It's summer and it's hot.
Very hot.
The sun of Provence burns your skin and eyes.
You feel like you are starting to lose your bearings.
Only one thing could do you good: “a little yellow”.
Pastis, the drink that made Ricard's fortune, is more than a tradition in the south of France.
In the film
Jean de Florette
, we cannot see a scene of conviviality in which the characters are not tasting an anisette.
But where does the name of this popular drink come from?
Paul Ricard's "porridge"
Aniseed absinthe has been drunk for centuries in the Mediterranean.
From ouzo to raki via Marseille's "102", each region has its own version of the drink with a thousand virtues.
It was in 1932 that Paul Ricard decided to make this traditional liqueur the source of his fortune.
It is therefore an ambitious 23-year-old who for the first time inserts the name "pastis" on one of his bottles of alcohol made from star anise, green anise and liquorice.
Chosen because of its "typically Mediterranean" sound, the name "pastis" which means "porridge" in Provençal quickly spread and designated all similar drinks in the region.
The name of the company "Ricard" then became a synonym for designating the "little yellow", undisputed monarch of the terraces of Provence.