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Chartreuse (liqueur)

March 03, 2023

For other uses, see Chartreuse.

Chartreuse (US: /ʃɑːrˈtruːz, -ˈtruːs/ (listen), UK: /-ˈtrɜːz/, French: [ʃaʁtʁøz]) is a French herbal liqueur available in green and yellow versions that differ in taste and alcohol content.[1] The liqueur has been made by the Carthusian monks since 1737 according to the instructions set out in a manuscript given to them by François Annibal d'Estrées in 1605. It was named after the monks' Grande Chartreuse monastery, located in the Chartreuse Mountains north of Grenoble. Today the liqueur is produced in their distillery in nearby Aiguenoire. It is composed of distilled alcohol aged with 130 herbs, plants and flowers.

Chartreuse
A bottle of Green Chartreuse
A shot of Green Chartreuse
TypeLiqueur
ManufacturerCarthusian monks
Country of originFrance
Introduced1764
Alcohol by volume40–69
Proof (US)80–138
ColorChartreuse
FlavorHerbal
Websitewww.chartreuse.fr 

History

 
The Grande Chartreuse monastery
 
Chartreuse counterfeits
 
Chartreuse cellars
 
Old style pot stills no longer in regular use, having been replaced by stainless steel stills

According to tradition, a marshal of artillery to French king Henry IV, François Hannibal d'Estrées, presented the Carthusian monks at Vauvert, near Paris, with an alchemical manuscript that contained a recipe for an "elixir of long life" in 1605.[2][3] The recipe eventually reached the religious order's headquarters at the Grande Chartreuse monastery, north of Grenoble. The formula is said to include 130 herbs, plants and flowers and secret ingredients combined in a wine alcohol base.[4] The recipe was further enhanced in 1737 by Brother Gérome Maubec.

The beverage soon became popular, and in 1764 the monks adapted the elixir recipe to make what is now called the "Elixir Végétal de la Grande Chartreuse".[4]

In 1793, the monks were expelled from France along with all other religious orders and manufacture of the liqueur ceased. A copy of the manuscript was made and kept at the monastery. The original left with the monks. On the way there, the monk was arrested and sent to prison in Bordeaux. He was not searched and was able to secretly pass the manuscript to one of his friends: Dom Basile Nantas. This friend was convinced that the order would remain in Spain and never come back and that the manufacturing of the liqueur would cease. He sold the manuscript to a pharmacist in Grenoble, Monsieur Liotard. In 1810, Napoleon ordered that all "secret" recipes of medicine be sent to the Ministry of Interior for review. The manuscript was sent and returned as "Refused" as it was not a secret but well known. At the death of the pharmacist, his heirs returned the manuscript to the monks who had been back at the monastery since 1816.[4][failed verification]

In 1840, they developed a milder version called Green Chartreuse and a sweeter version called Yellow Chartreuse.[4]

The monks were again expelled from the monastery following a French law in 1903, and their real property, including the distillery, was confiscated by the government. The monks took their secret recipe to their refuge in Tarragona, Catalonia, and began producing their liqueurs with the same label, but with an additional label which said Liqueur fabriquée à Tarragone par les Pères Chartreux ("liqueur manufactured in Tarragona by the Carthusian Fathers"). At the same time, the "Compagnie Fermière de la Grande Chartreuse", a corporation in Voiron that obtained the Chartreuse assets, produced a liqueur without benefit of the monks' recipe which they sold as Chartreuse. While the French corporation was acting legally in France, the monks successfully prevented the export of the liqueur to many other countries, since the order retained ownership of its foreign trademark registrations, largely because the recipe had been kept secret.[5][6] One dispute was litigated in the United States, in which the monks won a lawsuit defending their trademark in Baglin v. Cusenier.[7]

Sales at the French company were very poor, and by 1929, it faced bankruptcy. A group of local businessmen in Voiron bought all the shares at a low price and sent them as a gift to the monks in Tarragona.[4] After regaining possession of the distillery, the Carthusian brothers returned to the monastery with the tacit approval of the French government and began to produce Chartreuse once again. Despite the eviction law, when a mudslide destroyed the distillery in 1935, the French government assigned army engineers to relocate and rebuild it at a location near Voiron where the monks had previously set up a distribution point. After World War II, the government lifted the expulsion order, making the Carthusian brothers once again legal French residents.[4]

