For the second consecutive season, the Dominican brand Brugal is setting up its summer camp on a terrace at the Pavillon Puebla. This move signals a new frontier for spirits brands: no longer the Parisian hotel, but the public park.
A hunting lodge as a backdrop
The Pavillon Puebla is housed in a 19th-century ivy-covered building located in the heart of Buttes-Chaumont Park on Avenue Darcel in the 19th arrondissement. Originally designed as a hunting lodge during the Second Empire, the venue is now operated by the Le Perchoir group, which has set up two bars and two terraces amid the greenery and regularly hosts concerts there. It is on one of these terraces that Brugal is setting up, for the second year in a row, Le Nid Brugal—a dedicated space open through the end of September.
The choice of venue is no accident. Over the past few seasons, spirits brands have been gradually shifting away from hotel lobbies and rooftop bars toward public parks—Buttes-Chaumont, Monceau, the banks of the Seine—where the crowd is younger, less captive, but also less expensive to win over than a crowd of cocktail bar regulars. The Pavillon Puebla, with its decor evoking a hunting lodge that has been transformed from a derelict space into a party venue, offers a setting that needs no embellishment to feel like a timeless escape.
A second edition is never a coincidence
For a spirits company, renewing a pop-up shop requires a more calculated approach than that of a simple seasonal marketing campaign. Returning to the same location, in the same park, signals a company that is seeking not so much a one-off showcase as a lasting presence—even if it means sacrificing the element of surprise from the first edition in order to gain greater recognition.
This craft is deeply rooted in the company’s history. Brugal was founded in 1888 by Andrés Brugal, a young Catalan who trained in distillation and blending in Santiago de Cuba before settling in Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic. It was there that he became the first on the island to age his rum in barrels—a practice then unknown in local production, and one that would become the brand’s signature. More than 135 years later, Brugal is still known on the island as “el ron de los dominicanos,” as its history is so closely intertwined with that of Dominican rum production.
A Female-Led Succession
The company is now led by the fifth generation of the founding family, represented by Miguel Ripoll and Gustavo Ortega, alongside Jassil Villanueva—the first woman to hold the title of maestra ronera at Brugal, and the first in the entire Dominican Republic. This is a rare enough occurrence in a field historically reserved for men to warrant mention, without the need for further comment.
The fact that this family tradition and technical expertise continue into the summer, even under the canopy of a Parisian park, speaks to a long-term establishment strategy: the brand isn’t here to sell an image, but to lay down, season after season, the building blocks of a presence that takes shape just as a terroir does—slowly, layer by layer.
Details — Andrés Brugal settled in Puerto Plata in 1888, after training in Santiago de Cuba. There, he introduced the practice of aging rum in barrels—a method previously unknown on the island—which has since been passed down through five generations of the company’s cellar masters.
Through the end of September, Le Nid Brugal will host festive gatherings, cultural events, and culinary experiences as part of a program that runs throughout the summer. It remains to be seen whether this installation—now in its second year—will become a permanent fixture on the Parisian calendar, or whether it will remain a two-season experience, until the ivy on the Pavillon Puebla closes this chapter on a terrace returned to its silence.
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