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[narrah]

Green Chartruese........

Do It.....


Chartreuse
Type Liqueur
Alcohol by volume 40% - 55.0%
Proof 80 - 110
Manufacturer Carthusian monks
Country of origin Voiron, France
Introduced 1605
Colour Green or Yellow
Flavor herbal

Chartreuse is a French liqueur composed of distilled alcohol flavored with 130 herbal extracts. The liqueur is named after the Grande Chartreuse monastery where it was formerly produced, located in the Chartreuse Mountains. The liquor is nowadays produced in a factory in the nearby town of Voiron under the supervision of monks from the monastery.



The two types of Chartreuse most often found are:

Green Chartreuse (110 proof or 55%) is a naturally green liqueur flavored with extracts from 130 plants with its coloring coming from chlorophyll.

Yellow Chartreuse (40% or 43%), which has a milder and sweeter flavor and aroma.

Other kinds of Chartreuse are:

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 can be described as a cordial or a liqueur, and is claimed to be a very effective tonic.


Chartreuse counterfeits

The cellars of the Chartreuse
The old-style pot stills (no longer in regular use, they have been replaced by stainless steel stills)According to tradition a marshal of artillery to French king Henri IV, François Hannibal d'Estrées, presented the Carthusian monks at Vauvert, near Paris, with an alchemical manuscript that contained a recipe for an "elixir of long life" in 1605.[1] 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.

The beverage soon became popular, 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 manufacture of the liqueur ceased. Several years later they were allowed to return. In 1838 they developed Yellow Chartreuse, a sweeter, 40% alcoholic (80° proof) liqueur, colored with saffron.

The monks were again expelled from the monastery following a change in French law in 1903, and their real property, including the distillery, was confiscated by the government. The monks took their secret recipe to their refuge in Tarragona, Spain, and began producing their liqueurs with the same label, but with an additional label which said Liqueur fabriquée à Tarragone par les Pères Chartreux ("liquor manufactured in Tarragona by the Carthusian Fathers").

At the same time in Voiron a corporation owning the Chartreuse assets produced without benefit of the monks' recipe a liqueur which they sold as Chartreuse, but all attempts to reproduce real Chartreuse failed; sales were very poor, and 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 a low price and sent them as a gift to the monks in Tarragona.

After regaining 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 at a location near 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.

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.[citation needed] The herb hyssop is one of the most obvious major constituents of the flavor.[citation needed]


Cultural references

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."

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, Gatsby shares a bottle of Chartreuse with Nick, the narrator. From Chapter 5: "Finally we came to Gatsby's own apartment, a bedroom and a bath, and an Adam study, where we sat down and drank a glass of some Chartreuse he took from a cupboard in the wall."

In Evelyn Waugh's 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."

In John Updike's short story "Domestic Life in America," first published in The New Yorker and later in the short story collection Problems, Jean offers her separated husband Fraser some Chartreuse as they go over her proposed alimony budget. Fraser: "Where does the money for Chartreuse come in?" Jean: "Under 'household necessities.'"

In Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof, the bar owner Warren (Quentin Tarantino) serves a green liqueur. After having emptied their glasses, and being asked what was just served, Warren says "Chartreuse, the only liqueur so good they named a color after it."

its also made refrence to in "the quiet American"

[kidfromkibbly]

Guiness is my all time favourite! but it all tastes like a rug in new zealand

You should come over to Ireland here and get a real pint. Guinness is my lifeblood.

For a beer I usually go with Erdinger or Budvar. Staropramen at times too.

For shorts, I always get a Jameson, sometimes on the rocks, sometimes with a dash of red lemonade - the sugar fuels the madness somewhat.

If you want the real devils drink though, Google "Buckfast Tonic Wine" It's made from the Dark Ones intestinal scrapings...... so I believe.

Green Chartreuse is made from His bile. I had 7 shots of it one night on top of couple of pints of cider and a shot of sambuca. I have never been closer to death.

[narrah]

I stayed in bundorin ireland for 5 months once, I was working in the imperial hotel. My most favourite thing was to serve myself a guiness at the end of the end of the shift. My least favourite was closing up and having to go down to that cellar, it was fkin freaky........

another storie involving both guinness and chartruese.

One time I got of a ship in Melbourne, had been at sea 7 weeks.

I met my uncle and went stright to the pub.

Had about 6 pints of guiness, then thought it a great idea to have 3 shots of chartreus before being driven to the airport.

My uncle escorted me through the airport in a wheelchair.

I managed to convince the qantas staff to let me on the plane as I had a connecting international flight.

All i can remeber was the plane spinning and me power spewing (throwing up) everywhere as the plane taxid down the runway. It was a small plane and needless to say everyone had a lot of hate for me.

I had to wrote a letter of apology to qantas, as I often fly with them. Havnt had any chartreus since, however, i might have to get a bottle on my way home this time.

[Kaon]

I stayed in bundorin ireland for 5 months once, I was working in the imperial hotel. My most favourite thing was to serve myself a guiness at the end of the end of the shift. My least favourite was closing up and having to go down to that cellar, it was fkin freaky........

another storie involving both guinness and chartruese.

One time I got of a ship in Melbourne, had been at sea 7 weeks.

I met my uncle and went stright to the pub.

Had about 6 pints of guiness, then thought it a great idea to have 3 shots of chartreus before being driven to the airport.

My uncle escorted me through the airport in a wheelchair.

I managed to convince the qantas staff to let me on the plane as I had a connecting international flight.

All i can remeber was the plane spinning and me power spewing (throwing up) everywhere as the plane taxid down the runway. It was a small plane and needless to say everyone had a lot of hate for me.

I had to wrote a letter of apology to qantas, as I often fly with them. Havnt had any chartreus since, however, i might have to get a bottle on my way home this time.

reminds me of good times on scotland heh

[JesC]

Ok, I just got back from the bar....err! You already know about my drunken rants! Just wanted to say that I looked all the new posted and I didnt know where to post my 1000 post, but being that Im sh!t faced might as well do it here!

I had a good night @ the little cave (my sunday night residency) Im pretty lit, I have whiskey and coke's all night long and my tab was only $22.50 (get my drinks cheap, dirt cheap)

Just want wanted to say that I love this site and I spend more time here @ DJ TT than any other site. Love you guys & gals (monika)...this site is the bomb and I cant wait until I get to 2000 post. I hope that I get to meet all of you, Tekki, Bento, Mr Devil, Ean, Monika, and the rest of you. If I won the lottery I would by everyone a (REAL) VCI-100SE! Take it easy!

Mr JesC!

[narrah]

Awesome, somewhere to post when your lit up......... i like it

[tekki]

Ok, I just got back from the bar....err! You already know about my drunken rants!

That's also a part why we luv ya bro'!

Just want wanted to say that I love this site and I spend more time here @ DJ TT than any other site. Love you guys & gals (monika)...this site is the bomb and I cant wait until I get to 2000 post. I hope that I get to meet all of you, Tekki, Bento, Mr Devil, Ean, Monika, and the rest of you.[..]

Anytime and right back at ya! Let's see if we can make it happen!

[kidfromkibbly]

I had to wrote a letter of apology to qantas, as I often fly with them. Havnt had any chartreus since, however, i might have to get a bottle on my way home this time.

I took the pledge for about 3 years after my Chartreuse suicide attempt. Didn't touch it until I was in a pub with my college Surf Club and saw the green glint in the corner. Seeing as I was Treasurer and had a roll of money in my pocket to keep people well lubricated that night, the bottle got pretty quickly used up