Marijuana users in Alaska voted a strain of weed grown at a Haines farm the best of its kind in the state during a recent competition organized by High Times magazine.

Flower Mountain Farms won the “hybrid strain” category, one of nine categories of competition for its strain “Super Boof.”

“We were not expecting it,” Flower Mountain Farms grower Gordon Julian said. “When we didn’t get second or third, we thought, ‘Ah dang, we lost.’ Then we saw them announce Flower Mountain Farms and we all started jumping up and down.”

The winning flower is a “beautiful neon purple” and tastes of tangerine and raspberry, Julian said. Super Boof competed against 27 other hybrid marijuana strains and was announced winner in a virtual award ceremony on Oct. 23.

“The High Times people doing announcements said it was the holy grail of categories,” Julian said. “It was the last one announced, the final category in the competition. They said we won and we all freaked out.”

This was the first Cannabis Cup to be judged by a people’s choice vote rather than a judge panel. Voters could buy judging kits from 22 dispensaries across Alaska, sampling a gram of each submission for the chosen category. Over the course of two months, consumers tested each product and submitted their scorecards.

“I think that makes it cool because it’s a more fair way of determining the winner,” Julian said. “At the end of the day it’s about what the people want, not some random judge panel.”

Hybrid marijuana strains blend indica, a type of cannabis Julian describes as “a stonier, sleepier kind of high,” with sativa an “uppity, energetic high.”

“The most volume of flower that is sold is hybrid flower,” Julian said.

Super Boof was a popular product before winning the competition, according to Julian. After winning the Cannabis Cup, Julian expects demand to “skyrocket.”

“As far as all our strains go, Super Boof is the one strain we have customers requesting, emailing, calling us and saying, ‘Hey do you guys have any Super Boof?’ Julian said. “It’s so unique and everything you could ever ask for in a strain. We’re trying to figure out how we’re going to top it next year.”

Super Boof will be back on shelves in January, available locally at Winter Greens as well as dispensaries in Juneau, Sitka, and Anchorage.

“As soon as we won the cup we went right over to the grow and took a bunch of clones,” Julian said.

Flower Mountain Farms wins a High Times Cannabis Cup trophy designed by Alex Gray, a full-page advertisement in High Times magazine and a feature in a High Times online article and social media.

The company produces 15 to 35 pounds of cannabis flower monthly.