You shouldn’t have to abandon your backyard or break away from the beach and bounce to a bar to enjoy a quality beverage this summer. This season’s evenings are for savoring, and Le Moné (pronounced like lemonade, without the “d”) is the perfect accompaniment. Le Moné is an award-winning, low-ABV apéritif based on farm wine sourced from a family-owned vineyard in New York’s Finger Lakes region and fortified with California brandy. Made from Meyer lemons, it’s sweetened with 100 percent organic Blue Weber Agave, and accented with a bit of Italian bergamot and three types of lime.
Le Moné comes in five flavors: Meyer Lemon (the original), Meyer Lemon with Raspberry & Lavender, Meyer Lemon & Cucumber, Meyer Lemon with Blackberry, and Meyer Lemon with Orange & Lime. All are available to purchase individually while some are also packaged as “citrus trios” in combinations of three.
That brings us to “Le Summer Pack.” Below, you’ll find ideas for how the original Meyer Lemon Le Moné, Le Moné with Raspberry & Lavender, and Le Moné with Cucumber — those that comprise this seasonal citrus trio — can be used to create quick and delicious drinks that you can whip up with minimal ingredients in the comfort of your own home. (Added bonus: For a limited time, Le Summer Pack is available for $15 off, with free shipping.)
Get ready, because Le Moné is set to transform the way you sip. And whether you’re toasting a special occasion or just enjoying a lazy summer evening, this brand-new kit has got you covered.
3 Flavors, 3 Cocktails, Endless Possibilities
Described as “the apéritif for always,” Le Moné isn’t designed to replace every item in your liquor cabinet, but to complement its contents. Despite its bold flavor, the beverage boasts extraordinary versatility, and while the ready-to-drink apéritif can be enjoyed alone over ice as a one-step cocktail, drinkers are also encouraged to get creative. Experiment with bitters, garnishes, and tonics, add some sparkle with soda water, or top it off with bubbles for a seasonal spritz. Swap liquor for Le Moné to create new, low-ABV versions of your favorite classic cocktails, or approach them as exciting additions and incorporate them into different drinks as you would vermouth or liqueur.
There are endless ways to enjoy Le Moné. Here are a few of our favorites.
The Le Moné Spritz
Featuring: Original Meyer Lemon Le Moné
Ranch water meets the Margarita in a refreshing cocktail made with the original Meyer Lemon Le Moné, the brand’s most popular variation, which forgoes fancy infusions in favor of keeping the focus on the flavor of the Meyer lemon. Made with a touch of agave, Le Moné pairs seamlessly with tequila, and without the simple syrup or triple sec that often make for sickly sweet Margaritas and rough mornings after, an effervescent Le Moné Spritz is a natural fit for your next school-night fiesta.
Ingredients:
- 2 ½-3 ounces original Meyer Lemon Le Mone
- ½-1 ounce blanco tequila (depending on how strong you’d like it)
- Soda water
- Lime wedge
Directions:
- Combine the original Meyer Lemon Le Moné and tequila over ice and mix thoroughly.
- Top with soda water.
- Serve with a lemon wedge.
Le Moné 75
Featuring: Le Moné with Raspberry & Lavender
Enjoy a virtual getaway via taste with Le Moné — in this case, enhanced with an unexpectedly compatible combination of raspberry and lavender.
While the traditional French 75 calls for fresh-squeezed lemon juice, this variation elevates the experience with berries and botanicals, and the Le Moné 75 is a blooming garden in a glass. The pink-hued beverage delivers bursts of both fruity and floral flavors, while gin and a sparkly splash of Prosecco easily take the liqueur to the next level. In short, it’s a vacation in a glass — a one-way ticket from your city rooftop or suburban patio straight to a chateau in the south of France.
Two words: Très bon.
Ingredients:
- 3 ounces Le Moné with Raspberry & Lavender
- 1 ounce gin
- Prosecco
Directions:
- Combine Le Moné with Raspberry & Lavender and gin in a shaker over ice.
