GHP experience,” the announcement read.
Holistic is obviously hyped that the Garcia family decided to bring them on board to finally pull the trigger on the brand.
“We saw this partnership as a unique opportunity to honor Jerry’s legacy in a fun and authentic way while leveraging the unwavering popularity of the Grateful Dead, demonstrated by a new generation of fans and recent brand collaborations, to create what will be one of the first truly national brands in cannabis,” said Josh Genderson, CEO of Holistic Industries. “Quality and wanting the best of the best is one of the core values that we share with Jerry Garcia, and because of this we went to great lengths to ensure every aspect of this brand is of the highest quality, from plant genetics to packaging design.”
While we seem to be getting hit with new celeb brands at a rapid pace this fall, there is certainly something to be said about the way Jerry transcends generations much like weed does. His music still means a lot to all age brackets regardless of whether it’s someone that was dropping acid at those early shows in Haight Ashbury or a young 20-something that didn’t even get to share the planet with him. The brand said despite the wild differences in age and geography across Jerry’s fans, “what they share is a sense of belonging to the unique community Jerry helped build.”
The press release also noted that Jerry was mostly a social smoker and rarely smoked by himself. It was said to be more of a bridge for connecting with others.
The line will also include Jerry’s Picks. The edible gummy offering is shaped like, you guessed it, one of the picks Jerry used to serenade minds in the process of substance assisted reformatting for decades.
We look forward to passing verdict on the final product.
Keep an eye out for Garcia Hand Picked hitting shelves next month.
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