Menthe Pastille - Giffard

Giffard is a family-owned liqueur house founded in Angers, in France's Loire Valley, in 1885 by Emile Giffard, a pharmacist who originally developed a peppermint liqueur for digestive purposes.

The company has remained in family hands ever since and is widely regarded as one of the most technically precise liqueur producers in France. Menthe Pastille is their flagship product and the one that started the business.

It is made by macerating fresh peppermint leaves in neutral alcohol, then blending the resulting extract with cane sugar syrup to achieve a clean, intensely minty character without the synthetic edge that marks many competing products.

The name references the small peppermint candy lozenges common in French confectionery, and the liqueur genuinely delivers that association. The colour is a vivid natural green, and the concentration of mint flavour is notably higher than in most crème de menthe alternatives.

Bartenders in Vancouver use it in a wide range of cocktails, from Grasshoppers and Stingers to modern drinks that call for a precise hit of cool mint. It also works well over ice as a simple digestif, or drizzled over vanilla ice cream.

At this price point it is the benchmark choice for anyone who works with mint liqueur seriously.