“It’s a really well-known drink, however that doesn’t imply lots of people order it,” says Margot Lecarpentier of the Perroquet, a French drink consisting of pastis, mint syrup and water. The serve is ubiquitous—particularly within the south of France, the place the custom of consuming pastis flavored with syrups is deeply ingrained—although hardly ever given a lot thought in cocktail circles.
For the Paris-based bartender and proprietor of Fight within the metropolis’s Belleville neighborhood, the neglected simplicity of the recipe is a part of its attraction. “I actually, actually love discovering these type of previous, forgotten drinks and simply placing them again on folks’s radar as like, that is type of cool, possibly we must be consuming this extra,” she says.
The Perroquet—which interprets to “parrot,” a nod to its vibrant inexperienced hue—belongs to a canon of pastis-plus-syrup combos that may be discovered all through France, together with one other fashionable rendition made with grenadine that’s merely referred to as Tomate, or “tomato.” “I just like the names which can be tremendous easy and tremendous cute and really descriptive,” says Lecarpentier. “It’s type of old school.”
Earlier this 12 months, she posted a video on her Instagram feed spotlighting her tackle the drink and tips on how to make it at house. “Mint syrup plus pastis isn’t good—it’s too candy,” says Lecarpentier. As a substitute, she makes a simple mint shrub with rice vinegar to convey some acidity to the three-ingredient formulation.
“For many French folks, the Perroquet will not be a ‘cocktail,’ it’s simply syrup and pastis,” says Lecarpentier of the drink’s long-standing function in apero tradition, which existed lengthy earlier than fashionable cocktail tradition took form in France. However that simplicity is exactly its allure. “I like that it’s nothing fancy,” she says.
