The story does not begin in Marseille but in a Swiss valley. In 1823 a monk and botanist handed his absinthe recipe to a young man named Charles Frédéric Berger. The rest of it moved south.

Expert description

Berger Pastis de Marseille is a French Pastis bottled at 45% and built on selected star anise and fresh liquorice root.

The Berger brand was formally created in 1830 in Couvet, Switzerland. The founder's sons moved the business to Marseille in 1878, and in 1923 the house was bought by Marie-Louis Gassier, who set about developing new aperitifs. The yellow pastis — le jaune, as the French call it — arrived in 1947.

The style is the classic Marseille line: clean anise, clear liquorice and a balanced sweetness with no spice layer on top. The 45% brings structure and warmth without drowning the botanicals. Today Berger belongs to Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits.

Tasting notes

Nose

Intense anise and liquorice, drier than many others in the category. Fennel behind it and a light herbal tone.

Palate

Full and aromatic. The liquorice root is obvious, the anise clean, and a touch of pepper through the middle keeps the sweetness in place.

Finish

Medium and straightforward. Liquorice and anise hold together to the end without any bitter tail.

Specifications

Name: Berger Pastis de Marseille
Distillery: Berger
Region/Country: Marseille France
Type: French Pastis
ABV: 45%
Size: 70 CL
EAN no.: 3191010010138
Serving suggestion: 1 part Pastis to 5 parts iced water

Flavour profile

Anise · Liquorice · Fresh · Spiced · Classic

Did you know?

Berger Blanc, the house's white anise aperitif, came before the yellow pastis and is still in production. Two bottles from the same house, two completely different expressions of anise.

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Forcalquier sits in the Haute-Provence, where lavender, wormwood and centaury grow wild across the dry slopes. The town carries the Site Remarquable du Goût designation. That is no accidental address for a distillery.

Expert description

Henri Bardouin Pastis Grand Cru is a French Pastis produced at Distilleries et Domaines de Provence in Forcalquier and bottled at 45%.

More than 65 plants and spices go into it. They are harvested, macerated and distilled separately and only assembled at the very end. Some travel a long way: star anise from China, liquorice root from Syria, tonka bean, ginger, cardamom and cinnamon. Others are gathered around the distillery itself — wormwood and centaury from the Haute-Provence.

That volume of botanicals is what earns it the Grand Cru name. Where an ordinary pastis sticks to anise and liquorice, here a whole layer of spice sits on top and the sweetness has been pulled back. The house has been distilling aperitifs in Forcalquier for over a hundred years, and the Grand Cru arrived in 1990. It now sells in eighty countries.

Tasting notes

Nose

Star anise and liquorice root sit at the bottom, but what you notice is cinnamon, cardamom and a sweet stroke of tonka bean. Behind them something dry and bitter from the wormwood.

Palate

Broad and spiced. Ginger brings warmth, cinnamon brings sweetness without sugar, and liquorice root ties it together. Less cloying than most pastis.

Finish

Long and herbal. Centaury and wormwood lay in a fine bitterness at the end, with the anise lingering behind it.

Specifications

Name: Pastis Henri Bardouin Grand Cru
Distillery: Distilleries et Domaines de Provence
Region/Country: Forcalquier Haute-Provence France
Type: French Pastis
ABV: 45%
Size: 70 CL
EAN no.: 3379974406017
Serving suggestion: 1 part Pastis to 5 parts iced water

Flavour profile

Anise · Liquorice · Spiced · Herbal · Bitter

Did you know?

The tonka bean in the recipe is the same one pastry chefs use to give custard a vanilla-like, almond-heavy aroma. In a pastis it is almost unheard of, and it is one reason Henri Bardouin tastes unlike anything else in the category.

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An old recipe sat gathering dust in the attic above the distillery at Fougerolles. It had been up there long enough that nobody remembered it. In 2017 it was brought back down, and the result now stands in the bottle.

Expert description

Lemercier Freres Pastis 1811 is a French Pastis produced at Distillerie Lemercier Frères in Fougerolles and bottled at 45%.

Seeds and plants are macerated and distilled: wormwood, gentian, liquorice root and star anise. The gentian is what makes it different, pulling in an earthy bitterness that most pastis from Marseille simply does not carry. The wormwood points straight back at the distillery's absinthe heritage.

Lemercier Frères was founded in 1811 and is the oldest distillery in Fougerolles, in Franche-Comté. The house is known for three things: Kirsch with AOC status, absinthe, and since 2017 this pastis. Pastis 1811 has taken gold at the IWSC.

The bottle holds 50 cl rather than the usual 70.

Tasting notes

Nose

Star anise and liquorice, though milder than you would expect. Underneath sits something green and herbal from the wormwood, and a dry, almost root-like tone from the gentian.

Palate

Soft and round to begin with, liquorice root and anise up front. Then the bitterness from gentian and wormwood arrives and tightens the whole thing up.

Finish

Dry and long. The anise lingers while the herbal bitterness slowly takes over.

Specifications

Name: Pastis 1811
Distillery: Distillerie Lemercier Frères
Region/Country: Fougerolles Franche-Comté France
Type: French Pastis
ABV: 45%
Size: 50 CL
EAN no.: 3176980600688
Serving suggestion: 1 part Pastis to 5 parts iced water

Flavour profile

Anise · Liquorice · Bitter · Herbal · Dry

Did you know?

