Tim Wiggins was surprised by the scene at his first Best Buds dinner collaboration with SWADE Cannabis. It was 2024, recreational cannabis had just been legalized in Missouri about a year prior, and he knew there was a growing interest in infused food and drinks. He figured the series, held at his Central West End cocktail bar Lazy Tiger, would be well-attended, but the diversity of the crowd left him gobsmacked.
“I truly believed that it would be a younger crowd,” Wiggins recalls. “And there were people in their 20s, but there were also people in their 60s. Whatever my conception of the type of people who would come—would it be cagey, would people linger or act weird—changed when I saw the actual crowd. It was just people looking to have a good time and be mindful of what they are consuming.”
Two years later, Wiggins and SWADE are again teaming up for this season’s Best Buds series, a regularly occurring event that has become the cornerstone of the brand’s efforts at cannabis normalization. The series kicks off September 14 at Wiggins’ latest concept, Extra Wavy (2017 Chouteau). Reservations for the “Summer Daze”–themed event are available here (under Experiences) for $70 per person…