Mystery surrounds the origins of Chartreuse. In 1605, one of Estrées’‘ marshals presented the Carthusian Monks at Vauvert, Paris with a manuscript containing the formula for a plant elixir. In 1764, this formula using 130 plants was perfected and formalized by Father Jérôme Maubec, who created the Elixir Végétal de la Grande-Chartreuse, the monastery where Chartreuse would be produced until 1864. After a difficult end to the century marked by a French Revolution that posed many problems for religious orders, green and yellow Chartreuse were created in 1840 and quickly became popular. In 1903, the monks were expelled from France and sought refuge in Tarragona, Spain, where they continued to produce Chartreuse, despite the brand being sold to a group of liquor producers. They recovered the brand in 1929 and returned production to France, although the Tarragona distillery would continue operating until 1989. Today, Chartreuse Diffusion manages production, now at the Aigueneoire Distillery, which follows in the footsteps of Fourvoirie and Voiron. Various types of Chartreuse are distributed, from green Chartreuse, to yellow Chartreuse, the Elixir Végétal and VEPs. Older versions and limited editions are hugely popular among enthusiasts and collectors, who have nicknamed it the “Queen of Liqueurs”.

A “Marseille” Chartreuse bottled in 2021. This edition is a tribute to the distillery founded in 1921 at 15 Rue de l’’Obélisque in Marseilles by the Carthusian monks when they returned to France and before they were able to return to the monastery from which they had been driven out in 1903. Evidence of the existence of this distillery was discovered among the personal archives of the Reverend Father of the Grande Chartreuse by the authors of the book Chartreuse, La Liqueur during their research. It is a Green Chartreuse bottled at 51.7% ABV. A limited edition of 760 bottles in blown glass with a stopper and bottleneck modelled on those of old Chartreuses.