Darroze Mixology VS 700mL

Brand: Armagnacs Darroze — Mixology Range

Release Name: Mixology VS (in Collaboration with Jérémy Lauilhé, MOF Barman 2023)

Spirit Style / Type: VS Armagnac, Purpose-Built for Cocktails

Composition: Baco and Ugni Blanc Grape Varieties

Age: VS Grade (Minimum 1-2 Years)

Volume: 700ml Paper Bottle (84% Recycled Paper, Inner Plastic Pouch)

Alc / Vol (%): 43.0%

Country: France

Region: Bas-Armagnac (Grand Bas-Armagnac), Gascony

Cask Type: Non-Chill-Filtered, No Added Colouring; Sourced from Around 30 Individual Estates

Limited Edition: No (Standing Release, Launched May 2024, Part of the Ongoing Mixology Range)

Award Winner: Not independently confirmed with a specific score for the VS expression at time of writing — the related Mixology Blanche won a Silver Medal at the Bartender Spirits Awards 2025

Armagnac Darroze was founded in 1974 by Francis Darroze in Roquefort, Gascony, who pioneered the concept of single-estate Armagnac — the idea that Armagnac, like wine, could be produced and celebrated as an expression of one specific farm rather than blended anonymously. Rather than distilling their own spirit, Darroze roams the Grand Bas-Armagnac region sourcing from around 30 individual family estates, ageing and bottling each one separately in their cellars in Roquefort and Labastide-d'Armagnac. Now run by Francis's son Marc, a trained oenologist, the house celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024 with the launch of the Mixology range — Darroze's first dedicated foray into bartender-focused Armagnac, developed in collaboration with acclaimed French barman Jérémy Lauilhé.

Most Armagnac is made and marketed for slow, contemplative sipping, but Darroze built Mixology specifically to solve a different problem — giving bartenders an Armagnac genuinely designed to hold its own in a cocktail, developed hand-in-hand with Jérémy Lauilhé, one of France's most decorated bartenders. That collaboration shows in the range's own recipe book, which pairs this VS specifically with drinks like the Armagnac Fashioned (with chocolate bitters and dark chocolate), the Darroze Highball (with jasmine syrup and sparkling water) and Twist Agrumes (with Timut pepper syrup and orange bitters) — genuine, considered cocktail applications rather than a repackaged sipping Armagnac. The packaging itself is a genuine industry first: rather than standard glass, Darroze partnered with UK packaging company Frugalpac to produce a bottle that's 84% recycled paper by weight, with the spirit held in a separated inner plastic pouch — a meaningfully lower-carbon format for an entire bottle category that's never used it before. Darroze itself has genuine Armagnac pedigree behind this innovation, founded in 1974 by Francis Darroze, who pioneered the concept of single-estate Armagnac, sourcing from around 30 individual Gascon farms rather than blending anonymously. A genuinely distinctive, bartender-focused Armagnac for any serious cocktail programme wanting to move beyond the usual whisky and Cognac base spirits.