Is there more to French drinks than wine? The answer is a resounding yes.
The people of France have an affinity for inventing diverse and often uniquely French drinks. Almost as if they are bored of drinking wine. Okay, that’s probably not the reason. But check any drinks menu in France and there is usually an overwhelming choice, including many beverages rarely found elsewhere.
Inspired by the spirit of l’apéro (aperitif), we’ve compiled a list of interesting, unusual, and (mostly) delicious French drinks. The kind you will find served at gatherings and bars all over France.
1. Pastis (aka Ricard)
If there is one drink more gallic than wine, it is the ubiquitous and beloved pastis. An obvious choice for a list of French drinks, but far too popular to ignore.
Once associated with balmy Mediterranean coastal towns like Marseille, pastis is now consumed across the country.
The distinctive aniseed drink emerged as the successor to absinthe, banned for many years for being too intoxicating. And while absinthe has made a comeback after being legalised in France, pastis remains the more popular drink by far.
Pastis retains the flavours of absinthe, minus the disconcerting hallucinatory effects (although some of the most lurid claims about absinthe have been debunked).
A sipping drink, pastis is generally served in 20 cl measures, along with a disproportionately large carafe of chilled water. The carafe encourages hydration before a lengthy dinner and sits ready for anyone bold enough to order a second pastis.
A very popular, relatively cheap aperitif to get diners in the mood for eating, it is also a go-to drink for lively evenings.
While bar staff often refer to pastis as ‘Ricard’ — understandable as Paul Ricard created the drink — there are plenty of other decent pastis brands (51 or Duvall are popular). Visitors should bear this in mind if they want to try something different. But don’t ask for Pernod, that’s only made for international markets.
2. Picon
Moving onto one of the more peculiar French drinks, Picon has a popularity the flavour cannot account for.
Picon is an orange flavoured bitter, used in cocktails but more typically added to beer. A wine version is also sold.
Out of favour for a while, Picon has made a comeback in recent years. It is an ideal mixer for spicing up bland beers — little can mask the intense citron, quinquina (quinine), and gentian root (also found in Angostura bitters) flavours.
Mostly a pre-dinner aperitif, Picon Bière is an acquired taste popular throughout North-Eastern France.
3. Kir / Kir Royale
Many popular French drinks are simple cocktails that marry two drinks together. Kir is probably the most beloved example, made with just two ingredients: wine and crème de cassis.
Crème de cassis is a thick, sweet, and intensely fruity blackcurrant liqueur. It is the classic kir ingredient, although other fruity flavours are often substituted, such as framboise (raspberry), pêche (peach), and mûre (blackberry).
Once known as blanc-cassis (a reference to the white wine commonly mixed with cassis), the drink got a name change once a canny mayor of Dijon, Félix Kir, started promoting the locally made liqueur after 1945.
Some claim the drink was created out of ‘necessity’, either to disguise unpalatable white wine harvests or because the German occupiers of 1940-44 drank all the red wine.
Over the years, Kir has become one of the most popular pre-dinner French drinks. Only pastis comes close.
Kir is a versatile drink. A special occasion might begin with a kir-royale that replaces ordinary wine with champagne. While numerous variations satisfy the French love of regionality. Leading to combinations like:
- Kir Normand (made with Normandy cider)
- Kir Breton (made with the, er, Breton cider)
- Kir Cidre (again the Normans, again cider, but this time with a touch of Calvados)
- Communard – A simple switch of red for white wine
4. Menthe-Pastille
Lively parties like Réveillon (New Year’s Eve and Christmas Eve) sometimes end with the host dragging a giant bottle of menthe-pastille from the freezer before anybody can run away.
Menthe-pastille is, as the name indicates, a mint-flavoured drink. Sweet, viscous, and served in small shots, the drink has been a party institution for generations.
Often served direct into the lid and downed in one, menthe-pastille is best served ice-cold.
The drink was created by a pharmacist, Emile Giffard, which may explain the medicinal, peppermint flavour that wins fans and detractors in equal measure.
