Sage Gets Spirited

It was Root that first wooed me. The root tea-inspired certified organic spirit made with a powerful combination of birch bark, cardamom and cinnamon, among other ingredients, had a distinctly rootbeer-like flavor; I spent much of last summer using it as the base for boozy floats (see Gather, issue #1). And now Art in the Age, the Philadelphia artist collective and boutique behind Root and other organic herbal elixirs, has created another concoction that will likely find its way into many a glass in my kitchen in the coming months. Sage, which takes its inspiration from the “garden gin” blended by Thomas Jefferson’s resident horticulturalist Bernard McMahon, relies on a blend of potent organic botanicals: fennel, lavender, rosemary, thyme, and, of course, the titular sage. With an appealing warm, earthy flavor, it tastes wonderful with just a splash of tonic water and squeeze of lemon, though I intend to mix it up into martini form (plus vermouth and a few olives) soon enough. FV