Until the 1980s, there was another distillery at Tarragona in Spain.[8][9]

In 2017 the distillery moved from Voiron to nearby Aiguenoire due to safety concerns.[3]

Today, the liqueurs are produced using the herbal mixture prepared by two monks at Grande Chartreuse. They are the only ones to know the secret recipe. The marketing, bottling, packaging, management of the distillery and tours are done by Chartreuse Diffusion, a company created in 1970.[4] Other related alcoholic beverages are manufactured in the same distillery (e.g. Génépi).

Ingredients

The book The Practical Hotel Steward (1900) states that Green Chartreuse contains "cinnamon, mace, lemon balm, dried hyssop flower tops, peppermint, thyme, costmary, arnica flowers, genepi, and angelica roots", and that yellow chartreuse is "similar to above, adding cardamom seeds and socctrine aloes."[10] The monks intended their liqueur to be used as medicine. The exact recipes for all forms of Chartreuse remain trade secrets and are known at any given time only to the three monks[inconsistent] who prepare the herbal mixture.[11] The only formally known element of the recipe is that it uses 130 different plants.[12]: 11 

Chartreuse is commonly used as an ingredient in cocktails, such as a Cloister and Last Word.

Types

 
Elixir Végétal de la Grande-Chartreuse

Green Chartreuse

Green Chartreuse (110 proof or 55% ABV) is a naturally green liqueur made from 130 herbs and other plants macerated in alcohol and steeped for about eight hours. A last maceration of plants gives its color to the liqueur.[4] The first version of the liqueur was devised in 1825, with the modern version first released in 1840.[12]: 11 

Yellow Chartreuse

Yellow Chartreuse (80 proof or 40%) has a milder and sweeter flavor and aroma than Green Chartreuse, and is lower in alcohol content.[4][12]: 11 

Chartreuse VEP

VEP stands for Vieillissement Exceptionnellement Prolongé,[13] meaning "exceptionally prolonged aging". It is made using the same processes and the same secret formula as the traditional liqueur, and by extra long aging in oak casks it reaches an exceptional quality. Chartreuse VEP comes in both yellow and green.

Élixir Végétal de la Grande-Chartreuse

Élixir Végétal de la Grande-Chartreuse (138 proof or 69%[4]) has the same base of about 130 medicinal and aromatic plants and flowers but is more alcoholic. It can be described as a cordial or a liqueur, and is claimed to be a tonic. Sold in small wood-covered bottles.

Liqueur du 9° Centenaire

Liqueur du 9° Centenaire (47%) was created in 1984 to commemorate the 900 year anniversary of the foundation of the abbey. It is similar to Green Chartreuse, but slightly sweeter.

Chartreuse 1605 – Liqueur d'Elixir

Chartreuse 1605 – Liqueur d'Elixir (56%) was created to commemorate the return of a mysterious manuscript concerning an elixir of long life to the Carthusian monks by Marshal François Annibal d'Estrées.

White Chartreuse

White Chartreuse (30% ABV) was produced and sold between 1860 and 1880, and again from 1886 to 1903.[12]: 11 

Génépi

The monks make a Génépi which is the general term in the Alps for a homemade or local liqueur featuring local mountain flora. There are hundreds or even thousands of different Génépi liqueurs made, many simply by families for their own use each year. As they have been making Chartreuse from local plants for centuries, the monks started in the 2000s to make a Génépi as a sideline product. It is labelled "Génépi des Pères Chartreux" and is generally only available locally in a 70 cl bottle, usually labelled 40% alcohol.