Fougerolles is the cherry capital of France and holds its own AOC for Kirsch. Lemercier Frères has been distilling in the same buildings for more than two hundred years and still takes visitors on tours.

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The yellow bottle with the slanted signature has stood in French bars for the best part of a century. Order a Pernod in Marseille and you are not getting pastis. You are getting something older.

Expert description

Pernod is a French Anise Liqueur made from distillates of star anise and fennel and bottled at 40%.

Alongside star anise and fennel there are fourteen other aromatic plants, coriander and mint among them. The star anise comes mainly from Vietnam and southern China and is distilled to draw out a clean, potent anethole. The liquorice content is low, and that is precisely where Pernod parts company with pastis: less sweetness, more anise, and a drier, more floral line.

The story starts in 1805, when Henri-Louis Pernod opened Pernod Fils in Pontarlier and made absinthe. After the absinthe ban a wormwood-free version appeared in 1920, and the Pernod we know today was created in 1938.

Tasting notes

Nose

Clean star anise, sharp and obvious. Fennel behind it, and a light minty coolness lifting the whole thing.

Palate

Anise takes up most of the room, but without the heavy liquorice sweetness. Coriander brings a light citrus spice, and there is a floral tone through the middle.

Finish

Clean and fairly short. The anise ebbs away and leaves a cool, almost menthol sensation.

Specifications

Name: Pernod
Distillery: Pernod
Region/Country: France
Type: French Anise Liqueur
ABV: 40%
Size: 70 CL
EAN no.: 3047100090316
Serving suggestion: 1 part Pernod to 5 parts iced water

Flavour profile

Anise · Fresh · Floral · Spiced · Dry

Did you know?

Pernod is a fixture in French kitchens. A splash into the pot with fish soup or mussels burns off the alcohol and leaves the anise behind — that is how a proper bouillabaisse gets its spiced undertone.

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At six in the evening in Marseille there is a sound nobody thinks about: water hitting pastis, and the glass changing colour. Ricard is the bottle that sound comes from.

Expert description

Ricard 45 Pastis de Marseille is a French Pastis created in Marseille and bottled at 45%.

Paul Ricard made it in 1932, only seventeen years after absinthe was banned in France. The recipe is built on star anise from China, liquorice root from Syria and aromatic herbs from Provence, and it has not been changed since.

It is the best-selling pastis in the world, which is why people order a Ricard rather than a pastis. The profile is clean and immediately recognisable — anise and liquorice with no spice layer on top — and it is built to be diluted rather than drunk as it stands.

Tasting notes

Nose

Star anise straight away, dense and sweet. Liquorice root sits just behind it, with a fine trace of dried Provençal herbs.

Palate

Soft, sweet liquorice, rounded anise and a light peppery warmth. Diluted it opens out and turns more herbal.

Finish

Sweet and heavy with liquorice, steady all the way through. Not complicated, but it lingers a long time.

Specifications

Name: Ricard 45 Pastis de Marseille
Distillery: Ricard
Region/Country: Marseille France
Type: French Pastis
ABV: 45%
Size: 70 CL
Serving suggestion: 1 part Pastis to 5 parts iced water

Flavour profile

Anise · Liquorice · Sweet · Herbal · Rounded

Did you know?

Paul Ricard bought the island of Bendor off Bandol in 1950 when it lay abandoned, and rebuilt it with hotels, a museum and a wine university. The family still owns it.

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Turenne sits in the Corrèze, where the sandstone turns the soil rust red and the fields look as if they were coloured from below. That ground gave the pastis its name. Terres Rouges — the red earths.

Expert description

Vedrenne Pastis des Terres Rouges is a French Pastis distilled at Distillerie des Terres Rouges in Turenne and bottled at 45%.

The recipe draws on more than ten plants and spices. Star anise, green anise and liquorice root form the backbone, and on top of it sit white and green cardamom, juniper, mace, caraway, wormwood, coriander and clove. Each botanical is handled separately and only brought together afterwards, which is why you can pick them apart in the glass instead of meeting one flat wall of anise.

The colour comes purely from the plants and the liquorice. No colouring is added, and 45% gives the pastis enough weight to hold its aromatics together once the water goes in.

Distillerie des Terres Rouges belongs to Vedrenne, the Burgundian liqueur house from Nuits-Saint-Georges that also makes Pagès and Salers. The pastis has been given a new label design that puts the region's red sandstone front and centre.

Tasting notes

Nose

Green fennel and star anise arrive first. Cardamom sits behind them with a dry streak of juniper, and the liquorice root turns up slowly.

Palate

Anise, sweet liquorice and a spiced warmth from clove and mace. A cool, minty streak cuts through the middle and keeps the sweetness in check.

Finish

Long and heavy with liquorice, caraway and coriander underneath. The wormwood leaves a small bitter tail right at the end.

Specifications

Name: Pastis des Terres Rouges
Distillery: Distillerie des Terres Rouges
Bottler: Vedrenne
Region/Country: Turenne Corrèze France
Type: French Pastis
ABV: 45%
Size: 70 CL
Natural colour: Yes
Serving suggestion: 1 part Pastis to 5 parts iced water

Flavour profile

Anise · Liquorice · Spiced · Herbal · Fresh

Did you know?

The red sandstone around Turenne is so distinctive that the whole area is called the Pays des Terres Rouges. The village is built from it, and in the afternoon sun the houses glow red.

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