Distillerie de Paris

Distillerie de Paris was created by brothers Nicolas and Sébastien Julhès, whose family had already established a food and wine business around the Faubourg Saint-Denis area of Paris. The company was registered in 2014 after several years of work to obtain permission for a functioning still in the capital. The still produced its first distillate on 22 January 2015. Contemporary accounts and the distillery itself describe the project as the first legal distillery established in central Paris in more than a century.

The distillery was established in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, close to the Julhès family businesses. Its principal equipment was a custom-built 400-litre Holstein still manufactured in Germany and fitted with a plate column, giving Nicolas Julhès considerable flexibility in working with different raw materials and styles of spirit. The still was registered under the number 751301, combining the Paris departmental number, the year in which authorisation was obtained and its designation as the first still of the project.

Nicolas Julhès developed the spirits and distillation side of the business after working with wine and spirits and gaining experience as a consultant. His approach at Distillerie de Paris has centred on experimentation with raw materials and aromatic composition rather than specialising in a single traditional category. Over the years the distillery has worked with cereals, grapes, sugar cane products, agave, botanicals and other ingredients, producing gin, vodka, rum, brandy, malt and rye spirits, aquavit, agave spirits, whisky and numerous limited projects.

The distillery remains active in Paris. Its current workshop and visitor activities are based at 60 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, while Distillerie de Paris SAS continues to operate under Nicolas Julhès. The house marked approximately ten years of distilling in 2025 and continues to use Paris itself as a central part of its identity and approach to spirit creation.