Saturday, May 28, 2016

Drink of the Day: St-Germain Liqueur

This is expensive but tastes so good in cocktails!     Toast of the Day:  “Happy feast day, Saint Germain.  Viva Le France!”

St-Germain is a liqueur made from elderflowers which are handpicked from the Alps and transported down to the distillery by bicycle.  The elderflowers are in bloom for only four to six weeks in the spring and must be harvested quickly.  The liqueur is complex with hints of passion fruit, peach, pear, and grapefruit zest.   It can be sipped neat but is far more magical when used in cocktails as St-Germain Cocktail and St-Germain Martini.


Who was St. Germain-des-Pres (AKA: Germanus of Paris)?
    He was born in 496 AD of Gallo-Roman parents, and he became the abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Symphorian near that town. He was hard-working and austere, and his alms-giving was so generous that his monks, fearing he would give away everything, rebelled.
    As he happened to be in Paris, in 555, when Eusebius, bishop of Paris, died, King Childebert detained him and he was consecrated bishop of Paris.  He died at Paris in 576.  
    He was canonized in 754 AD, and his relics were solemnly removed into the body of the church, in the presence of Pepin and his son, Charlemagne, then a child of 13, and the church was reconsecrated as Saint-Germain-des-Prés
    For nine centuries, in times of plague and crisis, his relics were carried in procession through the streets of Paris. 
    A district of Paris is named for his church.
    He feast day is May 28.


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