“A quality alcohol, like the other products of the distillery, must reflect a history, a know-how, a terroir, but above all and above all a personality”.
David faverot
The summer meetings of "Théâtre à Hérisson" presented that year an adaptation of the novel by Thomas Berger, The Memories of a Pale Face (Little Big Man in the cinema). The actor and future founder of the Balthazar Distillery Olivier Perrier meets James Leva, a musician from North Carolina on this show. This native American had learned to distill Moonshine (alcohol from contraband grain in the USA) thanks to a world-famous violinist: Tommy Jarrel, who could not make a living from his musical passion. There followed an exchange of good manners between the two men: one taught him to play music, and the other helped him produce his Moonshine.
During the rehearsal weeks, Olivier and James decide to make a makeshift still, to malt barley, to incorporate corn, for its roundness and its fruity side, and rye, for its spicy aromas. After having distilled a few liters of this cereal brandy, they offer it to many spectators. From these surprising aromas, and his passion for hand-distilled alcohols, Olivier begins to develop a whiskey from the Pays de Tronçais, always combining several cereals. 1999: the retirement of the actor
After years of experimentation on the fringes of his professional activity, Olivier officially founded the Distillerie de Monsieur Balthazar in 2000. Six years later, he released his first Whiskey on a larger scale: the Hedgehog
During these years of research, Olivier never wanted to make an imitation of Scottish, American or Irish whiskey. He wanted to produce a different, surprising whiskey, with local cereals, casks from the Pays de Tronçais or old barrels of French spirits. It is thanks to this obsession with quality and difference that the distillery developed a different manufacturing process and thus created its own signature.
In 2013, getting older, he wanted to take over. He meets David Faverot, a young enthusiast trained at the University of Alcohol in Segonzac, to whom he passes on his know-how. It is now up to David to write the future lines of the history of Mr. Balthazar's Distillery.
