Savonnerie des Diligences | LE LIQUORISTE | Star anise soap

Description

This soap, with its mood-stimulating properties, will undoubtedly remind you of some good memories characteristic of the aniseed drink, Ricard.

Note from the soap maker : On rainy days, it has been observed that this soap was the choice of consumers. Is this an urban legend?

Ingredients: Oils (olive, organic coconut, beeswax), water, sodium hydroxide, star anise essential oil, iron oxide (red).

Follow the smell of this legend...

The story takes place in 1922, in Potton Township, along the American border. Émilien Vallée, a farmer by trade, and above all an inveterate drinker, found himself struggling with what the older generation called prohibition. It was a hard time for heavy drinkers, since alcohol was virtually absent from the shelves of the borough's "general stores". Emilien, the dry gulper, began to make his own adulterated alcohol, which he called his "board juice. And with good reason! His recipe consisted in macerating poor quality alcohol in oak barrels that had contained whisky. This pseudo-drink flew away in the dark like hot rolls. Emilien's illicit trade quickly became so flourishing that he sold calves, cows and pigs to invest in his production. Even the Americans crossed the border to obtain this aromatic liquid prepared by the man who earned the nickname "The Red nose man".

Soon running out of barrels, he rushed to the port of Montreal to buy a batch from Europe. As soon as he came back, he opened the barrels to pour his 45%-alcohol drink and, to his surprise, a smell of licorice tickled his nostrils. With his order book overflowing, Émilien has no choice but to use his new barrels, despite the smell of star anise. He christened his new blend, Le pique-nez, without realizing that by using these liquorice wood barrels, he had invented an aniseed liqueur. Everyone who tasted this drink savoured it for its special taste. And, of course, Emilien did not give his place to swallow lamps of the amber liquid on the pretext of checking its taste!

His reputation spread so widely that, once the prohibition period was over, he legally bore the title of liquorist.

Author: Carol Laperrière

Reviewer: Venise Landry

Translator: Christopher Carrie

Handmade in Quebec