Spirits: The French
Eau-de-Vie Game Created by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
France
is famous for its musketeers, imbibing spirits, eau-de-vie, in novels such as
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, Gil Blas by Alain-René Lesage, and
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand.
When I worked in Chicago and Paris, many visiting businessmen did want to take French brandy home as gifts, because it was hard to export it to Japan in the 1990s. Now it is easier to export brandy, but people do not know what all the different products are. I have listed some different French brandies below that might interest people besides cognac.
Also, if I do not have vanilla for cakes, I will use cognac or other brandies in its place, since most liquid vanilla has alcohol in it.
When I worked in Chicago and Paris, many visiting businessmen did want to take French brandy home as gifts, because it was hard to export it to Japan in the 1990s. Now it is easier to export brandy, but people do not know what all the different products are. I have listed some different French brandies below that might interest people besides cognac.
Also, if I do not have vanilla for cakes, I will use cognac or other brandies in its place, since most liquid vanilla has alcohol in it.
If
you are just going to visit Paris, there are two main stores that you can visit
that have a selection of food products.
These stores can package the eau-de-vie, insure it, fill out customs
papers, and ship it, so you do not have pack bottles of liquid in your
suitcase.
The stores that are set
up in Paris for food and alcohol sales to foreign tourists are Fauchon and Hédiard. Film festival venues might consider setting
boutiques for these stores and souvenir pick-up points during film festivals to
increase sales tax.
Eau-de-Vie Suggestions
follow:
-Calvados
– apple brandy from Normandy
-Mirabelle
– yellow plum brandy from the Lorraine
-Poire
William – pear brandy from Alsace
-Cognac
– grape-based brandy from the Charente region
-Armagnac
– grape-based brandy from the Gers, Landes, and Lot-et-Garonne Regions
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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