At a glance
Papa & Barkley is a California cannabis wellness company known for whole-plant topicals, tinctures, capsules, gummies, and solventless extracts. Its name and first product came from a family story, but the company that followed was built by two founders with complementary experience in entrepreneurship, cultivation, formulation, and regulated manufacturing.
Founders and the 2016 launch
Adam Grossman and Guy Rocourt founded Papa & Barkley in the summer of 2016. Grossman created an early balm after his father Mort, known as Papa, developed severe back pain; Barkley was the family dog who stayed beside him. Rocourt brought cannabis cultivation and product-development experience, and the pair turned the homemade formula into a California brand.
The original Releaf Balm
The Releaf Balm established the company's topical identity. Current formulas combine cannabis with carrier oils, beeswax, and essential oils, and the package ratio varies by product. The company describes its infusion as chemical-free and solventless, using heat, water, pressure, and time rather than distillate. Exact cannabinoid content can vary by whole-plant batch, making the label and certificate of analysis important.
From topicals to a full Releaf suite
The catalog now spans balms, body oils, patches, an Active Releaf Stick, moisturizing cream, tinctures or drops, capsules and softgels, and gummies. Ratios and cannabinoid combinations include THC-forward, CBD-forward, mixed THC:CBD, and CBD:CBN products. The breadth makes Papa & Barkley a multi-format wellness company rather than a single topical brand.
Humboldt sourcing and whole-plant process
Papa & Barkley says it sources sun-grown cannabis from farming partners that use organic and regenerative principles. Rocourt described working with hundreds of small Humboldt County farms and structuring purchasing relationships to support them. The company's “soil to shelf” story centers on preserving cannabinoids, terpenes, and other plant compounds instead of refining every formula to isolated distillate.
Papa's Select extracts
Papa's Select is the solventless extract arm associated with the company, producing ice-water hash and live rosin from fresh-frozen flower. Its awards ledger includes Emerald Cup placements across water hash and rosin from 2018 through 2023, including first place for Strawberry Jelly 120u water hash in 2021. Those awards belong to the extract line and should not be generalized to every Papa & Barkley product.
Leadership changes
Rocourt served as co-founder and chief product officer from 2015 and was appointed president and chief executive effective February 2022, succeeding a period led by Evelyn Wang. The appointment announcement credited him with Releaf topicals, gummies, the Sleep Releaf Collection, and Papa's Select. Public leadership references should always be dated because the executive roster can change.
Testing and transparency
The company's wholesale certificate-of-analysis library covers topicals, gummies, capsules, softgels, and drops. Papa & Barkley says batches are tested for pesticides, microbials, and residual solvents. A posted COA is useful evidence only when its product name and batch identifier match the package; a generic test or a different ratio is not a substitute.
Awards and recognition
At the 2025 California State Fair Cannabis Competition, Sleep Releaf Capsules received the Golden Bear for the Wellness category. Papa's Select has its own multi-year solventless awards record, and the core brand has long marketed several topicals as award winners. This profile names the specific product and competition where independent documentation was located rather than converting broad award language into an unsupported total.
The High Rise assessment. Papa & Barkley's durable advantage is a coherent system: a memorable founder story, recognizable Releaf naming, multiple delivery formats, Humboldt sourcing, a whole-plant infusion philosophy, and batch-level testing access. The origin, founders, product categories, 2022 leadership change, and 2025 Golden Bear are supported. Wellness language on product pages remains brand positioning, not proof that a formula will treat a medical condition for every person.