Herb and Lou's: How Two Guys From Different Worlds Made Something That Actually Works

My cousin Herb got into the cocktail cube business. Then the cannabis thing happened. Now we're here. This is how Herb and Lou's started.

The Thing About Herb

Herb's the kind of guy who knows what "aperitif" means. He went to culinary school. He can tell you the difference between types of bitters. When we were kids, I was playing stickball in the street and he was reading cookbooks.

I'm not saying this as an insult. The world needs guys like Herb. Somebody's gotta know how to make things taste good. That's just not me.

So Herb starts this company making these little frozen cubes for cocktails. You drop one in a glass, add your liquor, and you got a drink that doesn't taste like you made it. Which for most people is an improvement. He did pretty well with it. Sold them in fancy stores. The kind of places that have cheese I can't pronounce.

Then a couple years ago, Herb calls me up. Says he's got an idea about cannabis drinks. Wants to put THC in the cubes. Make it so people can have a proper cocktail that also does what cannabis does, but without the whole production of it.

I said what I always say to Herb. "If you think it'll work, do it."

When Simple Is Actually Better

Here's what I'll give Herb and Lou's credit for. And I'm not just saying this because Herb's family. The stuff actually works the way it's supposed to.

You want an espresso martini with a little THC in it? They got these cubes that you drop in vodka. That's it. You're done. No measuring, no "did I put too much in", no nothing.

Used to be if you wanted cannabis in a drink, you were making some kind of science project in your kitchen. Or drinking something that tasted like lawn clippings. Now you just open your freezer.

I'm still a beer guy myself. But I see the appeal. Especially for people who want to relax without waking up feeling like they got hit by the crosstown bus. Which at my age is most people I know.

The thing Herb figured out is that people don't want complicated. They want to open the freezer, drop a cube in a glass, and be done with it. Same way I want to order a beer without having to hear about the hops.

What Hasn't Changed

You know what's funny? Herb's doing all this modern stuff with cannabis and craft cocktails and whatever else. But the way he runs the business is old school. He answers his phone. He fixes problems. If something's wrong, he makes it right.

That's the part that matters. You can have all the fancy products you want, but if you're not straight with people, they figure it out pretty quick.

I see people getting into the whole Herb and Lou's thing now. Different flavors, different strengths. Herb's got a whole operation going. Good for him. He took something that could've been complicated and made it simple.

Which is harder than it sounds.

Try It Or Don't

Look, you're either the kind of person who wants a cannabis cocktail or you're not. I can't tell you what to do. I'm a guy who sold pipes for thirty years and watches the Mets lose in new and creative ways every season.

But if you're gonna try it, Herb and Lou's does it the right way. No fuss. No twenty ingredients you can't find. Just cubes in your freezer that do what they say they're gonna do.

Used to be you had two choices. Regular drink or cannabis edible that may or may not kick in while you're at the grocery store three hours later. Now you got something in between that you can actually control. And you don't need a chemistry degree to figure it out.

That's progress, I guess. Even I can admit that.