Hallelujah!

So your Uncle Giltron finally did it;after a year of searching,I finally found a bottle of Green Chartreuse at one of my local liquor stores:

Ta-da!

Now you may be wondering why this is such a big deal. Well the fact is,you can’t just walk into any old store and pick up a bottle of it like it was Bacardi. This liqueur is actually made by monks who only produce a certain number of bottles a year in the monastery La Grande Chartreuse near Grenoble,France. Because of this,it can be very hard to find,as well as expensive.

(the actual monastery)

The story goes that in 1084,St. Bruno of Cologne traveled to the Chartreuse Desert(not really a desert,it was just really isolated) with six companions and created a silent order of Roman Catholic monastics known as the Carthusians. In 1605 François-Annibal d´Estrées,the King of France’s Marshal of Artillery,handed over to the Carthusian monks of Paris a document of mysterious origins which supposedly contained the recipe for an “elixir of long life". Time passed,the monks studied the document,and finally in 1737 the manuscript was transferred to the monks of the Grande Chartreuse. They in turn studied it and experimented(one of their early formulas was actually red) and finally in 1764 created a seven page manuscript entitled,Composition of the Elixir of Chartreuse. This elixir is what is today known as Green Chartreuse. Fun fact,the color chartreuse is actually named for this liqueur. Later in 1838 they would also come up with another liqueur,Yellow Chartreuse,which is much easier to find,but not as potent(Yellow Chartreuse is supposed to use the same ingredients,just in different proportions).

So what is Green Chartreuse? It’s an herbal liqueur made up of 130 ingredients. The exact recipe is a closely guarded secret,known to only three Carthusian monks. Supposedly,there are two monks who each have half the formula,with the Father Superior being the only living person to have the full recipe. The monks produce about 1.2 million bottles a year,which sounds like quite a lot,until you look into companies like Bacardi,which produce 100,000 liters of rum a day(my bottle of Chartreuse is ¾ of a liter). Green is stronger tasting and 110 proof,yellow is sweeter and only 80 proof. The taste is very,um,‘herbal’. It’s really hard to describe other than that. And at 110 proof,it has about as much punch as Navy rum. Back in the ’70’s there was a popular cocktail called Swampwater which used Green Chartreuse,but it fell out of favor,and today there are only a few Tiki drinks that use it,mostly because of its rarity,but also because the complex flavor isn’t to everyone’s taste(it really comes forward in the drink). So below you will find a coterie of Green Chartreuse recipes. I hope you enjoy them.

Mix #213 Chartreuse Swizzle

1.5oz Green Chartreuse
1oz pineapple juice
3/4oz lime juice
1/2oz falernum

Swizzle all ingredients with ice in glass and top with grated nutmeg.

Woo! Boy howdy! The first thing that hits you is a strong burst of herbs. The Chartreuse really comes forward. Then you get some spice from the falernum and nutmeg. Then one and a half ounces of 110 proof liqueur hit you. If you like herbal drinks you’ll love this. This was created by Marco Dionysos at Tres Agaves in San Francisco and has become a Tiki staple with Chartreuse.

Mix #214 The Last Word

3/4oz Green Chartreuse
3/4oz gin
3/4oz maraschino liqueur*
3/4oz lime juice

Shake with ice and strain into chilled glass.

*I used Cherry Heering.

This other Tiki Chartreuse staple was born at the Detroit Athletic Club around 1915. It’s believed it was created by bartender Frank Fogarty. Its claims to fame are the fact that it uses equal measures of all the ingredients,and is a Prohibition-era drink that has survived into modern times. The Chartreuse and gin combine to create a very ‘botanical’ flavor with a cherry finish. I used Heering which is more sour than maraschino,but it turned out well. Again,if you like herbal flavors,you’ll like this.

Mix #215 Swampwater

1.5oz Green Chartreuse
6oz pineapple juice
1/4oz lime juice

Pour into mason jar with ice and stir.

So Green Chartreuse is a rare liqueur consisting of 130 ingredients and crafted by monks who have taken a vow of silence. So of course here in ‘Merica we’re gonna mix it with juice,give it a silly name,and serve it in mason jars. Yee-haw! No,actually,you can’t blame us for this. This drink was created by the Chartreuse company back in the 1970’s to get Americans to drink it. We had free love and disco and simple but potent cocktails were popular in clubs,so the French figured this would be right up our alley. And it was,for a time. But just like disco,it faded into memory until your Uncle Giltron dropped a bunch of dosh on a fancy bottle of liqueur and then started trolling the waters of the internet looking for recipes to use it in. You can ask your parents if they remember this,but they probably won’t,or won’t want to(insert winky emogi). It’s actually not bad. It starts sweet and pineapple-y,then gives an herbal finish. It’s easy to make,easy to drink,and has some kick,which actually makes it a good summer BBQ drink. And if you use the whole bottle,you can scale up the juices and batch it for your cookout. Remember folks,if you hold your pinky up it makes drinking out of a jar classy.

Mix #216 Amazonian Paralysis

1 3/4oz Appleton 12yr rum
1/2oz Green Chartreuse
1/2oz sloe gin
1/2oz velvet falernum
1oz pineapple juice
1/2oz lemon juice
4 dashes Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and pour into Mai Tai glass.

Created by Disneyland bartender Melissa Erin Nickoloff,this is a complex Tiki drink Vic and Donn would have appreciated. It starts sweet,then you taste spices,and then there’s an herbal finish. It also has plenty of kick. A proper Tiki drink and good for introducing people to Chartreuse. And of course the name gives me an excuse to use a Lynda Carter gif(insert second winky emogi).

So if you’re looking to broaden your palette,and can find it,pick up a bottle of Green Chartreuse and get a taste of a rare liqueur with tons of history behind it. Enjoy!