A Loire Valley liqueur house founded by a pharmacist in 1885, still run by his descendants.
In the heatwave of 1885 the owner of the Grand Hotel in Angers asked the pharmacist next door for something to relieve his guests. Émile Giffard had been studying mint, and what he handed back was a clear liqueur steam-distilled from Mitcham peppermint. He named it Menthe-Pastille after the mint sweets of the day, and within the year he had turned the pharmacy into a distillery.
Maison Giffard has stayed in the family since — five generations now, working from Avrillé just outside Angers, drawing fruit and botanicals from the orchards of the Loire Valley.
The alcohol-free range came out of the same room and the same fruit as the liqueurs, and the family were explicit that it had to be made the Giffard way rather than bought in.
- Producer
- Giffard France
- Based in
- Angers, France
- Founded
- 1885
- Founder
- Émile Giffard
- Process
- Never Alcoholized
- Sizes
- 700 mL and 350 mL
- Site
- giffard.com/en
