It’s Weed Break Wednesday!  And we’ve got a question for you.  Are beer and marijuana cousins?

Think about it.

Hemp or marijuana come from cannabis.  Cannabis is considered an erect herb from a family of flowering plants called cannabaceae.  Of cannabaceae, there are about 170 species.  Some of the species are trees and some belong to a group called twining herbs.  One twining herb of the cannabaceae family is called humulus.  Humulus lupulus is more commonly known as hops.  As in the kind of hops that make beer.

Interesting, right?!

Beer And Marijuana

Hop, or humulus lupulus, has flower resins that, for hundreds of years, have been used in beer to help bitter the taste and also as a kind of preservative.

The cannabis subspecies of hemp is cultivated for marijuana.  It is usually cannabis sativa or indica species used in cultivating marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes.

Both share, in their family tree, the same relation to cannabaceae.

So they’re cousins, right?  What other similarities come to mind when comparing beer and marijuana?