Bananas are one of the most exported items on the planet, so it’s no wonder that Nick Bryan and his Golden State Banana brand were working on worldwide moves in 2025.
With over 25 years in the game, Nick’s been pretty public about jumping into Cannabis at a young age, as well as his time leveling up from grow houses to warehouses, meeting his partner, Alexis, and starting the Golden State Banana brand. However, what often gets left out is how he came across the strain they’re now famous for.
Nick said the story really began when he came to California and was growing with a bunch of New Yorkers in Santa Cruz. He took over a spot for a friend who was moving to Colorado, and the guy left ORGNKID’s Banana OG, along with some cuts of Sour OG.
Though his buddy’s harvests hadn’t super impressed Nick, he grew some out, found the phenotype we now call Golden State Banana and, in his words, “switched all those rooms to GSB and never looked back.”
Since then, they’ve become synonymous with the strain and taken it to award-winning new heights, but Nick pointed out that the credit really goes to ORGNKID and his friend’s move to Colorado.
Fun fact: That friend now lives in Michigan, and Nick told California Leaf that he just put the GSB back in his hands. In fact, he’s made sure that the whole crowd always has access to it. “You gotta keep it in the circle,” he stated.
Those humble beginnings have now ripened into a brand that stretches across California, Nevada, New Jersey, Florida and this month, New York. With that kind of growth comes the need for more help.
Beaming with pride, Nick told the Leaf, “What we have now is a real family-run business. When I’m out on the road or working on expansions, my wife, Alexis, is back taking care of seeds and sorting new crosses. My son, Jason, is out in Vegas holding down the Nevada market for us, and my younger son, Joe, is holding down New Jersey.”
Unsurprisingly, Nick often has to pinch himself when he talks about his Cannabis family business.
“You could never imagine how dope it is, raising our sons and having them follow in our footsteps while making their own waves,” he said. “It’s part of the reason things work so well for Golden State Banana; it’s all of us, my family and friends, living it and believing in the brand.”
The day after speaking with the Leaf, Nick left for Canada, where he’s working on getting the first batches of Bluenana Slushie onto the German medical market. After that, he was off to work on their launch into the Czech hemp market and then Golden State Banana’s new flagship cafe and bar in Berlin.
With a grand opening planned for 2026, he said this “laid back coffeeshop-style space” will be a spot where you can come for a drink or some pastry and relax while you smoke a joint. Less of a storefront and “more everyday life shit,” he said. Nick wants this to be a meeting spot for traveling stoners alongside further introducing Europeans to the brand’s style.
“We started in Santa Cruz, so I think we bring a lot of that West Coast street art and skate culture vibe — especially since our original art was done by the legend Jimbo Phillips,” he said.
When the Leaf asked about flavors for 2026, Nick said, “There are around 30 strains we’re looking at for production, along with 40 new ones I’m hunting through and another 40 we’re going to start popping next.”
Nick explained that the constant pheno hunting is part of Golden State Banana’s secret sauce for standing out, as well as a personal challenge to see how the market responds.
“We try a lot of things when we’re on the hunt to try and find something that stands out, that ticks all the boxes,” he said. “The new high for us is finding that new strain and putting it out there to see what the world thinks.”
