Table of Contents:
The Aperitif.
French Digestif.
Liqueurs.
French Spirits Summary.
Beers of France. French Wines.
Every country in Europe seems to have its local wines, beers, and one or two Aperitif or digestifs. France is one of the few countries in Europe that appears to produce a wide assortment of French spirits. Yes, they have incredible wines and excellent beers, but make sure you leave room for their liqueurs.
HARD LIQUOR
Gin
Gin is new to France, right? Well, we can link it back to the Royal Distillery in Dunkirk sometime after 1700 AD. (It begins in the Netherlands hundreds of years earlier). The king requires Genièvre (juniper), which is a liquor with juniper flavoring. It became so popular in the courts that the English are soon smuggling it across the channel. As often happens, big companies eventually force out the artisanal makers, and soon there is nothing but a generic product. This fate occurs with gin, and it loses its appeal in France.
Fun fact: the alcohol used for the production of old gin may have come from grapes rather than grains.
You can find grain distilled gins.
- C’est Nous Gin (Normandy)
- Saffron Gin (Dijon)
- Citadelle Gin (Cognac)
And Gins distilled from grapes.
- G’Vine Floraison Gin (Cognac)
- G’Vine Nouaison Gin (Cognac)
Even gins distilled from apples.
- Gin Normindia (Calvados, Normandy)
- Le Gin de Christian Drouin (Calvados, Normandy)
To legally be a gin, it must contain juniper as one of the botanicals. From here on, the sky is now the limit. Other flavorings include cherry blossoms, saffron, peppers, etc. If the taste (or the morning after) from grain-based gins is not for you, try grape distilled gins. These gins are smoother than those from grains.
Vodka
With a story similar to French Gin, the distillation of French Vodka is from grain, and grapes, usually from the Cognac region.
Grain distilled vodkas.
- Grey Goose (Picardy & Cognac)
- Jean-Marc XO (Cognac)
- Vodka Mariette (Bordeaux)
Distillation from Grape vodkas.
- Ciroc (Gaillac & Cognac)
- Idol (Burgundy)
Rum
In France? The majority of French Rum comes from the departments of Martinique and Guadaloupe in the West Indies (Caribbean). As they are not products of the mainland, we will save them for discussions on the Caribbean.
The Aperitif.
Almost as important as their morning Café crème is a drink that signals the pre-dinner period. It is the Aperitif.
French locals refer to it as “apéro.” For most French, it is more a first course for dinner than a separate drink. The idea is to stimulate the appetite.
Initially, Aperitif was a wine-based drink. Today it may be that or a liqueur, a glass of French wine, or a Champagne cocktail. It has become a generic term for a pre-dinner drink.
But what are the “traditional” Aperitifs?
- Lillet is a wine-based drink from the Bordeaux region and containing a minimum of 85% Bordeaux wines. It may be red, white, or rose, with the other 15% being a citrus liqueur. Although it has been around since 1887, It went global in 1953 when Ian Fleming’s, Casino Royale, hit the bookshelf. James Bond orders a drink that is three measures of gin, one of vodka, half a measure of Lillet. Serve a slice of orange with the white Lillet for a classic aperitif.
- Kir and Kir Royale – White wine and a splash of Crème de Cassis (a blackcurrant liqueur) is a common apéro. Substitute Champagne and you have a Kir Royale!
- Byrrh (pronounced beer) is a mixture of red wine, partially fermented grape juice, and quinine.
- Suze is a bitter aperitif made from a distillation of the roots of the gentian plant. It has a citrus undertone but is refreshing.
- Dubonnet is one of the classic French apéritifs. White Dubonnet is a mixture of dry white wine with an infusion of herbs. The red is sweet, flavored with spices and quinine.
French Digestif.