Made by the liqueur manufacturer Giffard since 1885, this is one of those French drinks that emerges when tastebuds are no longer required (i.e. long after dinner has finished).
5. Calvados
A speciality of Normandy, Calvados is an eau-de-vie (brandy) distilled from apple cider and, less commonly, pear cider.
Named after the Calvados department in Normandy, most production is AOC (Appellation d’origine contrôlée, a certification of geographical and quality authenticity). Unusually, this particular AOC certification covers an extensive area far beyond Calvados.
AOC versions are aged for a minimum of 2 years. The gold standard is ‘Calvados Pays d’Auge’, from an area that sits across both the Calvados and Orne departments. Unlike other Calvados, Pays d’Auge variety also specifies a 6-week minimum for fermenting the base cider.
A venerable drink made since at least the 1500s, it takes around 13 litres of cider to make one litre of calvados. That’s about 18kg of apples for one bottle.
Like other brandies, Calvados is graded. The very finest is aged for a minimum of six years (often longer) and marked as X.O. (extra old) or Napoléon. Young calvados accentuates the tastes of the orchard. Aged Calvados resembles other brandies with the apple or pear flavours less noticeable.
Calvados is a strong brandy, with a minimum of 40% alcohol content (rising to 55% for ‘cask’ calvados).
Calvados owes some of its popularity to versatility. Once sipped between courses — a ritual called trou Normand, or Norman hole — it is one of those rare French drinks that works as an aperitif, after-dinner drink, or cocktail mixer. It may even appear served on a sorbet as a mid-dinner palate cleanser.
6. Cidre (cider)
Without cidre, there is no calvados. But cider is an even more popular drink, especially in Normandy and Brittany, the orchard-rich regions of France.
Cider is not unique to France. Yet it earns a place on our compilation of French drinks because sparkling French-style cider is the drink to accompany savoury buckwheat galettes and crêpes (sweet pancakes). And everybody loves crêpes.
Crisp and refreshing, the alcohol content of French cider can be as low as 2% and rarely higher than 4% (although stronger versions can be found).
Not content with making cider de rigueur with crêpes, different types of cider exist for each course. Sweeter ciders for dessert crepes, brut ciders for savoury courses.
Although cider doesn’t hold the international profile of French wine, it is reportedly the second most-consumed drink in France (by volume). Consequently, a vast range of ciders exist. From boutique brews to the well-known and only AOP cider, Cornouaille, to the less commonly drunk poiré (perry), a sweet cider made with pears.
7. Cognac
Another eau-de-vie (literal translation: water of life) Cognac counts itself amongst the chicest of French drinks.
In common with many fine French drinks and food, Cognac is named after its home. All Cognac is designated AOC. Despite this apparent limitation, the global market for Cognac is huge, with 216 million bottles exported in 2019.
Double-distilled from white wine, Cognac boasts a complex flavour profile and is especially popular following a slow and leisurely dinner.
In common with other brandies, Cognac is classified according to age:
- VS (Very Special)
- VSOP (Very Special Old Pale)
- XO (Extra Old).
Cognac ages well. Extremely old and rare bottles have sold for 6 figure sums, like the last remaining bottle of Cognac Brugerolle, bottled in 1795 and sold for a cool $149,943.
Less well-known but older than Cognac is another brandy, Armagnac, hailing from (you guessed it) the Armagnac region of France. Higher in alcohol and with a distinctive flavour, Armagnac has been made since at least the 1300s and is sometimes ordered instead of Cognac.
8. Pineau (des Charentes)
Making good use of the local brandies, pineau des Charentes is a fortified wine, or vin de liqueur, made with fermented grape must and Cognac.
Made in the same geographically protected (AOC) zone as Cognac producers, the drink reportedly resulted from a mistake in 1589, when brandy (eau de vie) was inadvertently added before fermentation. The new libation proved to be a hit with whoever was brave enough to try it.