- Shake vigorously and strain into a coupe glass.
- Top with chilled Prosecco.
- Serve with a garnish of frozen raspberries or a sprig of lavender.
Le Spa
Featuring: Le Moné with Cucumber
While humidity is one of the least appealing aspects of the season, let’s channel the easy-breezy nature of Le Moné and look on the bright side: There’s no need to head to a fancy resort to unwind, because during summer, everywhere’s a sauna.
We recommend embracing that extravagant energy and serving up some self-care in the form of an ice-cold cocktail perfectly suited for summer’s hottest days. Featuring Le Moné with Cucumber, one of the brand’s newest flavors, this simple, easy-sipping concoction is designed for refreshment and relaxation with a smooth flavor that evokes the serenity of the spa (or at least the air-conditioned paradise of a high-class hotel lobby).
Pamper yourself with a big pour of this fresh and fizzy beverage that’s best enjoyed while wearing a fluffy white robe. Bonus points if you place the extra cucumber slices over your eyes.
Ingredients:
- 3 ounces Le Moné with Cucumber
- Ice
- Soda water
- Cucumber garnish
Directions:
- Serve 3 ounces Le Moné with Cucumber over ice with a splash of soda.
- Garnish with cucumber.
- Optional: Add a splash of gin if you want it a little stronger
Facts, Stats & Story: Learn More About Le Moné
You know the old saying: When life gives you lemons … make an apéritif.
At least, that’s the guiding principle for the team behind Le Moné who have harnessed passion, expertise, and decades of industry experience to create this first-of-its-kind beverage, which launched in December 2021.
What really makes Le Moné stand out is, funnily enough, what it lacks. Le Moné contains just one-fifth of the sugar (2 grams per ounce) and less than half the calories (29.5) of other popular liqueurs. In addition, it’s all-natural — no fake flavors or artificial coloring incorporated — and at just 16 percent ABV, it’s far less potent than the other liqueurs lining your shelves. Along with making for a lighter, brighter, and better-feeling beverage, this also allows imbibers to experience what the brand describes as “a better buzz without compromise” and enjoy a guilt-free drink with family and friends, all without fear of fatigue or brain fog putting a damper on the next day. (You can have your evening Le Moné and your morning yoga or conference call, too.)
All these factors combine to make for a truly unique product — and that was exactly the idea. Le Moné is the brainchild of Max Nevins and Eric Bachli, who originally connected at Sixpoint Brewing, where Bachli — also an award-winning distiller — was brewmaster. To bring their vision to life, the founders brought on a highly regarded sommelier, and the group drew on knowledge, experience, and palates honed in roles across the beverage industry to develop something that checked their collective beverage boxes: approachability, adaptability, and true integrity. This led the team to impart wine with unique and widely enjoyed flavors to create Le Moné, which is made with clean ingredients and combines complexity, depth, and sophistication with sheer drinkability.
“The innovation component was really, really important for this,” Bachli, who has a background as a research scientist, says. “By nature, I like to innovate and do things that excite me. This is an opportunity to really create something new and refreshing and not meant to be polarizing, but meant to be really bringing people in.”
“There’s no reason you can think of not to drink it,” Nevins says. “It’s not too sweet, it’s not high in calories, it’s not super high in alcohol, and it mixes with everything.”
The apéritif’s aforementioned versatility might be credited to the sources from which inspiration for the product, and even its packaging, stem. Le Moné borrows from different drinking cultures, a product of ingredients and ideas that combine for a beverage that’s truly one of a kind.
“It’s got French-inspired branding, but it has elements of design that evoke Capri,” says Nevins. “The agave comes from Mexico, and it was originally intended to pair with tequila. It’s an amalgam of several different types of apéritif and drinking culture coming together, which is a very American concept.”
Imagine a 21+ lemonade stand: Le Moné is exactly what it would be serving. Grab the new citrus trio, whip up a cocktail, and make yourself comfortable. Le Summer is just getting started.
This article is sponsored by Le Moné.
