Chartreuse

I first fell in love with Chartreuse just a
couple of months ago. I now enjoy a very small cordial after each
rich meal. There’s really nothing like Chartreuse. Find the
geekiest wine and spirits lover and challenge them to identify
flavors within this alluring elixir, and they’ll be stumped.

At any given time, only two Carthusian monks—of the contemplative order of
monks that reside alongside the Chartreuse Mountains of France, in the ancient
Chartreuse Monastery—know one portion of the secret,
trade-protected recipe. When one of these monks dies, another is
left to carry on the tradition but is, again, given only one
portion of the recipe. These monks have been making Charteuse from
the same recipe since 1605, and though they give credit to unnamed
plants for this drink’s beauty, it is also widely believed that
other unnamed, secret ingredients comprise this sublime
beverage.