There's a version of a perfect Minnesota afternoon that happens on a dock in July — bare feet, a cold sparkling pear in your hand, the lake doing all the work. What outsiders don't understand is that we don't pack that feeling away in October. We just relocate it. The dock becomes a fish house. The cooler becomes a thermos. And the cold, fizzy drink that made a lake day feel like a lake day gets a winter twin: something warm, something you cradle in both hands while the flasher blips and the wind pushes snow across the ice.
This is the cold‑weather mirror of everything we love about THC drinks for a Minnesota lake day — the same easy, social, hangover‑free ritual, just steaming instead of sparkling. And the star of it is one you might not expect: THC hot chocolate, made in about five minutes with a flavorless drop of SHAKE. Here's how to make it, how to dose it sensibly, and how to keep the whole thing safe when the "floor" under your chair is a frozen lake. (One ground rule up top: everything here is for adults 21 and older.)
Minnesota Doesn't Do Winter Halfway
Most of the country treats winter as a season to survive. Minnesota treats it as a season to move outside for. The moment the ice is thick enough, a second state appears on top of our 10,000 lakes — a temporary city of buckets, tip‑ups, and everything from a folding chair with a five‑gallon pail to a wheelhouse nicer than some apartments. Cabin weekends don't stop; they get better, with a fire going and nowhere to be. Snowmobile trails light up. And the sauna‑and‑cold‑plunge crowd has turned Nordic tradition into a genuine North Country pastime.
Running through all of it is a small, universal ritual: the warm mug. There's a reason "hygge" went mainstream up here faster than almost anywhere — Minnesotans already knew that the antidote to a hard freeze is something hot in your hands and good company around you. A warm drink isn't just calories and heat. It's the pause. It's the thing you make for the people you're with. And in a season built around that pause, a warm THC drink simply fits better than a cold one ever could.
Why THC Hot Chocolate Instead of a Nip of Schnapps?
For generations, the "warm‑up" on the ice meant a flask — a nip of peppermint schnapps, a splash of something brown in the coffee. It's tradition, and there's no lecture coming. But it's worth knowing what alcohol actually does to your body in the cold, because it's almost the opposite of what it feels like.
Alcohol widens the blood vessels near your skin. That's why a shot makes your cheeks flush and gives you that quick "warm all over" glow. The problem is that the warmth is a trick: pushing blood to the surface pulls it away from your core and speeds up the heat your body loses to the air. On a July dock that's harmless. In a January fish house — or worse, on a snowmobile ride back to the landing after dark — feeling warmer while actually getting colder is a genuinely bad deal.
A low‑dose THC drink is a different kind of warm‑up. Instead of chasing a buzz that leaves you with a pounding head the next morning, you get a gentle, social lift and then a clear‑headed dawn on the ice. That "feel good, not wrecked" experience is exactly what our brand was built around, and it's not just marketing: it's the standout finding from the MoreBetter Real‑World Infused Beverage Study, which tracked more than 5,000 participants and found that a no‑hangover experience was one of the top reasons people preferred infused drinks. For anyone doing Dry January or just leaning sober‑curious through the long months, a warm THC cocoa is a way to keep the ritual and skip the regret.
Meet SHAKE: The Flavorless Way to Warm Up
Here's the piece that makes hot THC chocolate so easy: you don't need a special "hot cannabis drink." You make your favorite hot chocolate exactly the way you always do, and then you add THC to it.
SHAKE Edible Glitter Drops are a water‑soluble, hemp‑derived enhancer in a little dropper bottle. They're flavorless — the whole point is that they don't change the taste of whatever they go into — so they disappear into cocoa without fighting the chocolate. Each dropperful delivers 1 mg of THC and 3 mg of CBG. A full serving is three droppers (3 mg THC / 9 mg CBG), and a 30 mL bottle holds ten servings (30 mg THC / 90 mg CBG total). SHAKE is vegan, gluten‑free, and fast‑acting, and because it's water‑soluble it blends cleanly into a warm liquid rather than sitting on top like an oil.
That water‑soluble design is also why drinks like this feel different from a gummy — a whole science we break down in our guide to THC bioavailability and why drinks hit different than edibles. The short version: liquid, water‑compatible THC tends to come on faster and feel smoother than the slow, sometimes‑uneven ride of a traditional edible.
