Saucy Brew Works to launch cannabis venture in Michigan

CLEVELAND — Cleveland brewpub Saucy Brew Works is known for its pizza, its craft beer, and more recently, its coffee. Now, the company is branching out into cannabis—but not in Ohio.

Shelby Nicholson, marketing manager for Saucy Brew Works, said this helps Saucy continue creating a “lifestyle” brand. She noted that Brent Zimmerman, Eric Anderson and Matt Schubeck (Saucy’s CEO, CBO and COO, respectively) had been working on this for “well over a year.”

“It’s very exciting,” Nicholson said. “This is the first that I’ve ever worked on it, and it’s been a whirlwind of new knowledge and just this whole new industry that’s starting to boom.”

However, with recreational marijuana still illegal in Ohio, Saucy is starting this venture in Michigan, where both medical and recreational use of cannabis is legal.

“One, it’s close to Ohio. It’s a great market,” Nicholson said. “And then two, we actually just launched Saucy Brew Works there. Our Detroit location opened in March of 2021.”

The cannabis products will not be made by Saucy. Instead, the company has lent its brand name to launch “Saucy Canna Works.” The products will be made by a Michigan company, One Love Labs.

“We have plans to offer additional products, so we’re going to start off with vape cartridges, edibles as well as cannabis pre-rolls within the Michigan market,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson said if all goes well in Michigan, the company plans to expand this to other states where recreational marijuana is legal. Here in Ohio, Saucy is considering other products that are legal in Ohio, including CBD.

“It’s just really exciting for us. We’re doing something new and we’re really excited for what the industry holds,” Nicholson said.

Saucy expects these products to be on the shelves in Michigan in early-to mid-2022, although there is not a specific date just yet.

“We’re still going through what works, what doesn’t, what does their packaging look like, making the final tweaks to make sure it’s exactly the way that we want it to, and it really represents not only the Saucy Canna Works brand, but the Saucy brand as a whole,” Nicholson said.

Olivia Fecteau is a reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.