Marijuana Strain Review: Alien Rock Candy at Sweet Leaf

It’s hard to drive past a Sweet Leaf location without noticing the pink-and-powder-blue polka-dotted paint job. Although it’s not my favorite look, each loudly colored Sweet Leaf shop attracts potheads like a bug light. So when I noticed a new sore thumb at 4400 East Evans Avenue while stuck in...

By Herbert Fuego

October 1, 2015

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It’s hard to drive past a Sweet Leaf location without noticing the pink-and-powder-blue polka-dotted paint job. Although it’s not my favorite look, each loudly colored Sweet Leaf shop attracts potheads like a bug light. So when I noticed a new sore thumb at 4400 East Evans Avenue while stuck in traffic, I decided to stop in and wait for rush hour to end.

The waiting room was packed with customers, and the bud bar had at least fifteen strains in stock. As I perused the jars, one label stuck out among the others: Alien Rock Candy. A cousin, Alien Dawg, put me on my ass a few months ago, but that was the only Alien strain I had ever tasted. At $7 a gram, the Alien Rocky Candy was an easy choice. An approving thumbs-up from the budtender only heightened my expectations.

An indica-dominant hybrid known to help you unravel after work, Alien Rock Candy was created by Alien Genetics and is a cross between Sour Dubble and Tahoe Alien. Whoever named it was spot-on, because popping open my bottle released candied aromas so tart that I had flashbacks of eating Lucas Mexican candy in grade school. Pinching the dense dollop of a bud released even more syrupy smells, which went along just fine with the sugary coating of trichomes and deep-purple calyxes. I was expecting the Kool-Aid guy to jump through my wall at any minute bearing rolling papers.

A midnight bowl brought the salivating sweetness I expected, but it was rounded out with a firm earthiness as well. It’s one thing to enjoy the taste of a strain, but taking hit after hit because I can’t get enough of the flavor is something entirely different. The exquisite taste made me overzealous, and I smoked two bowls too many before I even realized it. One would’ve worked just fine to enhance my appetite and then put me to sleep. Three made me a drooling vegetable.

Sweet Leaf’s Alien Rock Candy had me stuck to my pipe like a child to a lollipop, pleasing my tastebuds in a similar fashion. But remember your mother’s warning: Don’t overindulge, or you might get nightmares. Guess I’ll just have to go buy some more to put my restraint to the test.

Have a suggestion for a recreational strain review? Send it to [email protected].

Herbert Fuego is the resident stoner at Westword, ready to answer all your marijuana questions.

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