This summer Bardinet is inviting UK drinkers to swap their G&T for something with a little more flair. The French brandy house has unveiled a series of pop-up cafés under the banner Chez Bardinet, a travelling experience that will serve up café culture at food and drink festivals across the country.
The campaign, which launched at the Great British Food Festival, promises authentic French styling, live music and even street artists to set the mood. More importantly, bartenders will be mixing up a quartet of Bardinet’s new summer serves, all riffs on the classic mule, designed to showcase Bardinet VSOP brandy.
A brandy brand with heritage
Founded in 1857 by Paul Bardinet, Bardinet has been producing brandy in the traditional French style for more than a century. Distilled from grapes and aged in oak at its Domaine de Fleurenne estate near Bordeaux, the spirit is known for its rounded, balanced taste. Today it ranks among the world’s top 10 internationally-sold brandies and remains one of the UK’s favourites.
Try these cocktails at home
If you can’t rendezvous with one of Bardinet’s pop-up cafés, the good news is these recipes are easy enough to recreate at home. Here’s how to bring a little joie de vivre to your own soirées…
Bardinet French Mule
Ingredients
5 cucumber slices
20ml elderflower liqueur
15ml fresh lime juice
40ml Bardinet VSOP brandy
Ginger beer to top
Pink peppercorns to garnish
Method Muddle the cucumber slices in a shaker. Add lime juice, elderflower liqueur and Bardinet. Shake with ice and strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Top with ginger beer and garnish with pink peppercorns.
Bardinet French Riviera Mule
Ingredients
25ml fresh clémentine juice
15ml lemon syrup
50ml Bardinet VSOP brandy
Ginger ale to top
Garnish with clémentine leaves and lemon zest
Method Shake the juice, syrup and Bardinet with ice. Strain into a glass of fresh ice. Top with ginger ale and garnish.
Bardinet Parisian Mule
10ml fresh lemon juice
20ml coffee liqueur
1 dash cocoa bitters
30ml Bardinet VSOP brandy
Ginger ale to top
Cocoa nibs to garnish
Method Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a glass of ice. Top with ginger ale and garnish with crushed cocoa nibs.
Bardinet Provence Mule
Ingredients
5 fresh or frozen blackberries
20ml fresh lemon juice
10ml lavender syrup
50ml Bardinet VSOP brandy
Ginger beer to top
Garnish with blackberries and dried lavender
Method Muddle the blackberries in a shaker. Add lemon juice, lavender syrup and Bardinet. Shake vigorously with ice, then strain into a glass of ice. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with blackberries and lavender.
For Bardinet, the new campaign is about pairing it’s heritage with accessibility. As UK Marketing Manager Janette Deed puts it: “French café culture is based on socialising, relaxing and of course enjoying delicious French fayre, so our pop-up has been designed with that in mind.”
A touch of France, served in a glass. What’s not to like?
The Whisky Exchange has dropped three new exclusive bottlings to mark the start of 2026, spanning Scotch whisky, American bourbon and Jamaican rum. The limited collection comprises an experimental single-cask Torabhaig from the Isle of Skye, a punchy single-barrel bourbon from Bardstown Bourbon Company, and a sherry-cask-aged Hampden Estate rum that leans fully into the…
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January may feel long and grey, but one undoubted bright spot is Burns Night, the annual celebration held on January 25, marking the birthday of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns. For whisky lovers, it’s one of the most convivial fixtures of the year: a night where poetry, food and Scotland’s greatest export meet in cheerful,…
The Luxe Review 
This summer Bardinet is inviting UK drinkers to swap their G&T for something with a little more flair. The French brandy house has unveiled a series of pop-up cafés under the banner Chez Bardinet, a travelling experience that will serve up café culture at food and drink festivals across the country.
The campaign, which launched at the Great British Food Festival, promises authentic French styling, live music and even street artists to set the mood. More importantly, bartenders will be mixing up a quartet of Bardinet’s new summer serves, all riffs on the classic mule, designed to showcase Bardinet VSOP brandy.
A brandy brand with heritage
Founded in 1857 by Paul Bardinet, Bardinet has been producing brandy in the traditional French style for more than a century. Distilled from grapes and aged in oak at its Domaine de Fleurenne estate near Bordeaux, the spirit is known for its rounded, balanced taste. Today it ranks among the world’s top 10 internationally-sold brandies and remains one of the UK’s favourites.
Try these cocktails at home
If you can’t rendezvous with one of Bardinet’s pop-up cafés, the good news is these recipes are easy enough to recreate at home. Here’s how to bring a little joie de vivre to your own soirées…
Bardinet French Mule
Ingredients
Method
Muddle the cucumber slices in a shaker. Add lime juice, elderflower liqueur and Bardinet. Shake with ice and strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Top with ginger beer and garnish with pink peppercorns.
Bardinet French Riviera Mule
Ingredients
Method
Shake the juice, syrup and Bardinet with ice. Strain into a glass of fresh ice. Top with ginger ale and garnish.
Bardinet Parisian Mule
Method
Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a glass of ice. Top with ginger ale and garnish with crushed cocoa nibs.
Bardinet Provence Mule
Ingredients
Method
Muddle the blackberries in a shaker. Add lemon juice, lavender syrup and Bardinet. Shake vigorously with ice, then strain into a glass of ice. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with blackberries and lavender.
For Bardinet, the new campaign is about pairing it’s heritage with accessibility. As UK Marketing Manager Janette Deed puts it: “French café culture is based on socialising, relaxing and of course enjoying delicious French fayre, so our pop-up has been designed with that in mind.”
A touch of France, served in a glass. What’s not to like?
Drink in 2026 with these Jamaican sherried rum, peated whisky, and high-strength bourbon exclusives
The Whisky Exchange has dropped three new exclusive bottlings to mark the start of 2026, spanning Scotch whisky, American bourbon and Jamaican rum. The limited collection comprises an experimental single-cask Torabhaig from the Isle of Skye, a punchy single-barrel bourbon from Bardstown Bourbon Company, and a sherry-cask-aged Hampden Estate rum that leans fully into the…
New Cask Strength Highland Park whisky puts Orkney heather front and centre
Just in time for Burns Night, Orkney-based Highland Park has announced a limited-edition cask strength single malt whisky. The new release, Cask Strength: Heather, is made using 100 per cent Orkney peat-smoked barley, with peat sourced responsibly from Hobbister Moor, just a few miles from the distillery. Given Orkney’s northern latitude, trees struggle to grow,…
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January may feel long and grey, but one undoubted bright spot is Burns Night, the annual celebration held on January 25, marking the birthday of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns. For whisky lovers, it’s one of the most convivial fixtures of the year: a night where poetry, food and Scotland’s greatest export meet in cheerful,…
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