Questions hang over the apocryphal story. Pineau is also an easy-to-make moonshine mixed in homes all over the neighbouring regions, using seasonal fruits and any available eau de vie.
Don’t be put off if you ever get to try the moonshine version. Alcohol content is moderate at between 16-20% and pineau can be enjoyed for the local fruity flavours that are slowly imparted.
9. Poire Williams
Pastis may be prized as an aid for digestion, yet Poire Williams is the digestif that wins the award for best presentation.
Digestifs are enjoyed throughout France, which is why Poire Williams makes our list of popular French drinks.
Making good use of William’s pear harvests (thus the name), the bottle is instantly recognised as the one with an entire pear suspended in clear liquid.
The method for getting the pear in the bottle is surprisingly rudimentary: the bottle is placed over a budding pear and remains there until the bulbous pear is fully grown.
The taste of pear is unmistakable, although it is unclear if the drink is valued for its flavour or the striking presentation.
10. Rhum Agricole
Should rum feature on a post about French drinks? Yes, because rum (rhum in French) is among the biggest exports from France’s oversea departments (département et région d’outre-mer).
Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana, and Réunion are all fully-integrated French regions renowned for their rhum. No surprise, rhum has long been popular in mainland France, and the country is spoilt for choice.
Supermarket shelves are stocked with white and amber rums, alongside a vast selection of rhum arrangé (flavoured rums, including vanilla and just about every fruit you can name).
The finest French rum is Rhum Agricole, agricultural rum. Originating in the French-speaking Caribbean, rhum is made from squeezed sugar cane, rather than the molasses used in other rum producing countries.
Martinique produces an AOC rhum, while Guadeloupe produces highly-regarded quality rums. Alcohol content level starts at 40% and reaches 55% for some bottles, making this is one of those French drinks that comes out when a fête (party) is in full swing.
11. Chartreuse
Few French drinks are as recognisable as Chartreuse, the distinct green liquid made by Carthusian monks since 1737.
The unusual green colour and flavour come from adding 130 herbs and other natural ingredients to distilled alcohol.
Following a recipe the monks received over a century earlier, the drink was initially hailed as a life-extending elixir. Current medical advice does not support the claim.
Taking its name from the Chartreuse monastery, the history of Chartreuse makes it one of the more intriguing French drinks.
Reading like a historical novel, the tale of Chartreuse takes in the monastery being dissolved (twice), the seizure of ‘medicinal’ recipes under Napoleon Bonaparte, generous benefactors effectively buying back the monastery, and a recipe so secret that only two living monks have access to it.
Confirming that monks don’t shy away from strong alcoholic drinks (some of the strongest European beers are made by monks), the original recipe Elixir Végétal de la Grande Chartreuse contains 69% ABV, which is unlikely to help anyone live a long life.
Want to discover some of the best vineyards in France to visit, including a wine made by fellow bibulous monks? Check out our guide to 9 of the finest wineries in France you can visit in 2022.
12. Monaco / Panaché
Some of the previous French drinks on our list sound like bottled hangovers. For a more restrained apéro, there are several French drinks created to minimise morning-after regrets.
Both Monaco and Panaché sit in the category of low-alcohol, thirst-quenching French drinks. Commonly known as shandy in English-speaking countries, both are a mix of beer and lemonade.
The only difference is a twist of grenadine in Monaco, the popular sirop (syrup) made with pomegranate used for cocktails and children’s drinks.
Both drinks can be diluted with more lemonade to keep the alcohol content low, or alcohol-free beer can be used when called for.
Quick and easy to make, Monaco and Panaché are summer staples for family gatherings.
Final Thoughts
Drawing up a complete list of French drinks is an impossible task. All the unique liqueurs, craft beers, inventive cocktails, and boissons sans alcool (non-alcoholic drinks) would fill several bar menus. Not to mention the creative new French drinks that appear daily (French whiskey is very on-trend at the moment) and, of course, the irrepressible wine culture.
But the purpose of this list was to introduce some popular French drinks and give readers a few ideas for a classic apéro. Bonne santé!
