Rasāsvāda Ruby Artemisia
The aromatized bitter, decocted.
We chose Rasāsvāda because it asks the most serious question on the shelf: what should a spirit restore? Connor Godfrey composed it in New York out of a difficult season and the herbal traditions that brought him back — Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, Western herbalism, learned early from his cousin Joshua Kaiser, founder of Rishi Tea & Botanicals. The name is Sanskrit: rasāsvāda, the taste of bliss when the mind grows quiet. Plants alone, decocted the old way — that discipline is why it entered the house.
Ruby Artemisia is the bitter of the three — where the collection turns serious. Wormwood, the artemisia of the name, over ume plum, maqui berry and red-grape skins for a vinous core; chrysanthemum, artichoke leaf and cinchona drawing the bitterness through; Yunnan Pu'er and Kurokoji green tea lending the pour its quiet alertness. Sixteen plants, slowly decocted. Bright at the front, bitter through the middle, a long, vinous close.
The aperitif of the collection — bright on purpose.
We do not score. We read. The Reading is how the house locates this bottle — four axes, written on the four petals of the mark.
The Reading™
NOSE ruby
ARC bittering
WEIGHT grounded
STAY amaro-long
One to four petals, quiet to pronounced. A Reading is a location, not a grade.
Poured in — the Savage Lowball, or long over ice with sparkling water and a wide ribbon of lemon — the late-afternoon aperitif.
Serve — the bright hour before dinner.