Cuvée des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France

In 2007, a special edition was created by the Cuvée des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France Sommeliers (Best Craftsmen of France) in partnership with the distillery. It is yellow in color (45% alcohol).[14]

Flavor

Chartreuse has a very strong characteristic taste. It is very sweet, but becomes both spicy and pungent. It is comparable to other herbal liqueurs such as Galliano, Liquore Strega or Kräuterlikör, though it is distinctively more vegetal, or herbaceous. Like other liqueurs, its flavor is sensitive to serving temperature. If straight, it can be served very cold, but is often served at room temperature. It is also featured in some cocktails. Some mixed drink recipes call for only a few drops of Chartreuse due to its strong flavor. It is popular in French ski resorts where it is mixed with hot chocolate and called verte chaud, translating to "hot green".[15][16]

Chartreuse is one of the handful of liqueurs that continue to age and improve in the bottle.[17]

Accolades

Chartreuse liqueurs generally have performed well at international spirit ratings competitions. The basic green offering has won silver and double gold medals from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. It has also earned an above-average score of 93 from the Beverage Testing Institute and has been given scores in the 96-100 interval by Wine Enthusiast.[18] The VEP Green and VEP Yellow have generally earned similarly impressive scores.[19] The basic Yellow Chartreuse has received more modest (though still average or above) ratings.[20]

Influence on color

Chartreuse gives its name to the color chartreuse, which was first used as a term of color in 1884.[21] Chartreuse yellow is a color originally named "chartreuse" in 1892 after Yellow Chartreuse liqueur, but since 1987 it has been called "chartreuse yellow" to avoid confusion with the green version of chartreuse.

See also

  • Stellina, a similar monastic liqueur made in the same region as Chartreuse
  • Frangelico, a liqueur allegedly based on a monastic recipe
  • Bénédictine, another liqueur allegedly based on a monastic recipe
  • Centerbe, an Italian liqueur of pale green color made from mountain herbs

Further reading

  • Chartreuse the Liqueur. Chartreuse Diffusion. 2019. ISBN 978-2-74669-717-1. OCLC 1138899458.

References

  1. ^ Harold J. Grossman and Harriet Lembeck, Grossman's Guide to Wines, Beers and Spirits (6th edition). Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1977, pp. 378–9. ISBN 0-684-15033-6
  2. ^ "Chartreuse Liqueurs". Immaculate Heart of Mary's Hermitage. Retrieved 31 October 2013. The monks got hold of the recipe, originally a health potion, in 1605 but it was so complex they didn't master it for another century.
  3. ^ a b Renault, Marion (17 December 2020). "An Elixir From the French Alps, Frozen in Time". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Chartreuse.fr History of the Chartreuse Liqueurs
  5. ^ "Monks Sue to Prevent Use of Chartreuse Trademark". San Francisco Call. 7 October 1906. p. 34. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  6. ^ Ladas, Stephen Pericles (1975). Patents, Trademarks, and Related Rights: National and International Protection. Harvard University Press. pp. 1183–. ISBN 9780674657755. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  7. ^ Baglin v. Cusenier Co., 221 U.S. 580 (1911).
  8. ^ "Green Chartreuse, Tarragona Bot. 1980s". The Whisky Exchange.
  9. ^ "The Chartreuse Distilleries". Chartreuse.
  10. ^ John Tellman (1900) The Practical Hotel Steward, The Hotel Monthly, Chicago
  11. ^ . Archived from the original on 23 December 2001. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  12. ^ a b c d Chartreuse the Liqueur. Chartreuse Diffusion. 2019. ISBN 978-2-74669-717-1. OCLC 1138899458.
  13. ^ Chartreuse VEP
  14. ^ Chartreuse.fr - Liqueur created by the Best Craftsmen of France "Sommeliers" [1]
  15. ^ "Green chaud". Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  16. ^ https://theeducatedbarfly.com/verte-chaud/
  17. ^ Hecht, Alex (October 2014). "Chartreuse: The only liqueur so good they named a color after it". War on the Rocks. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  18. ^ "Proof66.com Summary of Chartreuse Green's Awards". Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  19. ^ "Proof66.com Summary of Chartreuse VEP Green's Awards". Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  20. ^ "Proof66.com Summary of Chartreuse Yellow's Awards". Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  21. ^ The Oxford English Dictionary (Second ed.). 1989.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chartreuse (liqueur).
  • Official website  

