This lime-green, anise-scented liqueur is sweet at first sip, then herbaceous in the middle, showing fennel, pine, tarragon and mild floral notes. The finish is spicy and warming, with anise, white pepper and ginger heat. It's a bit too viscous and fiery for straight-up sipping, but it's beautifully complex and a key ingredient for the classic Last Word and other cocktails. (KN) (4/2016)
Strict limit of 1 per name or address. Chartreuse has gotten notice in recent years as a distinct ingredient in popular cocktails such as the Last Word, but the spirit which named a color has a grand and winding history that goes back more than 400 years. Its recipe is the stuff of legends, but something is known about the process. At their sprawling stone monastery in the French Alps, two Carthusian monks oversee the crushing and blending of about 130 plants and herbs that are included... each monk maintains a vow of silence in regard to these ingredients which are archived on the order's secret 400-year-old manuscript. These pre-blended ingredients are macerated in alcohol and distilled in stages at their facility in Voiron, with the final maceration giving the liqueur its color. The finished concoction is stored in giant oak casks in the world's largest liqueur cellar for maturation until bottling (the VEP bottling sees extended wood age in Taransaud oak barrels to the tune of 8 extra years). The result is remarkable; perhaps the only spirit in the world that develops and improves with long-term age in the bottle like only the finest wines. Pour some over ice to see how the essential oils in the liqueur are so massively concentrated that they won't combine with the water of the melted ice—instead the mixture shimmers in a delicate, rippling swirl. The hedonist's digestif!
The item you have chosen is not in stock in our retail stores or within our main warehouse.