And then there's the part that's just fun. SHAKE comes in three shimmering colors — 24k Gold, Cosmo Pink, and Emerald Green — so a mug of cocoa in a quiet fish house can arrive with a subtle, food‑safe sparkle. It's a small bit of theater that lands especially well once the kids are asleep at the cabin and the grown‑up evening begins.
How to Make THC Hot Chocolate
This is the flagship. It scales easily for a full ice house — just multiply.
Ingredients (makes 1 generous mug)
- 1 cup whole milk (or oat milk for a dairy‑free version)
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, or 2 oz chopped dark chocolate for a richer cup
- 1–2 tablespoons sugar or maple syrup, to taste
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
- SHAKE Edible Glitter Drops — start with 1 serving (3 droppers = 3 mg THC) or less
- Optional toppings: whipped cream, mini marshmallows, a dusting of cocoa or cinnamon
Step by Step
- Warm the milk gently. In a small saucepan over medium‑low heat, warm the milk until it's steaming and hot to sip — but do not let it come to a rolling boil.
- Whisk in the chocolate. Add the cocoa powder (or chopped chocolate), sugar, and salt. Whisk constantly until smooth and glossy, 2–3 minutes. Stir in the vanilla.
- Take it off the heat. Pull the pan off the burner and let it settle for a minute so it's hot‑but‑drinkable rather than scalding.
- Add your SHAKE. Give the bottle a good shake, then stir your measured drops into the mug and stir gently for a few seconds to distribute. Pour, top, and enjoy.
The One Rule About Heat
Add your drops off the heat, into cocoa that's warm enough to enjoy but not boiling. We don't recommend dropping SHAKE into a pot at a hard boil and cooking it — not because a splash will hurt you, but because a warm, drinkable mug is simply the best way to keep the experience pleasant and your dose predictable. Think of it like a good cup of tea: you steep, you don't scorch.
Dosing on the Ice
This matters more in winter than in summer, so read it twice. Start low. One serving is three droppers (3 mg THC); plenty of people, especially first‑timers, start with just one or two droppers (1–2 mg) and build from there. Then wait. Drinks typically take 30 to 60 minutes to come on — our full guide to how THC drinks make you feel, and how long they last walks through the timeline. The classic mistake is "I don't feel anything yet," so you make a second, stronger mug — and then both hit at once. Give it a full hour before adding more. When in doubt, our safe hemp usage guide for beginners is the place to start.
Ways to Change It Up
- Peppermint: a drop of peppermint extract or a candy cane stir stick — the schnapps flavor without the schnapps.
- Mexican‑style: a pinch of cinnamon and the tiniest hint of cayenne for a slow, warming finish.
- Hazelnut: stir in a spoonful of chocolate‑hazelnut spread for a nutty, dessert‑like cup.
- Mocha: add a shot of espresso for a caffeine‑and‑cannabis lift on an early morning bite.
- Dairy‑free: oat milk froths beautifully and keeps it fully vegan.
Build Your Fish‑House Bar
A great winter drink program is really about logistics. Here's how to bring the warmth with you.
The thermos method. Make a full batch of cocoa at the cabin, then add your SHAKE and pour it into a pre‑warmed thermos right before you head out. It'll stay hot for hours on the ice, and you've dosed it in a warm kitchen instead of fumbling with a dropper in mittens.
The mulled alternative. If someone at the table wants something more grown‑up than cocoa, gently warm a can of our FRESH PRESS sparkling pear perry in a saucepan with a cinnamon stick and a strip of orange peel for a mulled, cider‑style mug. Keep it to a low warmth rather than a boil so you don't cook off the bubbles entirely — and if the "perry vs. cider vs. soft cider" question comes up around the fire, we settled it in what is a THC cider?. It's the pear‑orchard cousin of the hot‑cocoa idea, and it pairs beautifully with a shore lunch.
The occasions. Cocoa by the cabin fireplace after a snowshoe. A warm mug in the wheelhouse during the mid‑afternoon lull. The post‑sauna cool‑down, when a low dose meets that heat‑and‑cold clarity. Or the simplest one of all: the couch, a blanket, and a snowstorm you have absolutely no obligation to drive in.
The Part We Take Seriously: THC and the Ice
Everything above is the fun part. This is the part that keeps the fun going for years, so we don't skip it.
