Pastis: The Soul Drink of the South of France

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THE DAILY MEAL NEWSLETTER
/ DRINK / COCKTAILS AND SPIRITS
Pastis: The Soul Drink of the South
of France
Get Your Daily Dish on Food & Drink
Savoring the aniseflavored liqueur in the shade of a plane tree in an Olonzac café
THE DAILY MEAL VIDEO NETWORK
October 17, 2011 | 10:58 AM
By Roger Morris, Special Contributor
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You cannot go to the South of France without lingering at
least one midmorning at an outdoor café in the shade of a
plane tree, reading Le Figaro or the International Herald
Tribune while alternately sipping an espresso and a glass of
pastis with a side of water.
Pastis, I think, is the “soul drink” of the French
Mediterranean, a part of its cultural DNA, even though it
was invented only 80 years ago in 1932.
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So I found myself a few weeks ago at the Café de la Poste in
Olonzac on a sunny market day with two fellow passengers
from the Caroline, a threebedroom barge hotel that
provides pleasure cruises between Carcassonne and
Beziers along the Canal du Midi. We had just strolled
through the town square and along a twisting side street
lined with dozens of produce stands, helping Caroline’s
owner, captain, and tour guide, Uli Weber, choose cheeses
and sausages and ripe tomatoes for feasting later on board.
Then we came out onto a much busier street, where there
was a newsstand to buy the morning paper, and then the
café with its dozen or two round tables strewn across the
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broad sidewalk like lily pads across a country pond. The
place was jammed, but we found a table in back in the
shade of a tree, unfolded our papers, and admired the
greencheckered façade of La Poste.
Although we happened there by serendipity, I later found
posts about La Poste’s local popularly on the web. “I’ve
been using the free wifi at the Café de la Poste in Olonzac
for the last month,” wrote Elaine at Aude France. “I now
think of the bar as my office. In fact, I think I’ve spent more
time in a bar this month than I have in my whole life to this
point.” Perhaps Elaine and her wifi friends were there that
morning. Soon a waitress appeared, and a few minutes
later, the espresso and pastis were before me. Because it
was still morning, I diluted the shot of pastis by about half,
the cool water turning the fiery liquid a creamy white. I
sipped. Just the right amount of lightly chilled anise flavor
and a slight brace of alcohol that mere caffeine can never
replicate.
Pastis is one of many Mediterranean drinks flavored with
anise and licorice, and it came as a replacement for the
wormwoodlaced absinthe, also aniseflavored, which was
banned in France and most other countries for purportedly
driving people to do mad things that they now only do on
Jerry Springer. So Paul Ricard (the Ricard part of the
Pernod Ricard spirits conglomerate) invented pastis in
1932, and southern France has been sipping it ever since,
usually with cool water, no ice, please.
A halfhour later, refreshed and having caught up with the
news of the world, we made our way back to our mooring a
few kilometers away and were afloat on the Canal du Midi,
the flavors of the South of France still lingering on my
palate.
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COCKTAIL FRANCE
PASTIS
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Roger Morris writes about wine, food, and travel for several publications
including Robb Report, Wine Enthusiast, Intermezzo, Sante', Sommelier
Journal, Beverage Media, Drinks, Drinks Business (UK), Plaisirs de Vivre
(Canada) and Sommelier News. He also contributes to the regional
publications The Hunt, Signature Brandywine and ccdwell.com. Morris is
also author of the blog, Been There Tasted That
(http://beentheretastedthat.blogspot.com/), and may be
contacted at [email protected].
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