138 APRIL 6-12, 2023 westword.com WESTWORD | REAL ESTATE | RENTALS | SERVICES | EMPLOYMENT | CANNABIS & MORE | CLASSIFIED | Best New Colorado Strain Thunderdome Green Dot Labs greendotlabs.com Trying to pick a favorite Green Dot Labs strain is like trying to pick the best Gato- rade, but when it comes to cannabis fl avor, we want straight gas, homie. Thunder- dome, an exclusive release from Green Dot in 2022, mixes those fuel-forward qualities we love with a more modern garlic fl avor, to incredible results. This puppy has so much octane that dirty glass will run like a Rolls-Royce when Thunderdome is in the bowl, and joints taste like fermented garlic dipped in gasoline. Yet it continues to evolve. A subtle candy-like sweetness and more funk appeared after a few extra days of curing — or maybe that was just our nostrils and tastebuds trying to catch up with Thunderdome’s gauntlet of terps. Thunderdome is currently sold in dispen- saries in dabbable and vapeable concen- trates, but we hope to see more fl ower on the shelf soon. Best Dispensary for a Connoisseur A Cut Above 1911 South Broadway 720-536-8965 a-cut-above-dispensary.business.site As much as we’d like to pull a Ron Swanson and tell Home Depot employees “I know more than you” as they sheepishly walk up to offer uneducated help, that just isn’t how our parents raised us. We don’t have to worry about that at A Cut Above, though, where only Colorado’s top growers can get on the shelf and the budtenders have probably tried everything in the inven- tory. Flower from esteemed growers like 710 Labs, Cherry, Green Dot Labs, Higher Function, Mesa Verde, Single Source and Snaxland is always within reach, as are newer cultivations like Bubba’s Kush and Melody. The concentrates selection, though not as expansive, is still well cho- sen, with extractors like 710 Labs, Egozi, George Hashington, Green Dot, Lazercat and Mountain Select all regularly stocked. Whether you’re a cannabis connoisseur or trying to impress one, you can’t fail with this Cut. Best Cannabis Bar JAD’s Mile High Smoke 7667 Washington Street 303-993-5760 smokeatjads.com So what if JAD’s Mile High Smoke is the only licensed cannabis bar in the state, technically making it a winner by default? It took serious gumption to become the fi rst cannabis-friendly venue with a sales license in Colorado — a very long time coming, considering that recreational pot was legalized over ten years ago. In less than a year, owners Josh and Stacey Davis have created a pub vibe in JAD’s, complete with a full cannabis menu, fl at- screen TVs, video games, a munchies menu and plenty of regulars who work in the cannabis space. Everyone might be too stoned to remember your name, but the Cheers-like surroundings make JAD’s a comfortable hang, especially if you need a legal place to toke up. Best Rosin 710 Labs 710labs.com Rosin has become so prevalent in Colorado that the price has dropped signifi cantly over the past couple of years, but all of that competition has only nudged extractors into more innovation. And even with sev- eral hot new kids on the block, everyone is still chasing 710 Labs. The longtime heavy- weight of extraction’s fi rst- and second- press rosin achieves gorgeous cream and golden color from 710’s award-winning fl ower, and the outfi t continues to push fl avor boundaries through its deluxe line of Persy rosin and rosin sauce. Squeezed from fi nely refi ned water hash instead of fl ower, 710’s Persy line is so intense on the taste- buds that going back to burnt fl ower might seem like a step down. If you can afford it regularly or feel like treating yourself, though, give Persy a call: Everyone should experience the best at some point. Best Old-School Hash Bubba’s Kush bubbaskush.com Dabbing is cool. Dabbing is great. But some of us older users can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with: Some of us just want to watch the hash burn. And melt. And cover our bowls like ice cream sprinkles. Bubba’s Kush bubble hash, loose and full-melt, looks like kief but tastes like rosin, and provides a high somewhere in be- tween. The freshly frozen trichome heads, pulled from Bubba’s strains like Super Boof and Sundae Driver, can be dabbed if you must, but our favorite way to use them is garnishing bowls and joints — usually on top of Bubba’s fl ower of the same strain, to get the full fl avor experience. Best Vape Cartridge Apothecary Extracts Disposable Rosin Pen Apothecary Farms Multiple Colorado locations apothecaryfarms.com Apothecary Extracts is largely connected to its signature Ambrosia line of live resin, but the popular extractor and dispensary outfi t has been producing in-house rosin vapes since 2021, and somehow they’re still slept on. Disposable vapes are usually associated with a dip in quality, but Apoth- ecary’s 1-gram rosin vapes beat out car- tridges from several popular counterparts, providing smoother and more potent hits with top-tier fl avor. You can fi nd them only at Apothecary Farms dispensaries, with a lone Denver store on South Broadway and the rest in southern Colorado. The Sour Papaya’s mix of cheesy funk and Diesel is worth the trip, though, and Apothecary Extracts plans to crank up production if the vapes are a hit. Best New Extractor Egozi egozifamilyhash.com A family-run business, Egozi debuted in Colorado dispensaries in September to high acclaim and continues to impress. Founder Elias Egozi and lead extractor Mikey Dabs It insist on using prime start- ing material, quality press screens and laborious extraction techniques, creating fumey, delicious balls of space hash that sell out quickly. Despite virtually zero market- ing, Egozi has become one of Colorado’s most respected rosin brands in short order, thanks to mouthwatering extractions of Trop Cookies, Wedding Pie and so much more. With a new line of rosin syringes and vape cartridges dropping in March and a dispensary, Alto, as a home base, this small operation in southwest Denver is already acting like one of the big boys in 2023. Best Seed Company Coool Beans cooolbeans.com It’s always nice to see a hometown hero make a name for himself on the national scene, and that’s exactly what Cherry co- founder Jason MacLean is trying to do with his new seed project, Coool Beans. Cherry’s reputation at the top of the cannabis culti- vation chain has been solidifi ed for a few years now, with the company recently ex- panding into rosin, pre-rolls and edibles, but nothing lights up MacLean’s face like seed talk. In a short span, Coool Beans has released over forty genetics for home grow- ers to buy online, including several popu- lar Cherry strains, such as Dankarooz, NY Mayhem and Sprinklez, sold at dispensa- ries. Coool Beans is here to move cannabis genetics forward, according to MacLean, and that means chasing new and inventive creations that most breeders aren’t produc- ing. Colorado deserves more respect in the cannabis breeding world: Maybe the Coool kids on the block can get us there. Best Gummies Wyld wyldcanna.com Wyld has fi gured out how to stand out in the world of weed gummies, a very im- pressive feat when you think about how many of them there are. We could visit the same dispensary for two weeks and buy a new brand of THC or CBD gummies ev- ery time, or simply continued on page 140 GETT Y IMAGES Cannabis & More
