If you have been to France, you know that the bars there bear little resemblance to American watering holes. Over there, when you go into a bar for something to drink, you’ll most likely be enjoying coffee, water, or what the French drink before dinner--an aperitif.
Since aperitifs precede dinner, there are a few prerequisites: the drink has to taste good by itself, without food; it should never interfere with the flavors of the food to come; and a touch of acidity is considered de rigeur.
The aperitif served most often in this country is a glass of white wine. The most common aperitif in different parts of France may be a glass of Champagne or a Crémant from some other region. Of course, you can add Crème de Cassis, orange juice, or a sugar cube dowsed with bitters to a glass of bubbly to make a champagne cocktail, but that’s only necessary if you get tired of Champagne. We never do!
Aromatized wines, including vermouth, Lillet, and Dubonnet, are cocktails in a bottle. Pour them over ice (or just serve chilled) with a lemon twist or slice of orange, and you have an aperitif!
The French prefer dry vermouth, the Italians sweet; and both were developed in the 18th Century. If you want a bit more excitement, a Vermouth Cassis is dry vermouth with a splash of Crème de Cassis served on the rocks with a lemon twist. Lovely.
Lillet is an aperitif wine fortified with fruit brandy, produced in the Bordeaux region by the same family that owns Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, a prestigious Bordelaise house. Dubonnet Rouge has the notable addition of quinine, which gives tonic its bitterness.
Two classic bitters, Campari and Cynar, both come from Italy and are relatively high-alcohol extracts of spices, herbs, roots, and other plant material. Some, like Campari, can be served as is, on the rocks, or with a twist. Cynar is generally served as an aperitif after it is mixed with something like soda, orange juice or tonic water.
If you ever stroll past a Parisian bistro and see someone sitting at an outdoor table with a chartreuse-tinted beverage in hand, chances are it’s a Pastis. It is always diluted with water, and usually gets some ice, but not as much as an American might add. The two most popular brands are Pernod and Ricard. Pernod is essentially a version of Absinthe. It is a little stronger than Pernod and has a slightly different flavor profile. As for why the French would drink something with such a strong flavor before dinner, and in so doing, violate many of their very own aperitif rules, they would probably say, “buf, c’est Pastis!”
