Hemp beer is a real, small niche category, brewed with hemp seeds, hemp hearts, or hemp flowers added to the mash or boil for flavor, not the psychoactive cannabis flower most people picture. Industrial hemp contains only trace THC by law, so a hemp beer made from hemp seeds is not intoxicating beyond its normal alcohol content.
Hemp and Hops Are Actually Related Plants
Hemp (Cannabis sativa) and hops (Humulus lupulus) both belong to the Cannabaceae plant family, which is part of why brewers experiment with hemp at all. The two share some aromatic compounds, so hemp additions can echo the resinous, herbal notes that hop-forward styles already carry.
Most hemp beers use roasted hemp seeds or hemp hearts added late in the boil or during fermentation, similar to how a brewer would use a specialty grain or a dry-hop addition. A smaller number of European and South American breweries use actual hemp flowers, which push further into herbal and slightly grassy territory.
Where This Style Actually Exists
Hemp beer has a small but real footprint, concentrated more in Europe and South America than the US. Uruguay’s Mastra brewery makes a small hemp-flower lineup, the Netherlands’ Herb’s Hopped and Hemped brews a CBD ale, and the Czech brewery behind Konopex focuses specifically on unfiltered, unpasteurized hemp beer using traditional methods.
In the US, a separate and more recent category has emerged: THC-infused non-alcoholic beverages brewed to look and taste like beer, using hemp-derived Delta-9 THC rather than hemp seeds for flavor. Minnesota-based Rumble Strip Brewing is one example, legal there since a 2022 state law permitted hemp-derived Delta-9 THC in food and beverages. These are a genuinely different product from a hemp-seed craft beer: alcohol-free, but intoxicating in a different way, and legality varies significantly by state.
Availability Is the Real Limiting Factor
Hemp beer is not sold through mainstream US beer delivery services or widely stocked at bottle shops, so trying one usually means visiting a brewery directly or ordering from a specialty importer. If hop-forward flavor is really what you are after rather than the novelty of hemp specifically, our Best IPAs roundup covers styles built around the same resinous, herbal character without the sourcing hassle.
Curious about the wider legal landscape for hemp-derived THC drinks in the US? That is a fast-changing, state-by-state picture, and worth checking your own state’s current rules before ordering anything hemp-THC labeled, since the legal status can differ significantly from a standard hemp-seed craft beer.
FAQs
Will hemp beer get you high?
A hemp beer made from hemp seeds or hemp hearts will not, since industrial hemp used for food and brewing contains only trace THC by law. A separate category of hemp-derived Delta-9 THC beverages is intentionally intoxicating and is a different product entirely, not a traditional hemp beer.
Is hemp beer legal in the US?
A beer brewed with hemp seeds or hemp hearts for flavor is legal everywhere alcohol is legal, since it uses only the non-intoxicating parts of the hemp plant. THC-infused hemp beverages are a separate legal question that varies by state.
What does hemp beer taste like?
Most hemp beers taste herbal, resinous, and slightly grassy or nutty, depending on whether the brewer used hemp seeds, hemp hearts, or hemp flowers. The flavor overlaps noticeably with hop-forward styles like IPAs, since hop and hemp are related plants.
