A Team of Misfits on a Mission: Alexandre Gabriel on Building Community Through Spirits

Alexandre Gabriel, Founder and Master Distiller of Maison Ferrand on why shared knowledge, communal pleasure, and investing in people are the antidotes to an industry under pressure

By Ruchira Neotia

When Alexandre Gabriel describes his company culture, he doesn’t reach for corporate buzzwords. “We’re not a company,” he says simply. “We’re a community on a mission—a team of misfits.” It’s a fitting philosophy for a man who has spent 37 years building Maison Ferrand from a small Cognac distillery into a spirits portfolio that includes Citadelle Gin (the first artisanal French gin, launched in 1996 – a whopping 3 years before our own Hendricks), Planteray Rum, and award-winning liqueurs.

But what’s most striking isn’t the accolades or the innovation, it’s Gabriel’s unwavering belief that distillers and bartenders have a profound social responsibility in troubled times.

From Burgundy Farmland to Cognac Innovation

Gabriel’s journey began not in a drinks dynasty, but on a small farm in southern Burgundy with his grandparents. He comes from a long line of farmers where ingenuity and hard work were part of family life. That early upbringing gave him a lasting habit of pushing boundaries — and, as he puts it, “don’t tell me it’s impossible, I’ll get excited!”

That creative restlessness led him to Cognac, where he bought a struggling distillery at 23 with little money and no formal business training. “I made all the business mistakes in the book,” he admits. But he had talent, a mise en valeur philosophy  —using complementary elements to enhance the main ingredient—and a relentless drive to experiment.

Knowledge as Pleasure, Not Just Power

For Gabriel, sharing knowledge isn’t philanthropy—it’s pleasure. At his distilleries in Cognac and Barbados, 600-700 bartenders, restaurateurs, and industry professionals visit annually to learn, staying with the team, pruning vines during harvest, and distilling alongside master blenders.

“If you have a great bartender who knows how to connect with people and make them talk about a specific drink, you’ve done a lot for humanity,” he says. In the US, an unusual 55% of Maison Ferrand’s sales come through bars and restaurants—a testament to these deep relationships.

This philosophy extends internally. Gabriel makes two promises to every employee: “You’ll never get bored” and “I want you to grow.” One team member, Manu, joined 28 years ago—overweight, smoking, struggling. Today, after two decades of support (including a company gym), he’s France’s weightlifting champion in his age category. Another employee, Julie, received support for a dog shelter which they are now expanding. “When these people have their passions like this, we feed that passion and that helps us all grow, ” Gabriel explains.

Supporting an Industry Under Pressure

Gabriel is acutely aware that the hospitality industry is struggling. Drawing on neuroscience research, he argues that fear—economic, political, social—makes people “stupid” and isolated. “The antidote is communal pleasure,” he insists. “Going to a bar, having fun with somebody, having a beer with friends. That’s how you get unscared”.

This belief inspired Tropical Week, now in its fourth year—a global celebration that brings Caribbean warmth to grey skies, with bars worldwide (even seven in Cognac itself) creating rum-focused experiences. “It’s sunshine in a glass,” Gabriel says. “It’s about togetherness”.

His support for the industry goes deeper:

  • Education investment: Team members pursue PhDs, culinary training, and specialized masters programs—all company-funded. Fannie Thibaud, a master blender with two PhDs, went back to school for an additional master just to learn from a university researcher who had a specialist technique for aromatic extraction from plants. [Perfumery and Spirits distillation have much in common]
  • Knowledge sharing: Gabriel has no patents on his techniques beyond one gin-making innovation. “I think knowledge is pleasure, not just power,” he says, regularly mentoring distillers worldwide.
  • Long-term partnerships: In Barbados, the marriage with West Indies Rum Distillery was exactly that—“two teams getting together,” learning each other’s cultures and expertise rather than an acquisition

The Human Cost of Excellence

When asked about wellbeing in an industry known for demanding hours, Gabriel is candid. His wife jokes that if he retires, she might need to “hire a hitman” because his intensity can be overwhelming if not channelled. But he’s learned that managing himself—“the one person you’re going to be managing for a long time”—is critical.

He looks for ‘misfits’ precisely because they bring passion and perspective. His vineyard team recently asked if they could sell the Maison products at night in local bars—not for commission, but for drink vouchers. “They want to go out and tell the region what we’re about,” Gabriel says. “I felt so good hearing this”.

Making the World More Delicious

Gabriel’s vision for the future is characteristically focused on people, not products. “Distillers and bartenders united can make this world a better place, a barrel, a bottle, and a cocktail at a time,” he told 800 distillers at a recent American Distilling Institute keynote.

In an era when algorithms feed division and one in eight people report having no real-life friends, Gabriel sees bars and distilleries as vital third spaces. “Look at these people,” he says, gesturing around the London bar we were sitting at. “They’re not behind their screens. That togetherness, going to pubs—it’s not about getting drunk. It’s about sharing and being human”.

For an industry facing economic headwinds and political uncertainty, Gabriel’s message is both practical and profound: invest radically in people, share knowledge generously, and never underestimate the power of communal pleasure to combat fear.

“We’re a team of misfits on a mission,” he repeats, “…to make the world a more delicious place!” In 2026, that mission feels more essential than ever.