Do you know the fascinating history behind your favorite aperitif? Have you ever considered the complex skills involved in creating a cocktail—the centuries of research, experimentation and imagination that come together to produce that unique and exquisite blend of flavors in your cocktail glass? This book explores these questions, and many others, by celebrating Pernod Ricard’s faithful restoration of Gustav Eiffel’s iconic distillery built in Thuir in 1873, the origin of many of France’s most distinguished aperitifs, including Pernod Absinthe, Byrrh, Lillet, Ricard and Suze.

The first part of this book provides an intimate photographic tour of the distillery, revealing rarely seen images of the antique oak casks—among them the largest in the world, with a capacity of a million liters—copper pots and bubbling laboratory equipment, against the backdrop of Eiffel’s 19th-century stained glass windows and intricate ironwork. The Thuir distillery also boasts a recently refurbished bar, styled in the manner of the quintessential English club.

Part two of the book links the past with the present through a series of portraits and interviews with 25 of the world’s most accomplished and renowned bartenders and mixologists, who reveal the secrets (together with a few shared recipes) behind some of the most delicious drinks invented since the creation of absinthe.