Bottle of Green Chartreuse

Chartreuse is a French liqueur composed of distilled wine alcohol flavored with 130 herbal extracts. The liquor is named after the Grande Chartreuse monastery where it is produced, which in turn is named after the Chartreuse Mountains, the region in France where the monastery is located. Image File history File links Green_Chartreuse. ... Bottles of strawberry liqueur A liqueur is a sweet alcoholic beverage, often flavoured with fruits, herbs, spices, flowers, seeds, roots, plants, barks, and sometimes cream. ... Distillation is a means of separating liquids through differences in their boiling points. ... Wine is an alcoholic beverage produced by the fermentation of the juice of fruits, usually grapes. ... Functional group of an alcohol molecule. ... Herbs: basil Herbs (IPA: hə(ɹ)b, or əɹb; see pronunciation differences) are plants grown for culinary, medicinal, or in some cases even spiritual value. ... Grande Chartreuse Grande Chartreuse is placed in a remote mountain valley. ... DEM of the Chartreuse massif The Chartreuse Mountains (Massif de la Chartreuse) is a mountain range in eastern France, stretching to the north from the city of Grenoble to the Lac du Bourget. ...

Types

There are two main types of Chartreuse:

• Green Chartreuse (110 proof or 55%, and from which the name of the color is derived), a naturally green liqueur flavored with extracts from 130 plants. Its coloring comes from chlorophyll.
• Yellow Chartreuse (40% or 43%), which has a milder and sweeter flavor and aroma.

Other kinds of Chartreuse include: Alcoholic proof is a measure of how much ethanol is in an alcoholic beverage, and is approximately twice the percentage of alcohol by volume (ABV, the unit that is commonly used presently). ... The color chartreuse is a shade of green with a slight yellow tint. ... Chlorophyll is a green photosynthetic pigment found in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. ...

• Chartreuse VEP (Vieillissement Exceptionnellement Prolongé) is made using the same processes and the same secret formula as the traditional liqueur, and by extra long ageing in oak casks it reaches an exceptional quality. Chartreuse VEP comes in both yellow and green.
• Elixir Végétal de la Grande-Chartreuse (142° proof or 71%). The Herbal Elixir gets its unique flavour from 130 medicinal and aromatic plants and flowers. It is a cordial, a liqueur and a very effective tonic.

Alcoholic proof is a measure of how much ethanol is in an alcoholic beverage, and is approximately twice the percentage of alcohol by volume (ABV, the unit that is commonly used presently). ... Bottles of strawberry liqueur A liqueur is a sweet alcoholic beverage, often flavoured with fruits, herbs, spices, flowers, seeds, roots, plants, barks, and sometimes cream. ...

History

According to tradition, in 1605 a marshal of artillery to French king Henri IV, François Hannibal d'Estrées, presented the Carthusian monks at Vauvert, near Paris, with a manuscript that contained a complicated recipe for an "elixir of long life". The recipe eventually reached the religious order's headquarters at the Grande Chartreuse monastery, in Voiron, near Grenoble. It has since then been used to produce the "Elixir Végétal de la Grande Chartreuse". The formula is said to call for 130 herbs, flowers, and secret ingredients combined in a wine alcohol base. The monks intended their liqueur to be used as medicine. The recipe was further enhanced in 1737 by Brother Gérome Maubec. 1605 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... By Frans Pourbus the younger. ... A Carthusian Monastery in Jerez, Spain The Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. ... A Roman Catholic monk A monk is a person who practices monasticism, adopting a strict religious and ascetic lifestyle, usually in community with others following the same path. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région ÃŽle-de-France Département Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land... Look up elixir in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Grande Chartreuse Grande Chartreuse is placed in a remote mountain valley. ... Voiron is a town and commune of France in the Isère département. ... Grenoble (Arpitan: Grasanòbol) is a city and commune in south-east France, situated at the foot of the Alps, at the confluence of the Drac into the Isère River. ... Medicine is the branch of health science and the sector of public life concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, treatment and possible prevention of disease and injury. ... Events 12 February — The San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated. ...

The beverage became popular quickly, and in 1764 the monks adapted the elixir recipe to make what is now called Green Chartreuse. In 1793, the monks were expelled from France and this resulted in the interruption of the manufacture of Chartreuse. Several years later they were allowed to return to their monastery. In 1838, the monks developed a sweeter, 40% alcoholic (80° proof) liqueur, colored with saffron and sold as Yellow Chartreuse. The monks were again expelled from the monastery by French law in 1903, and their real property, including the distillery, was confiscated by the government. 1764 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1793 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... | Jöns Jakob Berzelius, discoverer of protein 1838 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Binomial name Crocus sativus L. Saffron (IPA: ) is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), a species of crocus in the family Iridaceae. ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... Real property is a legal term encompassing real estate and ownership interests in real estate (immovable property). ...

