The Emerald Cup is the premier cannabis festival and competition in Northern California. Held every year at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, the Emerald Cup gathers together cannabis enthusiasts, farmers, experts, and educators from different parts of the country and from around the world, while also advancing sustainable outdoor medicinal cannabis farming.
The event has grown from being a small community competition to a global movement that honors the finest, organic, sungrown cannabis harvest for the year.
Emerald Cup 2017 was considered to be the best and biggest year ever for the competition. Held on December 9 and 10, the event featured music and entertainment, as well as speakers and talks on various interesting topics like Branding and Marketing for the Cannabis Industry; Safe and Effective Use of Cannabis for Dogs and Cats; Trade Secrets, Plant Patents, Intellectual Property and Protecting Cannabis Related IP; Risks and Benefits of Various Extraction Methods & Keys to Laboratory Safety; and Cannabis Treatment for Pediatric Illness, among many others.
Meanwhile, the competition was divided into six main categories: Flowers, CBD, Concentrates, Infused, Innovative, and Terpene Based.
In the prestigious Flowers category, Molecular Farms came out being the big winner with its Lemon Crush strain, which possesses hints of gingerbread and comes with 24 per cent THC level and 2.99 per cent terpenes. The Monterey County-based company also won first prize in the CBD-Flower category with its Guava Jam.
The first prize in the CBD-Edibles category went to OM Edibles for its CBD Mango. Gold Drop x Blue River took the first prize in the CBD-Concentrates category for its CBDiamonds. Under the CBD-Topicals category, Carters Aromatherapy Designs won first prize with its CBD Pain Cream. Treatwell bagged the first place in CBD-Tinctures with its Balance.
Moreover, the first prize for the Concentrates-Solventless category went to Ahti Hash x Tarhill Cannabis for its Pink Lemonade. Moonshine Melts x 3rd Gen Family x Dying Breed Seeds won first place in Concentrates-Rosin with its Muffinz. Meanwhile, Serenity Sunset Sherbet CO2’s Cryo Sauce bagged the top prize in Concentrates-CO2 and Gold Drop x Blue River’s Island Girl won first in the Concentrates-Distillates category.
For Infused-Edibles, Utopia Farms placed first with its Peanut Butter Macarron. For Infused-Tinctures, The Squishery won first place for its 1:1 Tincture. For Infused-Topicals, the first place winner was Newell’s Botanicals, with its Deep Skin Penetrating Topical Oil.
The award for the most innovative products went to Festival Throat Spray CBD Formula.
As for the Terpene-Based awards, Abatin Farms‘ Hawaiian Sunrise and Greenshock Farms‘ Hawaiian Sleigh Ride both tied for the Most Unique Terpene Profile title. The Highest Total Terpene Content (Flower) award went to Greenshock Farms‘ Tropical Sleigh Ride. The award for Highest Terpene Content (Distillate) went to GoldDrop’s Gelato, while the winner of the Highest Terpene Content (Vape Pen) award was Pure Organic Oil’s Poo-e-labs. The title for the Highest Terpene Content (Non-Solvent Concentrates) went to Terp Hogz x Green Fieldz x cold water conconctions‘ Zmoothie.
There were also these Cannabinoid Awards:
Highest THCA (Flower) – Higher Flower, Gorilla Breath
Highest THC (Distillate) – King Table, Ancient Remedy
Highest THCV (Concentrate/Vape Pen) – CA Cannabinoids Dougs, varin x Dougie’s Farm
Highest CBDA (Flower) – Green Goddess Organics, Suzy Q
Highest CBD (Concentrates) – Golddrop x Blue River, Star Crystals
The complete list of winners can be found here.
It goes without saying that the recently concluded Emerald Cup 2017 delivered on its promise of bigger businesses and better plants.