MẨY - Vietnamese Amaro Bitters

An amaro bitters made in partnership with Lý Lở Mẩy, a Red Dao medicine woman, and long-standing Sông Cái Distillery partner.

A journey of healing and unity.

Eight years in the making.

A dark glass bottle with a cork stopper and a label that reads 'may' in bold red letters, placed among rocks and green foliage outdoors.

"Mẩy" - A Tribute to the Red Dao

In the spirit of honoring the Red Dao, together with our partner, Lý Lở Mẩy, we chose the name "Mẩy" for our amaro bitters.

In choosing “Mẩy” as the name for the collaborative product, Sông Cái Distillery and cô Chạn share the hope this unique amaro bitters will be distinctive in its homage to the Red Dao even in its namesake.

It has distinguishing notes similar to lapsang tea (smokey), sasparilla (root beer), wood tannins, and traditional Red Dao brown sap.

A standout and departure from Italian and European style amaro bitters.

40% alc./vol. (80 proof)

750 ML

$41.99

An elderly woman wearing traditional clothing and a red headdress examines a bottle in a store with wooden shelves filled with bottles and jars.
A man and an elderly woman in traditional attire are inside a rustic wooden shop, looking at wine bottles on a wooden table. The woman is wearing a vibrant red headscarf and colorful embroidered clothing, while the man is in a beige jacket. Shelves behind them are filled with jars and bottles.
A person holding a dark glass bottle with a white label that reads 'Amaro Bitters' and '40% Alcohol'. The label also features a large red and black graphic design with text that appears to say 'ISLA'. The person is seated, wearing dark pants with colorful striped accents, and the background includes a patterned textile.

This project is unique as Sông Cái Distillery and cô Chạn are co-owners of the product.

Intellectual property and profits are split half/half as such to ensure cô Chạn receives her fair share of equity.

This is our part of efforts to push the concept of sustainability further so that our community partners can be equity owners as opposed to just suppliers within any given supply chain.

Assorted roots, herbs, and dried goods in plastic bags at a market stall.
A person holding a freshly dug root vegetable, possibly a yam or sweet potato, with the earth still attached, in front of green foliage.
A man and a woman are closely examining and holding onto green, leafy plants in a dense tropical forest.
Two people walking through dense jungle foliage, one young man with glasses and light-colored shirt, and an older woman wearing traditional clothing and a red headscarf.

The Red Dao are renowned for their deep expertise in medicine and medicinal botany.

The recipe is based on traditional Red Dao herbal medicinal tincture/liqueurs (“Địa Tíu” in Red Dao language). Sông Cái Distillery sources botanicals from cô Chạn and has worked with her to work on recipe documentation and standardization.

Địa Tíu historically has been used as an herbal medicinal tincture/liqueur to treat muscle aches and digestive issues. The recipe historically uses over a dozen varieties of wild forest botanicals, from roots, bark, to leaves, and dried seeds - all selected for medicinal qualities.

An elderly woman in traditional clothing with a red headwrap, standing outdoors in a forested area, with a young man in a green shirt holding a machete in the background.
An elderly woman wearing traditional clothing and a red headwrap, examining a large green plant in a lush outdoor setting.
Person carrying a large red container on their back through green dense forest with mountains in the background.

As all the botanicals are currently found in local forests, Sông Cái Distillery is working with cô Chạn and her community to propagate native trees and understory species to help maintain and restore local forests and biodiversity.

The abundance and availability of the botanicals used in Mẩy is directly linked to forest health and biodiversity.

We have in fact abridged the original recipe as harvest of certain botanicals was deemed unsustainable or at risk of endangering natural stock levels.

As forest health and native species abundance improves we hope to be able to add more botanicals into the Mẩy recipe as originally intended.

A collage of six images showing different stages of plant harvesting and growth. The images include hands plucking a plant, harvesting red berries, a close-up of green leaves, a bag of dried herbs or roots, a young green plant, and hands planting or tending to soil with green foliage.
Text describing botanical herbs and their medicinal qualities on a white background with black floral illustrations on the sides.
A person holding a large, round beeswax candle with a twisted wick.
A person's hand holding a glass with honeycomb inside.

Bitterness is a prominent quality, but what makes this uniquely Red Dao are the smoky lapsang tea and sarsaparilla (root beer) notes with a distinctive honey and nutty finish.

Mẩy is perfect as an aperitif or digestif.

We recommend enjoying neat, on the rocks, mixed with root beer, or coffee, floats.