Bardinet brandy begins pop-up café tour with cocktails inspired by Paris, Provence and the Riviera

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?