In 2021, the Village de Caractère du Crozet revisited an ancestral drink with medicinal properties. "The Elixir Messire Papon", essences of local plants and fruits is the new specialty of this small city of character.
An ancestral beverage revisited
For the record, Jean-Michel Bérd, a former resident of the Village de Caractère and historian, finds the recipe for an ancestral beverage emblematic of the Crozet. This liqueur made from plant essences found in the Monts de la Madeleine, a priori euphoric, had its hour of glory at the Court of the Kings in the XVIe century.
The ancient history lover had been looking for years to revive this forgotten drink. This recipe is for him “a pure marvel”.
An original product "Elixir de Messire Papon" was born in 2021 thanks to a collective adventure bringing together the municipality of Crozet, Jean-Michel Bérd, Sylvie Mommert-Gaudillère, the Promotion Tourisme association and a local house “Les Frères Crozet” specializing in distilling, located in Thizy-les-Bourgs.
The elixir of Crozet, a potion with 1000 virtues
Legend has it that a potion with strange powers was made by a servant of Sir Papon, a notable of the time. A beverage with medicinal properties. Sterility, colic, blindness, insomnia… a thousand virtues were attributed to this precious formula.
Sir Papon, with a brilliant knowledge, sometimes suffered from a language disorder during stressful moments. This elixir, euphoric and stupefying, helped him to face this problem. After years of success, this elixir ends up sinking into oblivion...
After 5 centuries of decantation, the famous elixir has been analyzed, worked on and revisited so as to no longer create the slightest disturbance while retaining its best virtues.
A liqueur with natural and local ingredients
If the initial recipe is not very explicit, we know that it was based on local plants and fruits. The Crozet Frères distillery has revisited this formula based on products growing in the Monts de la Madeleine. Light stone and forest fruit tones stand out in taste.
Despite its secret composition, we know that we find the famous quadrifolium, the four-leaf clover, present from the beginning. With an alcohol content of 15°, it is drunk fresh as an aperitif but can be served as a digestive.
4 questions to Jean-Charles Crozet, from the distillery
"Crozet Brothers"
What was the genesis of the project to create the Elixir du Crozet?
JCC: Mayor Nicolas Chargueros and the association Promotion Tourisme wanted to create an identity product for Le Crozet. Jean Michel Bererd, former Thizerot and also a former classmate, played the facilitators and contacted me. After a visit to the interested parties at the distillery and an exchange of ideas on the creation of a product, I offered them several samples that we all tasted together on a Saturday morning at the Crozet town hall.
After deliberation, a sample was taken out of the lot.
Then, the choice of the bottle container was made and the label was created by Sylvie Mommert-Gaudillère visual artist from this village of character.
What are the main manufacturing steps for this product?
JCC: The elixir is a blend of sugar wine and various infusions and alcoholates of fruits and plants. Made in the heart of our distillery in Thizy-les-Bourgs, these infusions of plants and fruits follow traditional processes that we keep as old know-how.
Tell us about one of the ingredients in this elixir…
JCC: The recipe being secret, I will not reveal this one. I can simply tell you that we work with products that we find naturally in the region. It is a traditional and local liqueur, specialty of the Village de Caractère du Crozet
And you, how do you prefer to taste the “Elixir du Crozet”?
JCC: The Elixir is consumed pure as an aperitif and rather chilled (bottle in the fridge) and on ice (cubed or crushed). It can also be eaten as a dessert and, why not, with blue-veined cheeses such as Fourme de Montbrison.
Another original way to consume this liquid: in the kitchen as a replacement for port or wine to deglaze a juice or cook foie gras.
I prefer to enjoy it in the summer with friends as an aperitif in a large glass filled with ice!
On the border between past and legend, it is a beautiful story at the origin of the success of this elixir which plays with the virtues attributed to it. An identity elixir for this Village of Character that many of us will not fail to test...
