The inspiration couldn’t come from a higher source: Aurora, the Goddess of the Dawn. And it was the dawn of the recreational cannabis laws passing, intersecting with Founder Victoria Pustynsky’s background in beverages that gave her the idea to make cannabis-infused drinks. Her experience was mostly in wines and beers, so she focused on adult audiences and flavors. And Victoria’s target audience was easy to identify, she targeted people like her. Females who liked well balanced cocktails, not too sweet, to be part of a social situation without being too intense. It also worked well that she created the dawn of a new kind of cannabis consumption. Each flavor is about enhancing the plant ingredients and celebrating natural infusion with a slightly bitter but slightly sweetened taste with a pleasant citrus forward glow. All ingredients are natural and have undergone rigid testing. All elixirs are made with a blend of broad spectrum hemp oil and raw extract hemp oil. And Each 200ml bottle of hemp beverage contains 25mg of hemp extract and zero THC. Vitoria recommends starting with one bottle of their beverages and noting the sensations you experience to better understand how this and other products containing cannabinoids and hops interact with your individual body. Here’s the background story. Victoria started out like most food entrepreneurs, in the kitchen. She started with alcoholic extractions of herbs but quickly realized that was going to take a very long time. Plus, she was mixing in hemp oil and oil was another ingredient that changed the chemistry, not being water soluble. This was in 2016 and not many hemp products were available in the US, so she was experimenting by sourcing overseas with all the quality and transportation issues. How do you solve this puzzle? If you are a Reed College graduate like Victoria, you call the chemistry department at Reed. Lo and behold, she found a chemist who had a great food background and began figuring out how the oil was going to be part of the beverage formula. Victoria knew what primary flavors she wanted the drinks to deliver, and the secondary and tertiary flavors as well, so there was an excellent road map for the chemist to follow. Thus began the quest for an “Elevated beverage for luxury occasions”, which is Victoria’s mantra for the space she has carved out. A visit to their website will not only display an incredibly sophisticated marketing and packaging touch, but will show two distinct product lines. There is the Aurora line, hemp infused and Lolo, the hop sparkling beverage. You can order online or go to a store if you live in Portland, San Antonio, Los Angeles or Erowhon. The distribution is bound to grow as the party beverage scene evolves, so there should be many more locations soon. Website: https://auroraelixirs.com/about-us/ IG: VP personal @victoria_verve, @drink.lolo, @auroraelixirs. Our hosts: Twitter - @sarahmasoni and @spicymarshall, Instagram - @masoniandmarshall

Thank you for listening to The Meaningful Marketplace Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Masoni of Oregon State University's Food Innovation Center and Sarah Marshall, owner of Marshall's Haute Sauce. Connect with us on Instagram @meaningfulmarketplacepodcast. 

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Producer: Sarah Marshall of The Joy of Creation Production House
Audio engineer, mixer, and podcast editor: Haley Bowers 
Show logo design: Anton Kimball of Kimball Design 
Production Coordinators: Dave Drusky