These are for after-dinner. As the name suggests, they are to help you digest your food. At a proper dinner, they serve them after the coffee course. Digestifs are usually taken straight without mixing with other liquids. Of all the categories of French spirits, the Digestif may be the most diverse and beloved. Common French digestifs include:
Brandy
- Cognac – From the town of Cognac. Distillation is from Ugni Blanc grapes and takes place twice. Cognac must age a minimum of two years in Limousin/Tronçais oak barrels. They blend many Cognacs to produce a consistent flavor.
Cognac Ratings.
VS – Very Special is a cognac brandy that has been aging in oak barrels for a minimum of two years. Sometimes the designation as three stars.
VSOP – Very Superior Old Pale (although many mistakenly switch Superior with “special”). The youngest brandy in the blend is a minimum of four years old. The rest can be older.
X.O. – Extra Old. In April 2018, the minimum age went from six to ten years, meaning the youngest brandy in the blend has been aging for at least a decade. Also known as Napoleon Cognac.
Hors d’Age – (Beyond age.) This label only applies to extreme quality cognacs where aging time no longer is a point.
Vintage – When a cognac is a single-blend from one year. The year on the label will be the year of harvesting.
Some of the most famous Cognac producers are:
- Armagnac – is also a brandy from the Armagnac region south of Cognac. It is older than Cognac. Distillation is from four types of grape and only takes place once. Armagnac only requires a minimum of one year of aging in Limousin or Gascon Oak Barrels. Many believe that the single distillation, while not removing all impurities, leaves more flavor.
Armagnac Ratings
VS – Very Special is an Armagnac brandy that has been aging in oak barrels for a minimum of three years. Sometimes the designation as three stars.
VSOP – Very Superior Old Pale. The youngest brandy in the blend is a minimum four and a half years old. The rest can be older.
X.O. – Extra Old. The youngest brandy in the blend has been aging at least five and a half years. Also known as Napoleon Armagnac.
Some of the most popular Armagnac producers are:
- Baron de Sigognac
- Bas-Armagnac Dartigalongue.
- Chateau du Busca.
- Chateau de Laubade
- Clos des Saveurs (website in French)
- Delord.
- Domaine du Cardinat
Fruit Brandy
Eau de vie translates as the water of life. In general, it refers to a clear brandy that they make from fruit other than grapes.
Fruit Brandies/Schnapps -In Alsace, which shares borders with Germany and Switzerland, there is much confusion on what to call the local fruit brandies. On the German side of the Rhine River, they would be schnapps. However, you will not find many French referring to them as such on the French bank. They are fruit brandies, but to confuse things; they often appear on French menus as Liqueurs. Either way, they are NOT like schnapps (or fruit brandies found in the States. They are good). You would miss out on a taste of France, and certainly Alsace, if you did not try them.
Some of the more popular:
- Poire William – from the sweet Williams Pear, will often have a pear in the bottle.
- Framboise – French for Raspberry.
- Mirabelle – Yellow Plum
- Pêche – Peach.
Calvados
There is mention of the apple orchards of Normandy as far back as Charlemagne’s time. And documentation of distillation back to 1600 AD. High taxation (and outlawing production in several other areas) in the 17th century is a game-changer. It gives the regions of Normandy, Brittany, and Maine a monopoly on apple brandy production. The phylloxera outbreak in the late 1800s did not touch the apple industry, making the demand for anything containing alcohol spike. Today the Calvados appellation is famous for its apples, cider, and Calvados Apple Brandy.
Distillation of the brandy is from a dry apple cider. It must then age a minimum of two years in oak barrels to become a Calvados. The longer it matures, the smoother it becomes.
A great way to sample the cider and Calvados (and see a beautiful section of Normandy) is to follow The Cider Trail (Route du Cidre), which includes more than 15 cider producers and distillers. P.S.- It runs close to the Camembert Trail. (JUST saying…)
Liqueurs.
The French Liqueurs run the gambit from sweet to bitter. High in alcohol content and low. There are too many to name all of them. Like wine, many towns have local production.
Here are some of the most popular.
