Warren Bobrow=WB: Please tell me about yourself.
John Korkidis=JK: I’m a bit of a mixed bag. When most people look at me, I’m not sure they see the son of an immigrant who speaks several languages. But the fact that I am easily slept on, typically often gives me an upper hand. Little known fact: I dropped out of college in NY where I was studying graphic design and spent most of my 20’s living and working in China as a creative. During my time there I cut my teeth in various agency roles and had the honor of working closely with the artist Ai Weiwei in his Beijing studio. Ultimately, I came back to the US (San Francisco) after taking a job with a large Chinese social media company, MOMO (NASDAQ) to help develop new mobile products for the US market. I fell in love with the Bay Area immediately but over the course of about 5 years of working in high-pressure performance marketing roles, my love affair with the tech scene started to fade and I began turning to my hobbies as a creative outlet. Hence the birth of my beverage platform Chron Vivant.
WB: What do you do best in your field?
JK: Maybe the thing I do best is learning (mostly from mistakes). I’m constantly experimenting, iterating and looking to improve. Whether it’s recipes, infusion techniques, designs, business tactics, or as a person. I’m a lifelong learner with an unquenchable thirst for understanding how things tick. My curiosity knows few limits.
WB: How did you transition from thc to cbd?
JK: Cannabis has always been an outlet for me and in a lot of ways, it’s also been my constant. When I moved back to California, I was blown away by the budding legal cannabis scene and the rich history behind it (much of the history is not all that positive and rooted in deeply problematic policies). As I got closer to the plant, I realized I actually knew next to nothing about it (even though I’d been consuming it my whole adult life). This revelation was where it all began. As I discovered more about the healing properties of cannabis, my perspective on how and when it could fit into my life started to change. Over time, I personally found that micro-dosing cannabinoids helped me regulate mood while still allowing me to function at a high-level. I am relatively compound agnostic and believe that there are a time and place for most cannabinoids. Personally, I am a fan of whole-plant medicines. That being said, on the recreational side, I tend to embrace “non-intoxicating” cannabinoids, like CBD, in almost all of my drink recipes that include alcohol.
WB: Tell me about your company.
JK: Proposition Cocktail Co. was created to meet the demand of today’s time-poor, yet information-rich, consumers, like myself, who are living increasingly stressful lives and are looking for healthier ways to feel good and chill out without compromising quality or our lifestyles. For the first time in history, we are filling the white space in the non-alcoholic and functional beverage category by offering the world’s first line of zero-proof plant-based adaptogenic cocktails designed for everyday relaxation. Early on, I knew I wanted to bring a line of “better-for-you” alternatives to market (drinkables) so that stressed-out individuals, like myself, could have healthier ways to chill out without necessarily having to get intoxicated the way one would from drinking alcohol or combusting high-potency flower. Today’s modern consumers are high-functioning and, thanks to the internet, we’re extremely informed but we often have little time and very limited access to alternative options that fit into our hectic lifestyles.
WB: What is your inspiration?
JK: The most significant inspiration in my life is my family, who inspires me to always strive to be the best version of myself I can be. If it wasn’t for my father I would not have had the global perspective I do today and my younger brother, who is an arbiter of all things relevant and cool, has always been someone I looked up to. Sadly, my mom passed away from cancer 11 years ago but her belief in me as a creative and as an individual significantly shaped who I am today. She encouraged me to be true to myself and pursue my passions, even if it did not always lead me down a traditional path. In general, I am inspired by those with an authentic sense of self.
WB: Did you have a mentor? Who?
JK: Throughout my life I’ve been fortunate enough to have several mentors who’ve had a huge impact on me personally and professionally. The artist Ai WeiWei greatly influenced how I leverage creative thinking to problem solve. Monica Lo of SousWeed and Jamie Evans of the Herb Somm, are both never-ending sources of support and culinary inspiration and have been huge mentors in the cannabis space.
WB: What is your favorite mocktail? Why?
JK: I don’t define Proposition cocktails as mocktails, they’re functional zero-proof cocktails (we are not mocking anything here) otherwise, I’d have to say my drinks. But to answer your question, my favorite mocktail might just be a Shirley Temple (I know, I can be basic sometimes) or the classic bitters and soda. You can never go wrong with a few dashes of Ango and soda water.
WB: Did you ever bar back?
JK: When I was younger, I worked as a grunt doing a little bit of everything at a beach club in the Hamptons where I would often work large (boozy) private catering events. This is where I earned my work ethic and got a sense of expediting and bar backing at scale.
WB: Did you have a favorite mixologist who inspired your recipes?
JK: I am really inspired by Elliot Smith of Apartment Bartender fame who’s platform encouraged me to put myself out there even though I wasn’t a seasoned mustachioed mixologist. Also, my friends Milan Sekulicand, Waren Pang who opened some of the first craft cocktail bars in China introduced me to the art of expertly crafted drinks and service-oriented hospitality programs. (And of course you Warren, you’ve been a huge inspiration to me and are definitely someone I look up to you. It’s vanguards and true authorities like you and Robert Simpson who help preserve the culture of both cannabis and cocktails for those of us wet behind the ears like myself.)
WB: What is your favorite restaurant? Where? What kind of food?
JK: Wow. That’s hard. My favorite restaurant might be a little inaccessible to most. It’s my extended family’s place in Crete called Nychterida (or the bat in Greek). They serve up traditional Cretan cuisine with modern technique-driven execution. My second favorite might have to be a hole-in-the-whole Sichuan joint in Beijing called Zhang Mama. I’m definitely a mix of the hi-and-lo brow, but my favorite food might be street food.
WB: What is your passion?
JK: Outside of my company (which is my obsession), I’m passionate about cannabis legalization. To me, cannabis prohibition is both a civil rights issue and a health crisis. In a day and age where mostly white males are profiting from legal cannabis, disproportionate amounts of black and brown communities are still suffering the racist policies masked as “the war on drugs”. This is more than injustice and something that every single cannabis user in America needs to recognize and get involved in the fighting. Organizations like Steve Deangelo’s Last Prisoner.