Divine Inspiration

tasting notes

DIVINE INSPIRATION The remarkable rebirth of Chartreuse, the world’s favourite green liqueur, is a tale that stretches from the Alps to Tarragona

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By Jeffrey T Iverson

14 NetJets

tasting notes

DIVINE INSPIRATION The remarkable rebirth of Chartreuse, the world’s favourite green liqueur, is a tale that stretches from the Alps to Tarragona

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

By Jeffrey T Iverson

14 NetJets

Inside the new distillery at Aiguenoire, 35 kilometres north of Grenoble, which was inaugurated last year

STÉPHANE COUCHET

I

t’s distilled high in the French Alps by an ancient, hermetic order of monks, using a secret, 400-year-old recipe. Its natural, emerald hue is so otherworldly and inimitable that a colour was named after it. Nothing in the spirits world compares to Chartreuse, this delectable digestif of herbs, spice and flowers revered as one of the greatest liqueurs ever created.

Yet just a few decades ago, the brand was facing plummeting revenues and an outmoded image. Today, its renaissance is a testament to the passion and perseverance of generations of master distillers, and the enduring allure of an elixir with a history as complex as its bouquet.

In 1084, St Bruno of Cologne founded the Carthusians, an order of monks devoted to silence and solitude in the Chartreuse Mountains north of Grenoble. For centuries, they financed their monastery though agriculture, logging and metallurgy. But in 1605, an arcane, centuries-old manuscript gifted to them by a military commander of Henri IV led the monks to master another craft – distillation.

The pages detailed a complex recipe for an “Elixir of Long Life”, which included 130 plants. After a century of failures, in 1737, the brothers unveiled the “Élixir Végétal de la Grande-Chartreuse”, a 69% ABV tonic for health and digestion, instantly embraced by local invalids. But after adapting the recipe to create a milder 55% version (Green Chartreuse) in 1764, and a sweeter 40% version (Yellow Chartreuse) in 1838, these liqueurs became global sensations. While Sir Henry Stanley carted bottles to Africa as he searched for Dr Livingstone, Tsar Nicholas II was serving it at court.

Unfortunately, such fame didn’t preserve the Carthusians’ solitude. Expelled from France in 1791 during the French Revolution, they regained the monastery in 1816, only to be expelled again in 1903. Taking refuge in Spain, they founded another distillery in the town of Tarragona, which they kept running after returning to France in 1930.

Five years later, a landslide destroyed their Alps distillery, and the monks transferred production to nearby Voiron. Prosperity returned post-World War II, for a time.

Philippe Rochez, Director of Exports for Chartreuse Diffusion – the company the monks have entrusted with bottling, packaging and sales since 1970 – recalls the situation in 1988 upon his hiring. “The image of Chartreuse was declining; it was an old drink for old people.” In 1989, they were forced to close their second distillery in Tarragona. Then suddenly, finding themselves with a plethora of unsold Spanish vintages from the 1900s, a road to renewal opened.

“They were unbelievable,” recalls Rochez.

“Chartreuse is one of the only liqueurs in the world that continues to improve and age in the bottle. So we decided to organise tastings to allow cooks and sommeliers to discover the beauty of these old Tarragona vintages.”

Philippe Beaudet, manager of the venerable Paris wine shop Caves Bossetti, remembers the day, 20 years ago, when a Chartreuse rep poured him a 1961 yellow Tarragona. “It was an extraordinary product, one I immediately knew I could sell to palace restaurants and bars,” he says. “Whatever it is you love – saffron, lime blossom, orange peel, anise, mint, gentian flower, cardamom, thyme – you’ll find it in Chartreuse.” A series of tastings of the liqueur he hosted grew in an annual event drawing hundreds of aficionados and collectors of Chartreuse from around the world. After sommeliers and chefs, soon mixologists were rediscovering this once essential cocktail component. In 2004, master bartender Murray Stenson in Seattle revived the prohibition-era gin-andChartreuse-based cocktail “The Last Word”.

Gaining cult status, it’s now served in bars from San Francisco to Hong Kong.

Today, demand continues to grow, and old Chartreuse vintages and limited-edition cuvées auction for thousands. Yet while a new Chartreuse distillery was inaugurated last year, the reason wasn’t to boost production, but to move closer to the monastery, to give Dom Benoît and Brother Jean-Jacques – the sole people who know the secret recipe, and who still handle the entire process – more time for silence and meditation. Stat crux dum volvitur orbis, goes the Carthusian motto: “The Cross is steady while the world is turning.” The same seems true of this magical elixir, and we pray that never changes. chartreuse.fr/en/

15 NetJets