March 03, 2023
chartreuse, liqueur, other, uses, chartreuse, chartreuse, ɑːr, listen, ɜː, french, ʃaʁtʁøz, french, herbal, liqueur, available, green, yellow, versions, that, differ, taste, alcohol, content, liqueur, been, made, carthusian, monks, since, 1737, according, inst. For other uses see Chartreuse Chartreuse US ʃ ɑːr ˈ t r uː z ˈ t r uː s listen UK ˈ t r ɜː z French ʃaʁtʁoz is a French herbal liqueur available in green and yellow versions that differ in taste and alcohol content 1 The liqueur has been made by the Carthusian monks since 1737 according to the instructions set out in a manuscript given to them by Francois Annibal d Estrees in 1605 It was named after the monks Grande Chartreuse monastery located in the Chartreuse Mountains north of Grenoble Today the liqueur is produced in their distillery in nearby Aiguenoire It is composed of distilled alcohol aged with 130 herbs plants and flowers ChartreuseA bottle of Green ChartreuseA shot of Green ChartreuseTypeLiqueurManufacturerCarthusian monksCountry of originFranceIntroduced1764Alcohol by volume40 69Proof US 80 138ColorChartreuseFlavorHerbalWebsitewww wbr chartreuse wbr fr Contents 1 History 2 Ingredients 3 Types 3 1 Green Chartreuse 3 2 Yellow Chartreuse 3 3 Chartreuse VEP 3 4 Elixir Vegetal de la Grande Chartreuse 3 5 Liqueur du 9 Centenaire 3 6 Chartreuse 1605 Liqueur d Elixir 3 7 White Chartreuse 3 8 Genepi 3 9 Cuvee des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France 4 Flavor 5 Accolades 6 Influence on color 7 See also 8 Further reading 9 References 10 External linksHistory Edit The Grande Chartreuse monastery Chartreuse counterfeits Chartreuse cellars Old style pot stills no longer in regular use having been replaced by stainless steel stills According to tradition a marshal of artillery to French king Henry IV Francois Hannibal d Estrees presented the Carthusian monks at Vauvert near Paris with an alchemical manuscript that contained a recipe for an elixir of long life in 1605 2 3 The recipe eventually reached the religious order s headquarters at the Grande Chartreuse monastery north of Grenoble The formula is said to include 130 herbs plants and flowers and secret ingredients combined in a wine alcohol base 4 The recipe was further enhanced in 1737 by Brother Gerome Maubec The beverage soon became popular and in 1764 the monks adapted the elixir recipe to make what is now called the Elixir Vegetal de la Grande Chartreuse 4 In 1793 the monks were expelled from France along with all other religious orders and manufacture of the liqueur ceased A copy of the manuscript was made and kept at the monastery The original left with the monks On the way there the monk was arrested and sent to prison in Bordeaux He was not searched and was able to secretly pass the manuscript to one of his friends Dom Basile Nantas This friend was convinced that the order would remain in Spain and never come back and that the manufacturing of the liqueur would cease He sold the manuscript to a pharmacist in Grenoble Monsieur Liotard In 1810 Napoleon ordered that all secret recipes of medicine be sent to the Ministry of Interior for review The manuscript was sent and returned as Refused as it was not a secret but well known At the death of the pharmacist his heirs returned the manuscript to the monks who had been back at the monastery since 1816 4 failed verification In 1840 they developed a milder version called Green Chartreuse and a sweeter version called Yellow Chartreuse 4 The monks were again expelled from the monastery following a French law in 1903 and their real property including the distillery was confiscated by the government The monks took their secret recipe to their refuge in Tarragona Catalonia and began producing their liqueurs with the same label but with an additional label which said Liqueur fabriquee a Tarragone par les Peres Chartreux liqueur manufactured in Tarragona by the Carthusian Fathers At the same time the Compagnie Fermiere de la Grande Chartreuse a corporation in Voiron that obtained the Chartreuse assets produced a liqueur without benefit of the monks recipe which they sold as Chartreuse While the French corporation was acting legally in France the monks successfully prevented the export of the liqueur to many other countries since the order retained ownership of its foreign trademark registrations largely because the recipe had been kept secret 5 6 One dispute was litigated in