What is Revolution Spirits Doing with Damiana?
In the heart of Central Texas, Revolution Spirits distillery is making damiana liqueur – the first to be made in the US - and spreading a legend in the picturesque wedding destination of the Texas Hill Country.
Founded in 2013, Revolution Spirits is an experimental craft distillery with a focus on terroir and locality and small-batch high-quality production. Producers of the style-bucking peppercorn-grapefruit Austin Reserve Gin and Amico Amaro, the first Texas-made amaro, Revolution decided to try their hand at damiana liqueur after co-owner Aaron Day visited Mexico and tried locally produced small-batch damiana liqueur unavailable in the US and was taken with its distinct black tea, herbaceous sage and bright orange peel notes, a far cry from the synthetic, syrupy mass-market product found in US cocktail bars.
What is Damiana?
Damiana By H. Zell - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
If you’re wondering what damiana is, you’re not alone. The damiana shrub grows in the deserts and mountains of Southern Texas, Central and South America, parts of the Caribbean and most famously, Mexico. A simple yellow flower with deep green leaves, it enjoys dry, rocky terrain, flowering in the summer months and bearing small fig-like fruit. This bright desert plant may appear unassuming, but it has a rich mythic history as a curative tonic and aphrodisiac, whose first use predates written history, and whose properties have long been put to use by humans in alcoholic form for purposes both medicinal and recreational.
History of Damiana Liqueur
Damiana liqueurs from Mexico
Legend has it that the damiana plant was first made into a liqueur by the indigenous Guyacura people in Mexico, who found its aphrodisiac properties so strong that they eventually banned it. When the Guyacura began trading with the Aztecs, damiana spread across the Americas and was incorporated into a range of indigenous cultures, including Maya and Inca. When the Spanish colonized South and Central America, damiana’s reputation as an aphrodisiac made the liqueur a popular wedding gift, which it remains to this day, particularly in the Los Cabos region of Mexico, with mainstream Mexican bottles made to resemble the Inca goddess of fertility, a pregnant woman. As well as its libido and fertility-related properties, damiana has also been used to aid in urinary ailments, alleviate menopause symptoms, promote digestive health and treat anxiety and depression. Quite a catalogue of achievements for a small desert flower.
After a burst of popularity in the late nineteenth century, when damiana first appeared on the American national formulary, from which it was dropped in 1916, damiana somewhat fell off the grid north of the border, aside from some interest by ethnobotanists in the 1960s, and no American version of the liqueur has been available – until now.
Damiana Today
Brian Meola, John Henry, Aaron Day, and Forrest Allen
As the trend for herb-based liqueurs and cocktails continues to grow, with locally produced amari, fernet, cynar and chartreuse becoming increasingly common across the US, Revolution’s La Dama replicates the flavors Day found in Mexico, offering a fresh, authentic US-made take on the liqueur. “We realized that there weren’t any US-made examples of damiana and saw a clear opening to put out something interesting,” says CEO and distiller Brian Meola. “We really liked working with the plant and the flavor it presented and felt ready to do something more obscure – being a small distillery we can do weird stuff!” Revolution’s location in the Texas Hill Country also offered an additional imperative. “We knew the origin story of damiana as an aphrodisiac and thought it would be a cool tie-in as lots of people come to the Hill Country to get married,” says Meola. “We like to keep things location and culture focused as much as possible and damiana is a native Texan plant.”
The shrub is harvested during the cold season, and the leaves and stalks are dried and infused with liquor to create the liqueur, which has a deep dry umami flavor with woody tea leaf notes and a citrus-sweet top note. “We wanted La Dama to have a complex flavor profile without being overwhelming,” says Meola, “The different fruit and floral layers give it depth and distinction.” Damiana liqueur has plenty of potential for bartenders and at-home cocktails. Its orange notes make it a fun, more herb-forward triple sec substitute in a margarita, a combination already seen in Mexico and California, while its similarity to Aperol makes it suitable for a fancy spritz or a off-menu take on a Paper Plane. However, Meola is keen to point out that La Dama is complex and elegant enough to be equally enjoyable on its own or over ice, like an amaro or fernet.
For those keen to discover the benefits of damiana consumption or get their hands on a new and exciting addition to their cocktail cabinet, a trip to Texas is unfortunately mandatory, as Revolution Spirits don’t sell this product out of state. However, their charming Hill Country taproom and outstanding range of spirits is more than worth the journey – and after a few glasses of La Dama you might even find yourself getting married!