Northern Harvest Strawberry Ice

Northern Harvest Strawberry Ice

Doing a Maricann today.

I tend to like Maricann because of their above standard quality and comparatively low price. I end up recommending them a lot, usually as an alternative to a more expensive product. Looking forward to this review, let’s see if they remain consistent.

This one is called Strawberry Ice, Maricann sells it under their Northern Harvest brand.

I checked on breeder offerings named ‘Strawberry Ice’, there was only one returned, from Bulldog Seeds. Their version is a mix of Blueberry and ‘secret Sativa influences’.

The vendor’s description calls this a ‘fun and fruity’ ‘high THC’ offering, ‘bouncy and bright’, ‘perfect for making the most of a sunny summer day’. For extra difficulty, I will review this cannabis in a dark room where there is nothing bouncy or fun.

Maricann grew this one in a green house, the listing give Southern Ontario as the location. Packaging date for the container I review is October 10 2018 and we’re doing the review 232 days later.

Active content show on the listing ranges from 13-23% THC, the container I received contained 21.53% potential THC. CBD values are negligible.

Terpinolene takes up a third of all terpenes, caryophyllene (19%) and nerolidol (14%) rank second and third. The other terpene category looks to occupies the remaining 33%.

Alright, the fact finding portion of this date is over, let’s check out the Strawberry Ice.

Visuals are standard, just so. Buds are spherically shaped, full, decent size, I’d call them rotund.

The dryness causes it to suffer, even though the structure is good, fragility is an issue here. You could crush this with a pinch and some friction.

Grinds to a finer mix. The lack of water content perceptible by touch doesn’t translate to the smell– this Strawberry Ice has some good presence.

Scent of these flowers are haze suggestive. More sweet than spicy, it’s alluring, with an observable fiery side. The sweets are prominent, fairly nondescript, and lacking the tartness you’d associate with a berry, strawberry or otherwise.

Heat amplifies the spicier side of the profile, hitting fast and with good depth. Character screams haze, with mentholated grace notes. Doesn’t have the pronunciation to be blistering, but the hazes are still penetrating, with a bit of follow through.

Pronunciation is acceptable. I found longevity suffers quickly, which detracts from pronunciation overall. Like a summer fling, this has a thrill or two, but disappointment sets in all too fast.

Price on this single gram is $9.24, which is the most appealing part of this transaction, the value. At the place I purchased this at (AlbertaCannabis.org), this is nearly 30% cheaper than the average single gram (~$12.75). Compared to the $15 per gram price point, it is nearly 40% cheaper.

Compare this offering to the $15.00 per gram Zenabis, or Namaste, product, we reviewed a couple at that price point. $9.24 Maricann’s quality is respectably better. We saw Arcreage Pharm’s Outlaw Amnesia, this Strawberry Ice has a similar profile with a step up in quality, but price was ~30% lower.

Broken Coast is around $15 per gram from this store as well. I could make a case for both, the Broken product has trendy genetics, attractive visuals, and buffed out olfaction, but you pay a premium for those attributes. Maricann has standard offerings (I though Cali-O was nifty) and their prices are amongst the lowest in the store.

On Maricann’s medical website, they haven’t shown a product as available since December 2018. I’m not certain if they’ve had product available but doesn’t look like it. This review is way too positive, so I wanted to throw that shade.

For the price, the quality seen here was comparatively attractive compared to other offerings. You’re not going to be wowed, especially if you have a history with good hazes, but don’t get me wrong, there is likeable content here.

In real estate they say value never goes out of style. In the context of legal retail cannabis in Alberta, this is what value looks like. And hey, Maricann is bringing it… who would have thought?

Alrighty-roo, thanks for joining me, for this Canadian cannabis review! See you at the next one!