Respect the ice itself — separately from anything you drink. The Minnesota DNR is blunt about this: there is no such thing as 100% safe ice, and the DNR does not measure ice for you — your safety is your responsibility. As a starting point, their ice thickness guidelines call for at least 4 inches of new, clear ice for foot travel and ice fishing, 5–7 inches for a snowmobile or small ATV, and 9–10 inches before a small car or SUV — and you should double those numbers for white or snow‑covered ice, which is far weaker. Ice near currents, springs, inlets, and bridges is unreliable no matter the reading. Check it often, bring ice picks and a float coat, and never assume the thickness at your spot matches the spot fifty feet away.
Now the THC part, and it's simple: if you're sipping, you're not driving. A snowmobile, an ATV, a side‑by‑side, and a truck on a plowed ice road are all vehicles — and impaired‑driving rules apply to every one of them. Both NHTSA and the CDC are clear that THC can slow your reaction time and affect coordination and judgment — the exact skills the DNR says get people killed out there. Their guidance on traveling on ice notes that many fatal snowmobile breakthroughs happen because a machine was moving too fast at night to stop once the headlight finally lit up the open hole. Reaction time is the whole ballgame. So treat the sled and the truck like the car keys: sip after you're parked and done moving for the session, line up a sober driver if the group is riding, and remember that a drink's slow onset means "I'll just see how it hits and then drive back" is precisely the plan to avoid. (If your job is safety‑sensitive, it's also worth understanding how THC can show up on a drug test long after the effects fade.)
Don't let the cold talk you into overdoing it. A big dose on a freezing lake isn't cozier — it just raises the odds of "greening out," that dizzy, anxious, too‑far feeling. The fix is the same as the prevention: start low, keep water handy for the inevitable cottonmouth, and stay with your group. And as always, keep your bottle sealed, stored safely, and well away from kids and pets.
Where to Find 23rd State This Winter
You can stock your cabin bar straight from us — order SHAKE and a few cans of FRESH PRESS online, or subscribe so the restock shows up before the next cold snap. If you'd rather grab it in person, we're carried at spots around the state, including Up Yonder in Grand Marais — about as North Shore as it gets, right in ice country near the edge of the Boundary Waters — and Earl Giles in Minneapolis for the metro crowd. Use our store locator to find current stock near you, and browse the rest of our THC drinks education library or the recipe collection for more ideas.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you put THC drops in hot chocolate? Yes. Because SHAKE is water‑soluble and flavorless, it stirs right into cocoa without changing the taste. Add it off the heat, once the mug is hot‑but‑drinkable, and stir gently to distribute.
Can you heat THC drinks — does heat ruin the THC? For a warm, drinkable cup, no — you're not exposing it to anything extreme. The one thing we suggest avoiding is dropping it into a hard, rolling boil and cooking it, mostly to keep the experience pleasant and the dose predictable. Warm, not scalding, is the target.
How much THC should I put in hot chocolate? Start with one serving of SHAKE — three droppers, or 3 mg of THC — or less. Many people begin with just one or two droppers (1–2 mg), wait a full hour to feel it, and adjust from there.
How long before I feel it? Usually 30 to 60 minutes. The most common mistake is making a second, stronger mug before the first one has kicked in. Be patient; our effects and duration guide has the full timeline.
Is THC hot chocolate a good alcohol alternative for winter? For a lot of people, yes. It delivers the warm, social ritual without the false‑warmth problem of alcohol on the ice or the next‑day hangover — a benefit borne out in the MoreBetter study.
Can I make it dairy‑free or vegan? Absolutely. Swap in oat milk (it froths well) and use maple syrup to sweeten. SHAKE itself is vegan and gluten‑free.
Is this legal in Minnesota? 23rd State products are hemp‑derived and made for adults 21 and older. Hemp rules can change, so always buy lab‑tested products with published COAs and follow current local law.
The summer dock and the winter fish house are the same Minnesota instinct pointed in two directions: get outside, be with your people, and hold something good in your hands while the lake does its thing. When the ice comes in, let the warm mug be your version of the cold sparkling pear — flavorless drops, a few minutes at the stove, and a clear‑headed morning waiting on the other side. Make a batch, fill the thermos, and go enjoy the cold the way we do.
For adult use only. Must be 21+. Consume responsibly and never operate a vehicle — including a snowmobile, ATV, or truck on ice — after consuming THC.
