When West Hollywood vegan eatery Gracias Madre first introduced CBD cocktails to their beverage program in 2016, it was a risk. A big risk, considering the stigma of cannabis and the many unknowns surrounding the legality, perception, and applications of cannabidiol in Prohibition-era Los Angeles.
More than two years later, after the landmark legalization of recreational marijuana in January 2018, Gracias Madre is no longer the only restaurant offering cocktails that incorporate this non-psychoactive cannabis compound. Trailblazing bartenders up and down the state of California are rushing to embrace CBD as a way of making their cocktails unique, healthy, and hangover-free. CBD cocktails may not be on every bar menu—but according to some of the bartenders working with this cannabis oil, it could be in the future.
High Times spoke to six California bartenders using CBD behind the bar. Here’s what they had to say about venturing into the uncharted territory of cannabis-enhanced cocktails.
Courtesy of Otium
Chris Amirault
Otium (Downtown LA)
CBD cocktails: The Blue Dream, made with CBD oil, rum, curacao, lime, and vanilla, and the Pineapple Express, which pairs CBD oil with gin, pineapple Campari, and coconut.
Chris Amirault is the Bar Director at DTLA’s Otium, located next to The Broad Museum. Amirault’s cocktails first starting earning him recognition after he opened West Hollywood cocktail bar Harlowe in 2014; his work here earned Amirault inclusion on Zagat’s “30 Under 30” list and consulting projects with Idle Hour, Clifton’s Cafeteria, and Bar Tribute. At Otium, Amirault works with Chef Tim Hollingsworth to build whimsical, culinary-driven cocktails that use inventive flavors, textures, and ingredients—including CBD oil—to elevate and inspire modern twists on classic drink recipes.
“A lot of us [bar directors] used to be afraid to mess with