Pastis 12/12 de Saint-Tropez (700 ml)

Pastis 12/12 was created as a direct rejection of mass-produced pastis: where industrial brands rely on artificial flavoring, this Saint-Tropez expression macerates 12 hand-selected Provençal botanicals for 12 hours in cold neutral spirit — the name encoding both the formula and the philosophy. The botanicals are sourced from the garrigue and hillsides surrounding the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, where the Mediterranean microclimate — intense summer sun, low rainfall, and salt-laden coastal air — concentrates volatile aromatic oils in wild thyme, rosemary, and star anise to a degree impossible in cooler inland terroirs. Cold maceration is the technical signature: by keeping temperatures low throughout extraction, the process preserves delicate top-note aromatics that heat-assisted maceration would volatilize away, yielding a fresher, more herb-forward profile than the caramelized sweetness typical of the category. The result is a pastis that turns genuinely pale gold rather than deep amber when diluted — a visual marker of the lighter sugar load and the absence of artificial colorants. Serve long over ice with cold water at a 5:1 ratio to watch the louche bloom, or use neat as a culinary finishing spirit.