Matt Whiley knows a thing or two about bartending. Having co-founded nine award-winning bars from London to Sydney, including Australia’s first zero-waste bar RE, Matt’s technical repertoire has grown to incorporate more than just swizzling and muddling. Over the years, the creative concoctionist has earned a reputation for using boundary-pushing eco-friendly practices, including using fermenting techniques to make the most of often-discarded ingredients.

The forward-thinking bartender has teamed up with the crew at W Brisbane’s Living Room Bar to work on a collaborative, seasonally changing cocktail experience, which officially launches on Thursday May 30. Across a six-month partnership, Matt and Living Room Bar’s bar manager Francesco Squllacioti will be taking waste from W Brisbane’s kitchens and utilising them in an array of RE-style cocktails.

“Collaborating with Francisco, we identified 10–12 ingredients going to waste in the hotel – our mission now is to transform these into something desirable and delicious, showing that food waste can be luxurious,” says Matt. “I want people to leave thinking, ‘That was delicious,’ feeling happy, satisfied, and knowing they’ve helped the planet.”

The menu, which has been fashioned in partnership with Brown-Forman spirits, features stand-out sips like The Seed Money (a rich and creamy libation pairing blackened pumpkin seeds with heavy cream, distilled Fords gin and vermouth), the Space Plant 60 (a savoury number infusing roasted cauliflower cream and bread caramel with Gentleman Jack and fino sherry), the Shroom Service (an earthy and exotic elixir mixed with onion ash, mushroom honey, and pineapple skin with Herradura Tequila and shio koji), and the Malt Disney (a hearty drop that uses burnt potato skin and carrot vinegar caramel combined with Glendronach 12 and Malt Absolut Elyx vodka). The menu will also feature RE-style riffs on classic cocktails, including a take on a negroni and a margarita.

W Brisbane and Living Room Bar are leaning into the sustainability centric mindset, printing menus on paper made from recycled coffee cups, as well as serving its cocktails on coasters made from 100-per cent recycled plastic waste. The team will also be donating excess food to food rescue charity OzHarvest and composting any waste on site.

Conscious Cocktails at Living Room Bar’s Conscious Cocktails experience will run across a six-month period – expect the offering to change with the seasons and as Francesco and Matt identify new ingredients to repurpose from W Brisbane’s kitchens. Click here to make a reservation at Living Room Bar.