Lenny Kravitz Recalls Taking Shots of Sotol with 'Shotgun Wedding' Costars: 'Everybody Was Digging It'

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Rock legend Lenny Kravitz's newest venture into the spirit business, Nocheluna Sotol, began with a "dusty" bottle of a mysterious liquid he received about two years ago.

The singer, 58, was in the Dominican Republic shooting the upcoming film Shotgun Wedding, which stars Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel, when the "secret bottle" was sent to him. He brought the bottle to a cast dinner one night and after a single shot of the spirit, he was "immediately intrigued."

"I started pouring shots for everybody," Kravitz tells PEOPLE. "Everybody was digging it." The actor and his costars, including Cheech Marin, then began mixing the spirit with different fruits and juices until the bottle was empty.

The liquor turned out to be sotol, a spirit originating from the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico that is similar to tequila or mezcal — and Kravitz was desperate to learn more about it. So he headed to the region and connected with fourth-generation sotol maker Maestro Vinatero Don Eduardo Arrieta.

"I hung out in Chihuahua and I spent time watching the whole process, talking with them, learning, getting my education. Then I became partners with them," he says.

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Now he's launched Nocheluna Sotol in partnership with global spirits company Casa Lumbre. Calling sotol "the best-kept secret in Mexico," Kravitz's goal for the brand is to "bring [sotol] out to the world" and introduce the "art form ... to folks that don't know."

"These folks that I met have been doing this for generations. It's something that they're really proud of. It's their culture, it's their art form," he says. "I was fortunate to become friends with these people."

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The "American Woman" rocker was initially drawn to the liquor because of its "flavor and complexities." He explains to PEOPLE, "I love smoke, meaning smokiness. Whether it's in food or a fragrance, I've always gravitated toward that smoky feeling. And the first thing I noticed was how wonderful the smokiness was."

With notes of cacao and bitter fruits, Nocheluna Sotol even has the approval of Kravitz's friends and family, including his daughter Zoë Kravitz. "People are digging it," he says. "It has a familiar vibe for people that like tequila or like mezcal. It's different. But it's in that family."

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As for Kravitz's favorite way to enjoy Nocheluna? He prefers it straight with just a little bit of ice. But he also recommends mixing sotol with pineapple — which is one of the ways Kravitz and his Shotgun Wedding costars first drank the spirit. ("There happened to be a fresh pineapple on the table the night that [the bottle] came," he tells PEOPLE.) The concoction has since been refined and now the cocktail, dubbed "The Fly Away," is one of the brand's signature drinks.

Nocheluna Sotol also appears to be a natural fit for the star's world. "It's innovative, it's wild. It's organic," he says of the liquor. "And most of all, [it involves] really good people that I'm working with. It's really about the people."

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At the brand's launch event on Oct. 12, the "Are You Gonna Go My Way" singer also spoke to PEOPLE about his 2022 Grammys performance with H.E.R. and Travis Barker. Although Nocheluna wasn't involved in any of his pre- or post-show rituals, he did share how the trio's set came to be.

"During the pandemic, I'd been listening a lot to H.E.R. We'd never met and then I found out that she was playing 'Are You Gonna Go My Way' live at her show," he shares. "I think I DM'ed her or something ... basically saying how much I liked [her] performance and her interpretation of the song."

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He continued, "She called me and said, 'Do the Grammys with me? We'll do it as a duet.' "

The set also included Barker, and Kravitz called the experience "really fun," adding that the Blink-182 drummer "was great as well."

One place where Kravitz did have Nocheluna on hand, however, was in the Bahamas when he was working on new music. "My music is like, something that I dream and I wake up in the middle of night with songs in my head," he says of the process. "I never really sit down to write. I wait until I hear it."