Photograph courtesy Scott Hand
On Saturday, January 24 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Urban Artifact Reliquary, the brewery will be throwing Hemp Fest ’26, a festival highlighting the best in drinkable THC from seltzers to botanical elixirs. For $38, attendees will get to sample over 25 different drinks from over a dozen brands—both local and national—while learning about the benefits of choosing hemp alternatives to alcohol. However, this year’s event carries a sense of importance and urgency.
“It’s a festival specifically for hemp beverages and the goal is to get folks to be able and try and learn more about the industry,” says Urban Artifact’s Chief Brand Officer, Scott Hand. “Dry January gives us a reason to talk about and celebrate the different brands, but we have the politics of hemp looming over it. There’s a pretty good chance this becomes a going-away party.”
In December 2025, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed Ohio Senate Bill 56 to ban the sale of all intoxicating hemp products being sold outside of licensed dispensaries (a legislative version of DeWine’s executive order from October 2025 that did the same thing). Unless the bill gets suspended by the courts (much like the aforementioned executive order), the ban will go into place on March 20.
“It’s a billion-dollar industry in Ohio right now,” says Hand. “There’s a lot of people who are losing their jobs and will lose their businesses.”
Luckily for breweries like Urban Artifact, they produce more than just THC drinks like Coastalo and have their award-winning beers to fill in the gaps. Not all producers and growers will have this option. “The state, and namely Governor DeWine, has no interest in keeping the industry alive.”
Photograph courtesy Scott Hand
To fight the looming ban, Hand and others from the U.S. Hemp Roundtable are supporting an official referendum, No On SB 56, to bring back another ballot initiative “What it’s trying to do is bring another ballot initiative back for voters to vote on it,” explained Hand. “If we can get the signatures in place before that March 18 deadline, then it’ll put a pause on the ban and then go back to the election in November.” Ohioans may remember voting on THC legalization in 2023 with Issue 2. This would essentially be a do-over with more specific language for regulation.
In the meantime, Hand hopes that by educating people on the benefits of hemp products, the stigma around their usage and legalization will diminish. “One of the vendors we’re going to have at Hemp Fest is the Karen Wellington Foundation which specifically assists people with cancer diagnoses. What we’ve been hearing is people with issues like that, and from several veterans’ associations, is these types of products can help with their PTSD and other issues with relaxing and pain management.”
For those ages 21 and over who want to learn more about the legal fights and potential health benefits associated with hemp drinks, Hemp Fest ’26 will be set up in Urban Artifact’s with samples from other beloved THC drink brands like 50 West’s Sunflower, Rhinegeist’s Fuzzy Bones, Cycling Frog, Floral, Estazzi, and more. There will also be food from Succlent Señorita and live music.
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