LEE, Mass. – Sweetgrass Botanicals, a woman- and minority-owned and operated craft cannabis company, took home three awards, including Best Overall Entry and Best Non-Solvent Concentrate, at the inaugural NECANN Cup of Champions in Boston on September 21.
Made in partnership with High Ledges Cannabis, a craft cultivation company based in Franklin County, Massachusetts, the company’s GMO Fresh Pressed Live Rosin earned the first-place award in the Non-Solvent Concentrate category and also received the coveted Champion of Champions award for best entry among the more than 200 total submissions. Sweetgrass Botanicals also placed fourth in the Non-Solvent Concentrate category with its second entry, Papaya Purple Punch Fresh Pressed Live Rosin, made in collaboration with the Lowell, Massachusetts-based Original Massachusetts Growers (OMG).
NECANN, the largest cannabis conference series in the United States, hosts annual competitions recognizing excellence in each state based on unbiased, third-party blind testing. The Cup of Champions format is a new, METRC-compliant competition exclusively for licensed operators. The category is judged by a panel of past cannabis competition winners.
“It’s an honor to have placed first and fourth for our live rosin at the Cup of Champions, especially against so many talented hashmakers in the Massachusetts market,” said Ben McCabe, chief operating officer and head hashmaker. “We want to thank the teams at High Ledges and OMG for growing such superb material for us to process. As we always say, ‘Growers create quality resin and hashmakers accentuate it.’ Without our cultivation partners none of this would be possible.”
Cassandra Purdy, Sweetgrass founder, added, “We established Sweetgrass in large part to showcase solventless products, so it’s incredibly gratifying to have been recognized in our first competition. We look forward to future collaborations with partners like High Ledges, OMG, and others to deliver unique, top-quality, intentional drops extending from live rosin through live infused edibles, topicals, and therapeutics.”
About Sweetgrass Botanicals
Sweetgrass Botanicals is an award-winning woman- and minority-owned and -operated dispensary and craft cannabis manufacturer based in Lee, Massachusetts. With more than thirty-five years of combined industry experience among its key management in legal markets such as the Netherlands, Connecticut, Oregon, and Massachusetts, Sweetgrass’s leadership team boasts a diverse range of expertise in cannabis retail and processing.
Housed in a rejuvenated lakeside lodge dating to the 1870s, Sweetgrass’s dispensary sells a curated lineup of quality cannabis for all budgets, with a focus on cultivators employing organic or eco-friendly grow practices. With a sizeable retail showroom overlooking Laurel Lake, the shop also features a full “mercantile” room selling cannabis lifestyle products such as books, functional glass art, apparel, and homewares.
Sweetgrass’s co-located manufacturing operations feature a custom-built solventless extraction lab that powers the dispensary’s in-house lines of concentrates, edibles, and therapeutics. Featuring one of the only viewing windows in the country, visitors can watch the hash-making process live from the dispensary, providing insight and transparency into how these products are made.