The monks, however, spirited away the recipe for Chartreuse. Finding refuge in Tarragona, Spain, they began producing the liqueur in that location, with the same label, but with an additional label added which said Liqueur fabriquée à Tarragone par les Pères Chartreux ("liquor manufactured in Tarragona by the Carthusian Fathers"). For the municipality in the Philippines, see Tarragona, Davao Oriental. ...

At the same time in Voiron, the French government tried and failed repeatedly to reproduce the recipe. The venture was a disaster. By 1927 the production company was facing bankruptcy, and its shares became nearly worthless. A group of local businessmen in Voiron bought all the shares at this low price, and sent them as a gift to the monks in Tarragona. 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Being now again in 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 near a location in 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. 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...

Today the liqueurs are produced in Voiron using the herbal mixture prepared by three monks at the Grande Chartreuse. Other related alcoholic beverages are manufactured in the same distillery (e.g. Génépi). The exact recipes for all forms of Chartreuse remain trade secrets and are known at any given time only to the three monks who prepare the herbal mixture. The herb hyssop is one of the most obvious major constituents of the flavour. Voiron is a town and commune of France in the Isère département. ... Génépi is a general term given by residents from the Alps to several rare, aromatic Alpine plants, and is also the name of a digestif or liqueur produced in the region. ... An example recipe, printed from the Wikibooks Cookbook. ... A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information used by a business to obtain an advantage over competitors within the same industry or profession. ... Species Hyssopus ambiguus (Trautv. ...

In literature

In the short story "Reginald on Christmas Presents" (contained in the 1904 collection Reginald by Edwardian English author Saki), the title character declares that "people may say what they like about the decay of Christianity; the religious system that produced green Chartreuse can never really die." 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Edwardian period or Edwardian era in the United Kingdom is the period 1901 to 1910, the reign of King Edward VII. It succeeded the Victorian period and is sometimes extended to include the period up to the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, the start of World War... Saki (December 18, 1870 – November 14, 1916) was the pen name of British author Hector Hugh Munro, whose witty and sometimes macabre stories satirised Edwardian society and culture. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on Jesus of Nazareth, and on his life, death, resurrection, and teachings as presented in the New Testament. ...

In the Poppy Z. Brite novel Lost Souls, a band of vampire revellers drank Chartreuse for its potency and characteristic green colour. Photo of Poppy Z. Brite by J.K. Potter. ... Lost Souls can refer to several things: Lost Souls is a 2000 movie directed by Janusz Kamiński and starring Winona Ryder and Elias Koteas Lost Souls (1992) is the debut novel of horror author Poppy Z. Brite Lost Souls is the 2000 debut album by British band Doves. ...

Hunter S. Thompson mentions green Chartreuse in several of the stories collected in Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80s. Curiously, the characters seem to be drawn to it in moments of great desperation shortly before death. Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author. ...

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's most famous novel The Great Gatsby, Gatsby shares a bottle of Chartreuse with Nick, the narrator. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an Irish American Jazz Age novelist and short story writer. ... The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. ...

In Evelyn Waugh's famous novel Brideshead Revisited, Anthony and the narrator Charles Ryder drink Chartreuse after dinner. Anthony muses that it's "Real G-g-green Chartreuse, made before the expulsion of the monks. There are five distinct tastes as it trickles over the tongue. It is like swallowing a sp-spectrum." Evelyn Waugh, as photographed in 1940 by Carl Van Vechten Arthur Evelyn St. ... Brideshead Revisited, the Sacred and Profane Memories of Capt. ...

Rubén Darío speaks of Chartreuse in his Parisian Story The Nymph. ¨It was the hour of Chartreuse,¨ he says, ¨...of the liquid emeralds of mint. Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (January 18, 1867 – February 6, 1916) was a Nicaraguan poet who wrote under the pseudonym of Rubén Darío. ...

Chartreuse is mentioned in the Tom Waits song "'Til the Money Runs Out" (off of the album Heartattack and Vine) with the lyric, 'with a pint of green chartruse ain't nothin' seems right'. Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. ... Heartattack and Vine is an album by Tom Waits, released in 1980 on the Elektra Entertainment label. ...

References

• 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

External links

• Official site