ON THE ROCKS

SINGER-SONGWRITER AND FUNK-R&B LEGEND LENNY KRAVITZ PUTS HIS SEAL ON A BUZZY NEW SOTOL BRAND, THE WILD-HARVESTED, LESSER-KNOWN COUSIN TO MEXICAN HEAVYWEIGHTS TEQUILA AND MEZCAL

BY EVAN MONROE

When you are a four-time Grammy winner who is both a descendant of Hollywood royalty (his parents were both TV heavyweights in the ‘70s and ‘80s) and the father of a rapidly rising star (Zoe Kravitz is his daughter), your legend doesn’t need burnishing with your own celebrity spirit. When you fi nd something as special as Nocheluna Sotol, however, you jump at the chance to become part of it. Th at’s exactly what Lenny Kravitz did in 2022, partnering with renowned tequila and mezcal producer, Casa Lumbre, to introduce a tremendous new spirit to the world.

Sotol isn’t as well known as its spiritual cousins tequila and mezcal. It’s made from the Dasylirion wheeleri plant (also known as “desert spoon”), endemic to the Chihuahan Desert in Mexico. In a recent interview with Robb Report about his involvement with Nocheluna Sotol, Kravitz admitted this particular region of Mexico was initially foreign to him. “I’ve been touring for 32 years, and there’s not a lot of places I haven’t been or seen,” he told the magazine. “And here I was being taken to place I’d never been to and learning about a culture that was new to me.”

The process for crafting Nocheluna Sotol is an intricate partnership with nature, which, as the spirit’s website details, “makes the desert our lead craftsman.” Sotol plants typically take between one and two decades to mature. When they are ripe, the core (called the pina) is removed. Th e pinas are roasted for three to four days (in special brick ovens), then crushed, fermented for up to ten days, and fi nally distilled twice. Th is process is 100% artisanal and yields what the spirit’s creators describe as “a dynamic liquid that can be enjoyed by all spirits lovers in a neat pour or in cocktails alike.” It is a spirit whose fl avor truly reflects the desert moonlight conditions that are a large part of the plant’s maturity.

(Nocheluna means “moonlight” in Spanish.) Th e sotol is available in blanco and reposado. Th e pale yellow blanco is described as having notes of mint, honey, and citrus, with subtle hints of pepper. American oak barrels provide the home for the reposado for six months, lending it a subtly smoky fl avor. It was this latter quality, in addition to the wild, unfamiliar but alluring area the spirit is cultivated in, that really attracted Kravitz to join this endeavor. As he said to Robb Report, “We went to the desert and met the people that are harvesting and making it. [Sotol] has the notes which I love, especially the smoke.

Whether it’s food, incense, fragrances, or a spirit, I love the element of smoke. It’s always been attractive to me.” Nocheluna Sotol can be enjoyed in a myriad of ways: be it on the rocks, in cocktails, or neat. It has also been used in cooking, especially in marinades that need a piquant kick. Recipe inspiration for sotol-centric cocktails and special dishes abound on the web, including the Nocheluna Sotol site, making it easy to see why someone as famous and highly regarded as Lenny Kravitz would lend his name and reputation to it.