High Country: Cookies comes to Colorado

Jai and Berner created arguably the most coveted marijuana strains in the world (and are both famous enough in the cannabis community to warrant one name). Now, they have expanded their Cookies empire from California to Colorado. 

Formerly known as Cookie Fam Genetics, the Bay Area-based cannabis company was first founded with the strain “Girl Scout Cookies.” With Jai as the growing and genetics expert and Berner as the rapper and entrepreneur, “Girl Scout Cookies” launched in medical dispensaries in California in 2010. Following a cease-and-desist order from the Girl Scouts of America, “Girl Scout” was dropped and Cookies was born.

That same year, the then up-and- coming Wiz Khalifa was performing in San Francisco and tapped Berner to find him the best weed in town.

According to a 2016 SFWeekly profile, “Berner somehow smuggled in a five-foot-tall plant of Cherry Pie, one of the Cookie Fam’s exclusive high-end strains. ‘We brought it on stage, and I gave it to (Wiz) as a gift on the bus,’ he says. ‘It went from there.’”

Khalifa started name dropping Cookies in his songs and appeared in a Berner music video, which took the company from its earliest days in a San Francisco garage to global growth. Today, Cookies is renowned for its in-house cultivation, rare strain varietals and eponymous clothing line (think Supreme, but for cannabis connoisseurs). It also operates five Cookies cannabis retail stores in California.

Through a licensing deal with Veritas Fine Cannabis, one of Colorado’s first wholesale cannabis producers, Cookies hit more than 50 dispensary shelves in May (available locally at Silverpeak and Roots Rx in Aspen, Roots Rx in Basalt and Tumbleweed in Carbondale).

“Colorado has a population of sophisticated and discerning consumers and we think they will respond well to the Cookies brand,” said Berner, founder and CEO of Cookies.

In just one month, the response has exceeded expectations with 12 total strains in rotation (a total of 20 will be released this year) that drop in dispensaries every Friday. Veritas Fine Cannabis confirmed that Cookies products have been selling out statewide daily, so it’s working on increasing its grow amounts in the coming months. 

Based in Denver, Veritas Fine Cannabis utilizes a proprietary style of cultivation — painstakingly planting, watering, staking, pruning, harvesting, trimming and packaging everything by hand.

The result is cannabis flower with one of the highest concentrations of terpenes on the market.

“We are very proud to be one of the only dispensaries in the area carrying the Cookies brand, which fits perfectly into our product offering,” said Silverpeak general manager Chase Corte. “We’ve had customers come from as far as Eagle to be a part of the Cookies movement.” 

Veritas Fine Cannabis director of sales and marketing Jonathan Spadafora added, “We have heard about people from Denver taking road trips to some of the further locations just to shop for different strains. It honestly blows my mind how quickly this has been adopted by Colorado.”

Just in time for summer celebrations, here are High Country’s top three Cookies strains to try and buy.

PANCAKES

Original breeder: Cookies x Seed Junky Genetics 
Genetics: Kush Mints 11 x London Pound Cake 75 
Aroma: Blueberry pancakes
Flavor: Buttery, sweet berries

LEMON PEPPER

Original breeder: Lemonade
Genetics: Lemon Cooler x Sirius Lemon Pebbles 
Aroma: Sharp, peppery lemon
Flavor: Sweet lemon inhale with a spicy exhale 
Experience: An energetic and uplifting high

GEORGIA PIE

Original breeder: Seed Junky Genetics 
Genetics: Gelatti x Kush Mint 11 
Aroma: Peach cobbler
Flavor: Savory baked fruit
Experience: A strong full body and head high

Katie Shapiro can be reached at katie@katieshapiromedia.com and followed on Twitter @bykatieshapiro.