![]() ![]() You confirm your schedule for the week with a simple yes or no, and then receive instructions for when to arrive, where and how long the trim job will last. You check in at 6, to a chorus of “good mornings” from your team members. Because of the ever-changing and flexible needs and schedules of grow houses and dispensaries, this was more than necessary and taken VERY seriously. Trusted Herb Care has three different WhatsApp group chats that require 24/7 engagement from trimmers, of which there are over 100. Working with Trusted Herb Care taught me the importance of a well-oiled communication machine in the cannabis industry. Dina employs leaders and trainers to work with her trimmers, and they make an extra $10 more than we do (average trim salary is $15 per hour.) She ultimately became a business owner and focused her attention on bringing other trimmers and weed professionals to the table, specifically Black ones, and giving them the same opportunities. ![]() ![]() At one point, Dina was one of the best trimmers in the city. After a couple days, Trusted Herb Care’s owner Dina Misho called me to confirm my schedule. All I was asked to do was show up, and I could easily do that. Vetra told me to call a woman named “Amanda”, and with Vetra’s recommendation, I was hired immediately–no application, references or drug tests needed. Through Trusted Herb Care, I trimmed for three different facilities over the span of two weeks GoldKine Cannabis on Groesbeck Highway, Tango Jack in Warren and again at 1st Quality Medz in River Rouge. When Vetra suggested that I join another team of women who trim at several cultivation centers in Detroit, I thought it would be a great way to make extra money for Christmas and I’d get to sample some of the incredible strains grown in Detroit. While I only trimmed at 1st Quality Medz for 3 days, I made a cool $375 at the end of my shifts, which felt like a great amount for a short time of work. 1st Quality Meds paid $25 per hour to trimmers during their harvest season (which is typically in October.) I’d heard about the opportunity directly from Vetra. My first time trimming was for 1st Quality Medz in River Rouge, a Black woman-owned cultivation house under the leadership of Vetra Stephens. It’s a sticky, tedious job that involves removing seeds and stem fragments from bud to be sold by hand. ![]() It’s a trimmers job to “trim” all of the leaves and stems from these nuggets, separate them from the stem, and only put the very biggest and best nugs on the shelves to sell to consumers. I started looking for opportunities to contribute and learn, and I found trimming.įor those that don’t know, the smokable parts of cannabis flowers grow in dense, tightly-packed nuggets or “nugs” on the stem of the plant. I didn’t just want to appreciate the art, I wanted to support the creation. Increased access led to increased interest, not just in the process behind cultivating cannabis but also the people behind it. Detroit’s cannabis industry has been legal since 2018 and the amount of places to buy weed expanded to mimic liquor stores in the hood they were popping up on every corner. As a consumer of the sticky icky for most of my adult life, I’d had the experience of tasting most of what the world has to offer, from Cali’s best to the exotic flower of Johannesburg, South Africa. It’s a pretty funny story– I started out trimming in the cannabis industry simply to find the best weed in Detroit. ![]()
0 Comments
![]() ![]() Very dark, it has a complexity and a slight, surprising bitterness to it. Extremely complex, and miles away from the HP 25. Highland Park 30 Years Old – Served with the main course, working dazzlingly well. It was claimed HP 25 was a good fit for desserts, but it didn’t do all that much for me before or during the last course. Heavy, heavy on the alcohol, the oak character overpowered the spirit’s sweetness. This year’s 96.2-proof bottling wasn’t on hand, so we had last year’s version, a 101.4-proof expression. Highland Park 25 Years Old – Actually served fifth alongside dessert, this was my least favorite Scotch of the night. My favorite of all the Highland Park bottles, and a veritable bargain compared to many other brands. Hints of pepper play with burnt sugar, making this a sugar & spice & everything nice concoction that I couldn’t stop from going back to time and time again (as is evidenced by the nearly empty glass in the photo!). Still 86 proof, but even darker, exhibiting exotic, nutmeg and cinmamon flavors over hefty oak. ![]() Highland Park 18 Years Old -Take the 15 and kick it up another notch: You’ve got HP 18. Also 86 proof, it’s hot on the palate but goes down very easy. Lots of oak (due to heavy use of American oak barrels) and the toasty, peaty smoke is palpable. Considerably darker than the 12, and sweeter too. Highland Park 15 Years Old – Amazing what a difference three years can make. Mild smoke, peat, and honey all work well in the HP 12, but it’s not nearly as memorable as some of the other expressions. ![]() Highland Park 12 Years Old – A fairly standard, but appealing 86-proof single malt, quite pale and definitely the choice for anyone who’s drinking with soda or using the spirit in a cocktail. Without further ado… the Highland Park line: As you can see by the photos, things can get complicated rather quickly when you have six glasses of Scotch in front of you.) (I also skipped the Blood & Sand cocktail in favor of a neat glass of the 12-year-old HP, so I could have a basis for comparison through the evening. I’m reordering them here by age just to make it easier to follow. The results, I can say with authority, are quite delicious.Īs you can tell by the menu, the Scotch expressions were served slightly out of order. The company says it spends $20 million a year on wood alone, more than any other Scotch distillery, despite having a fraction of the output of some of the larger brands. Barrels are harvested from Spanish and, in a rare move among Scotch-makers, American oak, and all barrels are filled first in Spain with Oloroso Sherry. Over the evening, Daraz gave us the rundown on Highland’s methodology, which seems to leave absolutely nothing to chance. Highland Park’s six different bottlings run from 12 to (now) 40 years of age, and each is a unique expression of malt whisky. The company’s facility is the northernmost distillery in all of Scotland. Orkney is so remote that our host, Martin Daraz, said there are less than 30 living trees on the island where Highland Park Distillery is based, the wind and salt spray making short work of the rest of the vegetation. Highland Park is an Orkney Islands-based distillery, a smaller Scotch producer that puts out 2 million liters of spirits a year and is found on the set of tiny islands beyond the far northern tip of Scotland. While I’m still recovering from gulping down six glasses of Scotch in lieu of wine on Thursday night (pacing yourself when you’re thirsty during a meal is surprisingly hard!), I have to say the gathering that Highland Park was gracious enough to invite me to was decidedly memorable. It isn’t every day you get to taste the complete lineup of a serious Scotch producer in one sitting… and have a gourmet dinner to go along with it. ![]() |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |