How It Started
Nocturne Aperitifs began with a friendship rooted in California’s Central Coast.
We met as kids in San Luis Obispo County, and as we grew up, two shared passions became central to our friendship: a fascination with flavor and a deep connection to the landscape we called home. Haden built a career behind the bar, while Barrett found his in fermentation and winemaking. Over the years, countless nights spent camping beneath the stars turned into long conversations about cocktails, wine, and the flavors that define a place. Collaboration eventually felt inevitable.
The idea for Nocturne began to take shape during spring on the Central Coast. The hills were green, wildflowers were blooming, and the landscape was filled with the aromas of native plants and herbs. As we hiked through it, we found ourselves surrounded by scents that felt unmistakably tied to the place we call home.
We became fascinated with the centuries old practice of infusing beverages with herbs, flowers, roots, and other botanicals to make amaros and other aperitifs. As we passed one aromatic plant after another, an idea began to form: what if the landscape around us could become the inspiration for the drink itself?
That idea became Nocturne, a pursuit of creating an aperitif that doesn't simply come from the Central Coast, but expresses it. A bottle shaped by the wine, botanicals, seasons, and natural character of the place that inspired it.
Get Some Bottles
Shoot us a quick email and we’ll get back to you shortly!
Tasting Notes: Floral and citrus forward, with a soft touch of honeyed sweetness and subtle herbal undertones. It is bright and sunlit evoking California’s citrus groves and wild botanicals of its dry coastal garigue. Vibrancy quickly leads to a refreshing and pleasantly bitter finish, like the last light of a California afternoon.
At the base of the vermouth is a wine made from an eccentric and floral grape variety called Malvasia Bianca. The grapes were grown in Paso Robles, then harvested and fermented into the base wine in fall. The wine was fortified with a local brandy infused with a blend of structural botanicals, then given a touch of sweetness from a local clover honey. After fortification the vermouth was sent back to barrel to rest and allow the structural botanicals to integrate. Once the hills went green and the Central Coast was in full bloom, the next step was to forage and source floral, citrus and aromatic components from surrounding hills and farms with the help of a few friends. These aromatic components were then cold infused right before bottling to obtain optimal freshness and intensity. The vermouth was then separated and immediately bottled to share with you!