Convivial drinks

Is beer considered in Lorraine as the nectar of the gods?

Pasteur honed his research into fermentation at the Tourtel brewery in Tantonville and the region is the third largest producer of beer in France.
With its family breweries, small brewers and brewer-farms, it is certainly ensuring that beers remains alive and well as it has been in the past. Just look at the museums dedicated to beer in Stenay, Ville-sur-Illon and Saint-Nicolas-de-Port.

But there are other drinks that also help us to pay homage to local fare, for example the wines from Toul including the famous Gris de Toul which has had an AOC (registered designation of origin, Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) since 1998, or the wines of Moselle and the Côtes de Meuse.

In the south of Vosges, a number of producers have specialised in the production of “small wines”, thereby perpetuating local and family traditions.
Flowers, fruit or wild plants are used to make these drinks which are popular as aperitifs or liqueurs.

As to Lorraine’s distillers, they use local expertise and the lush natural environment to breathe life into superb brandies made from the famous mirabelle plum, other plums, raspberries, the fruit of service-trees etc.