Rajasthan in a Glass, and on a Plate

A Godawan tiramisu that happened by accident at a palace, and the two whiskies that completely change this recipe around.

Godawan tiramisu with rose petals and pistachio, made with Godawan Series 02 single malt

Travelling does something to your expectations — it raises them, sharpens them, and then occasionally, if you are lucky, grounds them completely.

That is what happened with Godawan.

I had heard about it before I encountered it properly. An Indian single malt from Rajasthan, award-winning, doing something genuinely different. But it was only when I landed at the source — at Durbar, a cultural gathering curated by Abhimanyu Singh Alsisar at Nahargarh Palace in Ranthambore — that I understood the full weight of what this whisky is trying to be. The event itself was built around the pillars Rajasthan does best: wildlife conservation, craft, music, and a kind of mindful luxury that doesn’t perform its values, just lives them quietly.

It was my first year at Durbar. I was handling the food curation for the two-day experience — two lunches, two exclusive dinners — and there is something about being handed that kind of creative freedom in a setting that extraordinary that makes you reach further than you normally would. The Alsisar family’s generosity with the brief, the visual design team giving genuine panache to every experience, the Godawan team themselves — founder included — operating with a clarity of purpose that you don’t always encounter in a drinks brand. They are building something that means something. The whisky is the expression of that. The conservation mission is not a footnote. It is the whole point.

All of which meant that when the menus were settled and the dinners were in order, I found myself thinking about one more thing. A last minute addition. Something that would put the whisky inside the food rather than alongside it.

The easiest entry point when it comes to spirits in cooking is dessert — not because it is simple, but because the spirit is incorporated rather than cooked. The heat never touches it. The DNA of the whisky remains intact. And if you choose your spirit carefully, what you get is not flavoured dessert but a combination that just works.

That is how the Godawan Tiramisu happened.

The Whisky First

Before the recipe, the whisky deserves its own introduction. Because Godawan is not a straightforward story.

It is India’s first luxury artisanal single malt from Rajasthan — made at a distillery in Alwar, where summer temperatures hit a hundred degrees and the desert heat accelerates the barrel in ways that no Scottish Highland or Kentucky lowland can replicate. The cask loses roughly a quarter of its contents to evaporation each year. What remains is concentrated, accelerated, particular to this landscape.

The distillation is slow trickle, two-stage copper pot. The barley is six-row, grown in Rajasthan’s water-deficient geography — a strain that produces a different character than what most single malt drinkers are used to. And in a move that has never been done before in the single malt industry, Godawan finishes its expressions in casks conditioned with rare Indian botanicals. The result is something that could only come from here.

It is named after the Great Indian Bustard — the Godawan — a bird that once ranged across the subcontinent and now survives only in the grasslands of Rajasthan. Every bottle sold contributes to a broader conservation effort around the bird’s survival. A whisky with a conscience, as it were. Not merely performing ethically, but justifiably  embedded in its movement.

Godawan 01 & 02

There are two expressions.

Series 01 — Rich and Rounded — is a PX sherry finish. Complex and robust in the way a PX sherry does when it has had time and heat to work through a barrel. On the nose there is honeysuckle, deep intense caramel, dried candied citrus and a baklava butteriness that I was not expecting and cannot stop thinking about. On the palate, amber woodiness, more caramel, a butteriness that lingers. It drinks magnificently neat and works beautifully with a couple of ice cubes if you want to slow it down and watch it open.

Series 02 — Fruit and Spice — is a cherry cask edition. The nose is candied figs, vanilla, a little pepper and mace, dried apricot. On the palate it moves like a flambéed Christmas pudding — rich, warming, with a nougat finish and a light crisp mouthfeel that is genuinely unconventional for a single malt. Someone who likes to experiment would fall in love with this one first. I did.

Which is exactly why it went into the espresso.

Why Series 02 in the Coffee

The logic of a good pairing is not about matching — it is about what amplifies what.

Series 02’s fruit-forward character — the figs, the dried apricot, that Christmas pudding warmth — has a natural affinity with espresso. Coffee’s bitterness strips back the sweetness just enough to let the fruit notes breathe. The nougat finish of the whisky amplifies the body of the mascarpone. The cherry cask gives the whole dessert a depth that a plain tiramisu does not have.

Two shots of Series 02 into the espresso soak. It is enough to know it is there without announcing itself.

The mascarpone gets rose water. Not a lot — enough to perfume, not enough to overpower. This is the Rajasthan element. Rose in the dairy, pistachio on top. The whisky in the coffee. Three ingredients that have no business being Italian, making the best tiramisu I have assembled in recent memory.

The Pairing

The tiramisu is Series 02’s dessert. But the glass you pour alongside it is Series 01 — neat, no argument.

There is something about the PX sherry richness of Series 01 against the sweetness of the tiramisu that creates a kind of retrospective logic. The baklava butteriness of the whisky echoes the mascarpone. The caramel note cuts across the coffee bitterness in the dessert. They make each other make more sense.

It is, as pairings go, the kind that feels obvious only after you have had it.

Godawan tiramisu with rose petals and pistachio, made with Godawan Series 02 single malt

The Recipe

Godawan Tiramisu — Developed at Durbar, Rajasthan
Serves 4 to 6 depending on glass size | Prep: 20 mins | Setting time: minimum 2 hours, ideally overnight

Ingredients

For the espresso soak

• 3 shots freshly pulled espresso, cooled
• 2 generous shots Godawan Series 02 — Fruit and Spice
• 1 tsp sugar (optional, adjust to taste)For the mascarpone cream

• 250g mascarpone
• 200ml heavy cream
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• 1–1.5 tsp rose water (start with one, taste, adjust)
• 1 tsp vanilla extractTo assemble

• 12–16 savoiardi ladyfinger biscuits
• Cocoa powder for dusting
• Dried rose petals or fresh ones if serving right away
• Crushed pistachios

Method

Pull your espresso and let it cool completely. Add the two shots of Godawan Series 02 and stir. Taste — it should be coffee forward with the whisky present but not dominant. Set aside.

Whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. In a separate bowl, beat the mascarpone with the powdered sugar until smooth. Add the rose water and vanilla — go carefully with the rose water, it is stronger than it smells. Fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone until just combined. Do not overwork it.

Briefly dip each ladyfinger into the espresso soak — one to two seconds per side. You want them soaked but not falling apart. Layer into your glasses using an icing bag for a cleaner finish, alternating cream and biscuit.

Finish the top layer with cream piped from the icing bag. Dust generously with cocoa. Scatter dried rose petals. Finish with crushed pistachio.

Refrigerate for at least two hours. Overnight is better. The flavours settle and the rose water finds its place.

Serve with a neat pour of Godawan Series 01 alongside. The pairing will do the rest of the explaining.

Serves however many you are sharing a palace with.

Notes

• The espresso must be completely cool before adding the whisky — heat drives off the aromatic compounds you want in the soak
• Rose water varies wildly in strength between brands — start conservatively and adjust
• Dried rose petals rather than fresh — they hold their colour and don’t release moisture into the cream (but I used fresh since was eating it right away!)
• The piping bag is not vanity — it gives you a cleaner surface layer and a more even cream distribution than spooning
• This recipe works in individual glasses or a single large dish — the glasses make for a better presentation and a cleaner serve.Godawan Single Malt is available across select retail and hospitality outlets in India. Series 01 — Rich and Rounded. Series 02 — Fruit and Spice. Both at 46% ABV, 700ml. Drink responsibly