As mentioned yesterday, we recently hosted a pop-up vegan fashion event and cocktail reception at MooShoes Los Angeles with Joshua Katcher of the Discerning Brute + Brave GentleMan. Mateo Hoke—Chief Cocktail Editor of award-winning Oakland vegan restaurant, Millennium—donated his skills to the night, providing two recipes to help us celebrate, one alcoholic, one not.
As we wrote in yesterday’s piece, the alcoholic cocktail recipe was built by Mateo around a locally made amaro—Greenbar Distillery‘s Grand Poppy Organic Aperitive, a bitter brandy hand-crafted in downtown Los Angeles by distilling organic grapes and then “infusing and re-distilling California-inspired botanicals to bring you an American amaro ideal with soda or wine and for cocktails.”
Mateo’s take on the best way to showcase the Grand Poppy’s flavor profile—a 1-to-1-to-1 blend with a smooth bourbon and sweet vermouth. As he told me:
“There’s a really great organic amaro being made in LA called Grand Poppy. It’s infused with CA botanicals and is bright and floral and delicious. I like to let it shine by mixing with equal parts of a softer bourbon and a nice vermouth, like Carpano Antica.”
Mateo gave us permission to share the recipe, so, for those of you who enjoyed it at the MooShoes event or this past weekend at our anniversary party, you can now make it yourself at home. We give you what we christened Joshua’s namesake cocktail—The Brave GentleMan, a floral-forward, bright, bold take on a Boulevardier:
1oz Grand Poppy
1oz Bourbon (we used Bulleit, but any smooth bourbon will work well)
1oz Carpano Antica (or any other quality sweet vermouth)
Stir with ice and strain into you glassware
Garnish with a lemon peel (express the oil onto for extra depth)
Mateo also gave us what turned out to be a wildly popular alcohol-free cocktail—it’s perfect to provide an exciting option for your non-drinking friends at your next shindig or feature at future baby showers. Mateo again:
“For an N/A cocktail, muddle 5 slices cucumber, half a lime, and 5 mint leaves in a shaker and add 1oz simple syrup (1:1 ratio). Top with soda (or vegan ginger beer), and garnish with a cucumber slice. Hella good.”
Hella good is right. Enjoy.