the United States in which the monks won a lawsuit defending their trademark in Baglin v Cusenier 7 Sales at the French company were very poor and by 1929 it faced bankruptcy A group of local businessmen in Voiron bought all the shares at a low price and sent them as a gift to the monks in Tarragona 4 After regaining possession of the distillery the Carthusian brothers returned to the monastery with the tacit approval of the French government and began to produce Chartreuse once again Despite the eviction law when a mudslide destroyed the distillery in 1935 the French government assigned army engineers to relocate and rebuild it at a location near Voiron where the monks had previously set up a distribution point After World War II the government lifted the expulsion order making the Carthusian brothers once again legal French residents 4 Until the 1980s there was another distillery at Tarragona in Spain 8 9 In 2017 the distillery moved from Voiron to nearby Aiguenoire due to safety concerns 3 Today the liqueurs are produced using the herbal mixture prepared by two monks at Grande Chartreuse They are the only ones to know the secret recipe The marketing bottling packaging management of the distillery and tours are done by Chartreuse Diffusion a company created in 1970 4 Other related alcoholic beverages are manufactured in the same distillery e g Genepi Ingredients EditThe book The Practical Hotel Steward 1900 states that Green Chartreuse contains cinnamon mace lemon balm dried hyssop flower tops peppermint thyme costmary arnica flowers genepi and angelica roots and that yellow chartreuse is similar to above adding cardamom seeds and socctrine aloes 10 The monks intended their liqueur to be used as medicine The exact recipes for all forms of Chartreuse remain trade secrets and are known at any given time only to the three monks inconsistent who prepare the herbal mixture 11 The only formally known element of the recipe is that it uses 130 different plants 12 11 Chartreuse is commonly used as an ingredient in cocktails such as a Cloister and Last Word Types Edit Elixir Vegetal de la Grande Chartreuse Green Chartreuse Edit Green Chartreuse 110 proof or 55 ABV is a naturally green liqueur made from 130 herbs and other plants macerated in alcohol and steeped for about eight hours A last maceration of plants gives its color to the liqueur 4 The first version of the liqueur was devised in 1825 with the modern version first released in 1840 12 11 Yellow Chartreuse Edit Yellow Chartreuse 80 proof or 40 has a milder and sweeter flavor and aroma than Green Chartreuse and is lower in alcohol content 4 12 11 Chartreuse VEP Edit VEP stands for Vieillissement Exceptionnellement Prolonge 13 meaning exceptionally prolonged aging It is made using the same processes and the same secret formula as the traditional liqueur and by extra long aging in oak casks it reaches an exceptional quality Chartreuse VEP comes in both yellow and green Elixir Vegetal de la Grande Chartreuse Edit Elixir Vegetal de la Grande Chartreuse 138 proof or 69 4 has the same base of about 130 medicinal and aromatic plants and flowers but is more alcoholic It can be described as a cordial or a liqueur and is claimed to be a tonic Sold in small wood covered bottles Liqueur du 9 Centenaire Edit Liqueur du 9 Centenaire 47 was created in 1984 to commemorate the 900 year anniversary of the foundation of the abbey It is similar to Green Chartreuse but slightly sweeter Chartreuse 1605 Liqueur d Elixir Edit Chartreuse 1605 Liqueur d Elixir 56 was created to commemorate the return of a mysterious manuscript concerning an elixir of long life to the Carthusian monks by Marshal Francois Annibal d Estrees White Chartreuse Edit White Chartreuse 30 ABV was produced and sold between 1860 and 1880 and again from 1886 to 1903 12 11 Genepi Edit The monks make a Genepi which is the general term in the Alps for a homemade or local liqueur featuring local mountain flora There are hundreds or even thousands of different Genepi liqueurs made many simply by families for their own use each year As they have been making Chartreuse from local plants for centuries the monks started in the 2000s to make a Genepi as a sideline product It is labelled Genepi des Peres Chartreux and is generally only available locally in a 70 cl bottle usually labelled 40 alcohol Cuvee des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France Edit In 2007 