Pears and geraniums from Yvelines, chinotto from the eastern Pyrenees, chicory from the Calais strait, beetroot from Essonne are all ingredients that might pass for the morning haul of a Paris market. They are instead the backbone of the drinking experience at Bar De Vie, the quietly groundbreaking spot that opened last summer in the Montorgueil district.
How Bar De Vie Challenges the Uniformity of Modern Mixology
In an era when dining and drinking often slide toward uniformity, Alex Francis and Barney O’Keane have built a bar system that puts seasonality, French producers, and local craftsmanship at its center, framed by sustainability and a deliberate sense of restraint. With a minimalist touch, De Vie rewrites the narrative of the bar through drinks that start quite literally from the ground: singular, seasonal ingredients sourced through a tight network of growers and artisans. Their fullest expression emerges in the glass and underground, in a limestone cave beneath Comptoir De Vie where the finishes echo the shifting seasons of the year — and of life.
Inside the Bar De Vie Tasting Menu
The project stretches outward, too: a kitchen led by Adam Purcell, and a retail space that showcases the team’s own bottled creations alongside a selection of French ingredients. Bar De Vie is, as the two partners describe it, a “return to bread and butter” — to a clarity of purpose that led them to build an omakase-style tasting menu of five small-format drinks. The aim is immersion: to draw guests fully into their idea of natural drinking, where low- and no-ABV expressions are an extension of their philosophy.
Low and no ABV as an Expression of Identity
“Even before the term farm to glass was everywhere, our style already embraced low ABV,” Alex and Barney explain, “thanks to fermentations — wine, cider, mead — without sidelining higher-proof spirits like eaux-de-vie, which we use with care.” De Vie’s approach naturally led them to develop ingredients with very little or no alcohol at all, thanks to an in-house system that avoids relying on high-proof distillates.
Consistency in Every Detail
The menu, always evolving and designed to move with nature rather than against it, includes moderately alcoholic drinks (5–6% and up) as well as low-alcohol selections. The full tasting can be served in either format. Then, zero proof is the completion of an ethic. Coherence shows up in the glass, in combinations like “Chinotto”, where a housemade liqueur meets smoked kumquat and a cedar-leaf soda. It is a reminder that every ingredient is treated as a craft object, reflecting De Vie’s values: innovation in production, sustainability, and an insistence on natural flavor.
The Future of Mixology, According to Bar De Vie
Circular processes are standard practice. The by-products of one technique become the starting point for another: used solids find a second life in secondary infusions, and a single ingredient may yield multiple components destined for both alcoholic and nonalcoholic builds. Water-based distillation, alcoholic and malic fermentations, and straightforward infusions in vinegar, sugar, or tea all appear in rotation. Alex and Barney have even developed their own method for creating nonalcoholic products: preserving the by-products from alcoholic preparations, dehydrating the remaining mass to eliminate residual alcohol, then rehydrating it like tea or soda.
Technique and innovation never undercut Bar De Vie’s mission: to honor high-quality produce and extract as much honest flavor from nature as it will give. The path ahead, they say, will continue to explore new formats — different strengths, sizes, and contexts — so that every guest finds the version that fits their own inclinations. For Alex and Barney, the future of mixology will see a widening divide in the cocktail world: more guests seeking immersive, experience-driven spaces where the surroundings serve as an extension of the bar’s philosophy. A circular system, behind and in front of the counter, working at variable proof.
The article first appeared on Coqtail – for fine drinkers. Order your copy here
Images credits Millie Tang, all rights reserved
