It's Election Day, which means you could probably use a drink. Today, we're exploring the iconic drinking culture of France, including its defining sensational beverages, drinking snacks and rules for drinking like a French person. Plus:
An upstart $50 Irish whiskey and a $35,000 Hibiki 40-year-old: We've got another great roundup of the best new whiskeys this month.
We caught up with Matthew and Camila McConaughey: The star couple’s Pantalones Organic Tequila turns one this week.
Before Experimental Cocktail Club opened its doors in 2007 (more on that below), cocktail bars were essentially nonexistent in Paris. And even though cocktail culture has certainly caught on, wine remains the drink of choice in France. This is obviously for good reason — France makes some of the best wine in the world, and they were drinking natural wine and pét-nats way before they caught on stateside. Talking about all the different types of wine from all of France’s incredible regions would be another story entirely, so just know this: wine is deeply embedded in everyday French life and culture.
A yearly event around drinking: The Hospices de Beaune Wine Auction
This annual auction has become one of the most famous wine charity sales in the world. Started in 1859, it takes place on the third Sunday in November and is preceded by three days of wine tastings, entertainment and a half marathon.
This Parisian icon was opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1911, after the bar was literally dismantled from its original location on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan and reassembled in its current home on Rue Daunou. Famed bartender Harry MacElhone was the man behind the stick, and many classic cocktails — like the Scofflaw and French 75 — were rumored to have been invented here. It’s still a delightful spot to grab a drink in Paris.
It's our editor Kirk Miller's favorite time of the month — he tastes a bunch of whisk(e)y and picks his 10 favorite new bottles. This month, we're featuring everything from an upstart $50 Irish whiskey to a $35,000 Hibiki 40-year-old.
“It’s a very thick and crowded market for tequila — even celebrity tequila,” admits Matthew McConaughey, co-founder of Pantalones Organic Tequila, which turned one this month. “But we believe in the juice. It speaks for itself. And let’s have fun. We noticed not many people were having fun with tequila, the way they were talking about it or consuming it. We wanted to make sure we brought that back.”
We recently had a tasting with Matthew and his wife (and Pantalones co-founder) Camila over Zoom, and the word “fun” was a key talking point. It’s certainly part of the brand’s marketing strategy, which finds the long-wed couple often pantsless in celebration, including ways that slyly mock the advertising of George Clooney’s tequila, Casamigos. And their most recent ad ponders why brands aren’t bringing back the “worm” — as in the dance move — to their tequila.
