Bulle de Pêche Cocktail

Every great cocktail has a great story behind it.

This Bulle de Pêche cocktail is no exception.

I discovered this refreshing cocktail last summer while traveling in France.

It was summer in the South of France and it was hot!  It seemed too hot for our usual red wine. This refreshing cocktail provided the perfect alternative.

My husband and I stayed at the most fabulous hotel, Le Pigonette in Aix de Provence. While down at the garden bar on our first night, we pursued the menu and settled on the Bulle de Pêche. The first time we ordered this fizzy cocktail it was dressed with a sprig of greenery, that gave it a wonderful herbal note.

Cool and refreshing champagne cocktail with a surprising zing of lemongrass and peach.

The second time we ordered a round of Bulle de Pêche cocktails we were lounging down by pool.

This time our cocktails came with a sprig of mint. My keen eye for detail noticed the difference right away. Not only did the mint change the nose of this cocktail, it gave it a whole different look. I asked the bartender about the herbal discrepancy. I'm sure he found the fact that I even noticed the difference amusing (or annoying). We were in France - it was hard to tell the difference.

It was our luck that my curiosity led to him sharing the history of this cocktail. I love a good story about the origin of any recipe. I was super glad I'd asked!

As it turns out, this fantastic cocktail actually originated from this very hotel bar. I also learned that the original herbal accouterment was in fact fresh lemon verbena – cut daily from a hedge that stood in the very garden where we had enjoyed that first drink.

We loved this cocktail so much that we had to share it with friends and family.

A few weeks after our trip, my brother-in-law had a summer party at their home. We were determined to find all of the fixings for this cocktail so that we could share it with everyone. Unfortunately, we underestimated the difficulty of finding the key ingredient - RinQuinQuin. This peach-flavored liquor required a trip to South San Francisco to a specialty spirits shop, Bitter and Bottles. Additionally, we had to make a trip to the local garden store to find a lemon verbena plant. Authenticity is everything, right?

We still have this lemon verbena plant growing in our own garden. This, and the bottle of RinQuinQuin in the liquor cabinet, should save us quite a bit of time the next round!

I told you that every great cocktail has a great story. I hope you loved this story as much I loved telling it.

 A ta santé! Bring on Spring!

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