- D.O.M. Benedictine – From a Benedictine (not really, that was a marketing ploy) recipe, it has a bittersweet flavor of honey and 27 herbs and spices. Fun fact: The label includes the letters D.O.M. “Deo Optimo Maximo” (“To God, most good, most great”). The Benedictine Order would put these initials at the beginning of documents as a dedication to their work. Once again, NOT owned by the Benedictines. You can visit the Benedictine Palace north of Le Havre to taste everything Benedictine.
- B&B Liqueur – In the 1930s, to offer a less sweet version of Benedictine, they mixed it with 40% French brandy. They also add honey, saffron, and age it twice.
- Chambord – A raspberry concoction from the Loire Valley dating to the late 1600s is the inspiration of the current liqueur. They say Louis XIV presented it on one of his visits to the Château de Chambord. Then the liqueur all but disappears. The rebirth of Chambord began in 1982. The current recipe includes black and red raspberries, vanilla, citrus peel, honey, and Cognac.
- Chartreuse – This liqueur dates to a secret recipe the Carthusian Monks receive in 1605 for a magical elixir with powers to cure. The original Chartreuse is bright green. (The liquid came first, the colors name after) Although the green is a sweet liqueur, it has a bold herbaceous punch from 130 herbs and other plants. It is 110 proof. In 1838, the monks revamped the recipe, dropping several herbs and infusing saffron. The new liqueur is sweeter than the green, and the color is yellow. Fun fact: To protect the recipe, only two monks can know the method at any given time.
Orange Liqueurs.
- Cointreau – Is a member of the Triple Sec family. These French spirits are orange in flavor. Cointreau is a mixture of sweet and bitter orange peels infused into pure alcohol from sugar beets. The Cointreau Brothers began selling it in 1875. You can serve it neat or include it in cocktails. Fun fact: The International Bartender Association cites Cointreau as the official orange flavoring in the Margarita and the Cosmopolitan cocktails.
- Grand Mariner – Is is a blend of Cognac and triple sec (Orange liqueur), dating from 1880.
Anise Liqueurs.
- Pernod Anise – is flavored with 16 different herbs with star anise and fennel as the two primary flavors. The licorice essence is more of an after-thought.
- Ricard Pastis – is a French spirit with anise flavoring as well but contains additional flavor from licorice root. (think the French Ouzo). It is more popular closer to the Mediterranian than further north.
- Absinthe – This bright green liqueur also gets flavor from green anise. It was popular amongst Parisian artists, writers, and members of the bohemian lifestyle in the early 1900s. It is more a spirit than a liqueur as there is very little sugar. This ratio produces a high alcohol content, usually over 100 proof. This amount of alcohol may be part of the reason they refer to it as the Green Fairy. By 1915, it was illegal as the upper crust thought it to contain addictive hallucinatory ingredients. By 2000, it was enjoying a renaissance after the European Union did away with many antiquated laws. Try a glass and see what inspired Oscar Wilde, Poe, Hemingway, Joyce, Van Gogh, and so many others. Beware, after two, you may say farewell to arms, or the ability to speak coherently.
French Spirits In Conclusion.
Wow, who knew France brought us so many different liquors and liqueurs?
Who has time to drink French spirits when the country has so many great wines and beer? That is a predicament.
But you’re a traveler. I found a solution as you will.
Toasting.
In French, the word for “health” is Sante – (Son tae).
The word for “your” is Votre – (Vo tro).
FORMAL.
À votre santé – (ah Vo tro Son tae) To your health – when saying cheers in a formal setting.
À la vôtre – (ah la Vo tro) And to yours – responding in a formal setting.
CASUAL.
À ta santé – (ah ta Son tae) Cheers – when saying to friends you know well.
à la tienne – (à la ti nn) Cheers – when responding to friends you know well.
But I was in France, and everyone was saying Tchin Tchin (chin-chin). It sounds Japanese.
It came from China and was brought back by the French soldiers returning from the Second Opium War (1856-1860). In Chinese, it means “please please” as in “please, please enjoy your drink.” The waiter/bartender would say this while serving it. Use this only with friends.