During a night out at RiNo’s premier jazz and supper club, Nocturne is more than just good food, good drinks and good music. It’s about making a difference, especially during its Cocktail for a Cause event. From enjoying a three-course dinner and show reservation to an à la carte bar, Nocturne is giving back to the community during September — making every sip a step toward change.
With every Negroni and Bee’s Knees cocktail ordered Nocturne is donating to two charities. During Negroni Week from September 16th to the 22nd, Nocturne is donating to Slow Food’s mission of fostering more equitable and sustainable food and beverages. From September 20th to the 29th, during Bee’s Knees Week, every cocktail sold goes to Barr Hill where they plant 10 square feet of new bee habitats.
A team meeting is where the inspiration for this event started, says Nocturne’s owner Nicole Mattson. “We’re always on the lookout for ways to give back to the community, so this was a collaborative idea that creates a triple win: our team gets to create a delicious cocktail, our guests get to enjoy our creations while contributing to a good cause and we get to donate to organizations that are important to our team,” she says.
“The negroni is also a perfect balance, but has so many fun adaptations that we didn’t want to limit guests to just a few options,” says Mattson. These include sbagliato, boulevardier, americano and white negroni options. “They are all fun spins worthy of trying, so our hope is that guests will take a leap and try a few different variations while they watch some of Denver’s best jazz on stage,” she says.
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When it comes to the bee’s knees, it “is such a tried-and-true recipe that we’ll be offering the very classic version of that cocktail,” says Mattson, featuring ingredients from Bar Hill such as its gin and honey, as well as fresh-squeezed lemon juice. “Some classics are just too good to riff,” she says.
During National Wellness Month celebrated in August, Nocturne donated $1 for every sold cocktail, the Jam Session — a non-alcoholic cocktail with strawberry, mint, lime, Lyre’s NA Gin, verjus and aquafaba — to the Culinary Hospitality Outreach Wellness (CHOW).
As of the last days of August, just under 100 Jam Sessions were purchased, says Mattson, adding that “What’s great about partnering with CHOW is that they also came out and joined us for a pre-shift family meal to talk about the importance of mental health in our industry and shared some great resources with our team.”
Donating to these charities for Mattson is important, as she says “For me personally, I am always thinking about how I can positively impact our community. As a small business owner, our community is everything. Food, music and drink bring our community together in a beautiful way.” From gift cards and silent auctions to hosting The Preservery Foundation— its current partnership that offers kitchen space for the foundation to make meals for those experiencing hunger — “we’ll keep looking for ways to sustainably give wherever we can,” says Mattson.
Nocturne is located at 1330 27th St., Denver. It is open Thursdays 6 p.m. – 10 p.m., Fridays – Saturdays 6 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. and Sundays 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. and is closed Monday – Wednesday.
All photos courtesy of Nocturne.