Giffard-Bigallet
Before he was a producer of liqueurs, Èmile Giffard was a pharmacist. His chemist’s sensibility, his focus on isolating and purifying essences, is at the heart of what makes Giffard’s products the gold standard for cordials and cocktail modifiers today.
At the end of the nineteenth century, a pharmacist would have been just as likely to prescribe medicine as a personal physician, and the pharmacopeia at their disposal would have extended from tree bark to morphine. Alcohol, in this context, was a recognized pain reliever, if not a mood lifter, with the added ability to extract and preserve the essences of medicinal herbs. During his first summer in business in his native Angers, Èmile undertook a study of the properties of mint, and how it affected digestion, for use in such a tonic or elixir. Using steam distillation to liberate the essential oils of Black Mitcham mint, Èmile created a digestive tonic that was as delicious and refreshing as it was curative.
At the same time as Èmile was conducting his experiments, a summer heat wave descended on the Loire Valley. The manager at the neighboring Grand Hotel on Anger’s Place du Ralliement stopped in to see if there was anything he could offer his guests as a restorative. Èmile poured him the mint-based elixir he had been working on, and it became so popular that he began producing it on a larger scale. By that autumn, the pharmacy was transformed into a distillery. E. Giffard’s first brand was called “Menthe-Pastille,” named for the popular pastilles mint candies of the day.
From its inception, the distillery’s location in the center of the Loire Valley, the Jardin de France, with its orchards, vineyards, and farms—as well as its direct access to international ports via the Loire River—allowed it to consistently source high-quality ingredients, often at peak ripeness. The producer’s flagship offering of Menthe-Pastille naturally evolved into an array of offerings, and today, the line includes more than one hundred flavors composed of alcoholic and non-alcoholic fruit, herb, and spice liqueurs, syrups, and tonics.
Now run by sister and brother Edith and Bruno Giffard, along with fifth-generation family members Emillie and Pierre, the Giffard family continues Émile’s tradition in Angers, using the finest ingredients and time-tested methods. Fresh ingredients are sourced both locally and internationally, with an emphasis placed on working with French producers whenever possible. These fruits and plants are brought to Giffard’s state-of-the-art facility, which collects twenty percent of its energy from solar panels on the roof. Flavors are extracted through a proprietary process involving maceration and steam distillation, tailored to best transform each ingredient, and the final elixirs are packaged in bottles made from seventy percent recycled glass.
Giffard further expanded its liqueur offerings in 2000 through its gentle acquisition of the family-run Félix Bigallet distillery (founded in 1872) in Virieu, Isère, in the foothills of the French Alps. Less a competitor than a fellow traveler, the Bigallet distillery brings the same focus on quality ingredients and craftsmanship to a roster of flavors that reflect the herbalist traditions of alpine France.
More recently, in response to the growth of the mindful drinking movement, Giffard has unveiled a line of non-alcoholic liqueurs that express the same verve as their spirit-based counterparts.