Craft beers and distilleries

In Thuir, at the foot of the Aspres, the name Byrrh still stands out in capital letters on the stone and brick façades. The brothers Pallade and Simon Violet, who came from Corsavy, settled here in 1866 to trade in fabrics and wines; their drink made from wine and quinine made the fortune of the house from the 1870s onwards. Advertising accompanied its rise: posters in railway stations and cafés, and a poster-designers’ competition launched in 1903. In 1910, the company employed 750 people and had depots in several ports and cities across France.

Under the following generation, the Thuir cellars ranked among the largest in the world. A 4,205-hectolitre foudre was installed there in 1934, followed by a 10,000-hectolitre oak vat, assembled between 1935 and 1950, which the departmental tourist office presents as the largest in the world. Sold in 1961 and absorbed in 1977 into the Pernod Ricard group, the company continues to operate. The annexes open to the public, with their rows of foudres, have been listed as historic monuments since 2020.

In this land of vineyards, craft beer has found a place more recently. Master brewer Gregor Engler founded Cap d’Ona in Céret in 1998; the business, now a brewery-distillery, produces some thirty beers today, as well as sodas and spirits, and opens its workshop to visitors. On the plain, in Saint-André, the La Canya brewery works with a regional malt and organically grown hops, and also produces its own spirits.

In the mountains, inspiration comes from the forest. In Sahorre, in the Conflent, Abies Lagrimus has since 2013 been reviving a Pyrenean recipe for fir syrup, made from buds and cones of silver fir picked by hand above 1,700 metres. The same raw material yields a fir liqueur and vinegars, which can be tasted at the workshop, in the heart of the Parc naturel régional des Pyrénées catalanes.