On Thursday night my friends at Independent Spirit Bath ran a free tasting for Chartreuse, the famous French liqueur. The event was run for them by Philippe Bonneau who works for Weber & Tring’s in Bristol, but is also a Brand Ambassador for Chartreuse.

Beforehand I knew next to nothing about Chartreuse, but Philippe is extremely knowledgeable and I found myself tweeting a lot of information during his talk. Tradition has it that the recipe for Chartereuse came from an alchemical elixir for longer life which was obtained by Carthusian monks in Paris in 1605. Today’s product, however, dates back only (only!) 250 years to 1764 when Green Chartreuse was first marketed in more or less its current form.

Being an alchemical recipe, Chartreuse is made in a very complicated way. 130 different herbs and other plants are used in its manufacture, and there are many different stages to production. It is very strong. The green variety is normally sold at 55% alcohol by volume.

In 1838 the monks produced a different variety, Yellow Chartreuse, which is less alcoholic (40%) and sweeter. I found it more drinkable neat (which is how we were drinking it), though I suspect that the Green would make a better ingredient for cocktails. Several of the attendees at the tasting found the Yellow too sweet. As ever, your mileage may vary.

The color of the green version comes from chlorophyll in the plants used to make it. The color of the yellow version is from saffron. Apparently the base spirit of the two drinks is different too, but what they are is a trade secret.

Standard Chartreuse is aged for around 10 years but, as it continues to age in the bottle, the bottling age isn’t necessarily a guide to taste. The monks also produce Vieillissement Exceptionnellement Prolongé (VEP) versions of the two drinks which are bottled at round 15 years.

One of the other people at the tasting asked what sort of wood was used for the barrels. Being used to whisky and sherry manufacture, I was surprised when Philippe said they normally used acacia wood.

The 250 year history of Chartreuse covers many momentous events in France, including several revolutions of varying degrees of violence, and two world wars. During that period the monks were twice expelled from France for political reasons, and once their distillery was destroyed by a landslide. For many years Chartreuse was produced in exile at a monastery in Tarragona, Catalonia, but the recipe has always remained in the hands of the Carthusian monks. I suspect that a commercial company would have long ago insisted on a simpler, less expensive production process.

These days only two monks know the full recipe, though a copy is held in the Abbot’s safe just in case and junior monks are ready to take over should one of the chief distillers die. Philippe says that the production process takes place under a vow of silence to avoid disturbing the other monks.

In addition to Chartreuse the monks produce a range of fruit liqueurs. Philiippe brought framboise (raspberry), cassis (blackcurrant) and myrtille (probably bilberry — Vaccinium Myrtillus — rather than blueberry — Vaccinium Cyanococcus — as the latter is native to North America). The monks also do a Mûre Sauvage (blackberry), which Philippe gave me a taste of when I visited his shop today. The flavor of the cassis is amazingly intense and I have bought a bottle because good cassis is one of the finest things in the world.

I note, to the distress of my bank account, that Philippe does tastings at his shop once a month. They are on Wednesdays, when I have to be in Bristol anyway for Ujima. The June event is Appleton rums. Oh dear…