Two brothers and a friend – all former rugby players from the French Pyrenees – are creating gins and a vodka using flavours inspired by the mountains of southern France, with a name inspired with bears now found in the region.

Bear Brothers Gin was launched in 2019 following the launch of their vodka. The gin features handpicked mountain juniper, Pyrenean citrus and Pyrenean spring water. All of the ingredients are from France – other than bergamot – and the Bear Brothers team have constructed a greenhouse with the aim of growing all their own citrus ingredients in future. The gin is produced in seasonal distillations using fresh ingredients, with slight variations in the botanicals and flavour profile depending on the time of year.

According to Alexandre Caruana, he, his brother Julien and their childhood friend Frederic Gommard thought of the idea in the summer of 2018. In April 2019, they officially created Distillerie des Pyrénées and the Bear Brothers Brand in April 2019.

“We all had other jobs before this project in restaurants, bars and consulting offices and we were all fond of food, wine and spirits,” Alexandre Caruana told The Gin Bandits. “One day, over dinner, while drinking gin & tonics, we discussed starting our own gin brand, Bear Brothers. We agreed there must be one rule and only one: we will do exactly the gin we like, only fresh products, and all ingredients will be local to our distillery (1 hour maximum). We have had an organic certificate since January 2020.”

All the ingredients are handpicked by the trio including the juniper which they get 1,300 metres up in the Spanish Pyrenees Mountains which borders close to their home in France.

According to Bear Brothers, the gin recipe includes lemon, bitter orange, bergamot, three different types of finger limes, Buddha’s finger and Kaffir lime.

Head distiller Frederic told The Gin Bandits that the name Bear Brothers comes from the relationship between the two brothers and a friend have had since they were 10 years old.

“We are from a very small village in the mountains, the Pyrenees, very close to Spain. The French government introduced a few wild bears twenty years ago and now there are more than sixty and sometimes we actually come across them during treks. Moreover, another similarity is that we are all ex rugby players, strong men who can have a wild bear temper!”