a special edition was created by the Cuvee des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France Sommeliers Best Craftsmen of France in partnership with the distillery It is yellow in color 45 alcohol 14 Flavor EditChartreuse has a very strong characteristic taste It is very sweet but becomes both spicy and pungent It is comparable to other herbal liqueurs such as Galliano Liquore Strega or Krauterlikor though it is distinctively more vegetal or herbaceous Like other liqueurs its flavor is sensitive to serving temperature If straight it can be served very cold but is often served at room temperature It is also featured in some cocktails Some mixed drink recipes call for only a few drops of Chartreuse due to its strong flavor It is popular in French ski resorts where it is mixed with hot chocolate and called verte chaud translating to hot green 15 16 Chartreuse is one of the handful of liqueurs that continue to age and improve in the bottle 17 Accolades EditChartreuse liqueurs generally have performed well at international spirit ratings competitions The basic green offering has won silver and double gold medals from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition It has also earned an above average score of 93 from the Beverage Testing Institute and has been given scores in the 96 100 interval by Wine Enthusiast 18 The VEP Green and VEP Yellow have generally earned similarly impressive scores 19 The basic Yellow Chartreuse has received more modest though still average or above ratings 20 Influence on color EditChartreuse gives its name to the color chartreuse which was first used as a term of color in 1884 21 Chartreuse yellow is a color originally named chartreuse in 1892 after Yellow Chartreuse liqueur but since 1987 it has been called chartreuse yellow to avoid confusion with the green version of chartreuse See also Edit Drink portalStellina a similar monastic liqueur made in the same region as Chartreuse Frangelico a liqueur allegedly based on a monastic recipe Benedictine another liqueur allegedly based on a monastic recipe Centerbe an Italian liqueur of pale green color made from mountain herbsFurther reading EditChartreuse the Liqueur Chartreuse Diffusion 2019 ISBN 978 2 74669 717 1 OCLC 1138899458 References Edit Harold J Grossman and Harriet Lembeck Grossman s Guide to Wines Beers and Spirits 6th edition Charles Scribner s Sons New York 1977 pp 378 9 ISBN 0 684 15033 6 Chartreuse Liqueurs Immaculate Heart of Mary s Hermitage Retrieved 31 October 2013 The monks got hold of the recipe originally a health potion in 1605 but it was so complex they didn t master it for another century a b Renault Marion 17 December 2020 An Elixir From the French Alps Frozen in Time The New York Times Retrieved 28 December 2020 a b c d e f g h i j Chartreuse fr History of the Chartreuse Liqueurs Monks Sue to Prevent Use of Chartreuse Trademark San Francisco Call 7 October 1906 p 34 Retrieved 1 December 2016 Ladas Stephen Pericles 1975 Patents Trademarks and Related Rights National and International Protection Harvard University Press pp 1183 ISBN 9780674657755 Retrieved 1 December 2016 Baglin v Cusenier Co 221 U S 580 1911 Green Chartreuse Tarragona Bot 1980s The Whisky Exchange The Chartreuse Distilleries Chartreuse John Tellman 1900 The Practical Hotel Steward The Hotel Monthly Chicago The 1605 Manuscript and the Secret of the Elixir of Long Life Archived from the original on 23 December 2001 Retrieved 31 October 2013 a b c d Chartreuse the Liqueur Chartreuse Diffusion 2019 ISBN 978 2 74669 717 1 OCLC 1138899458 Chartreuse VEP Chartreuse fr Liqueur created by the Best Craftsmen of France Sommeliers 1 Green chaud Retrieved 31 October 2013 https theeducatedbarfly com verte chaud Hecht Alex October 2014 Chartreuse The only liqueur so good they named a color after it War on the Rocks Retrieved 2 December 2014 Proof66 com Summary of Chartreuse Green s Awards Retrieved 31 October 2013 Proof66 com Summary of Chartreuse VEP Green s Awards Retrieved 31 October 2013 Proof66 com Summary of Chartreuse Yellow s Awards Retrieved 31 October 2013 The Oxford English Dictionary Second ed 1989 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chartreuse liqueur Official website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Chartreuse liqueur amp oldid 1142464752, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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