Livre Chartreuse La Liqueur - Version Française

An extraordinary work that traces the history of the Carthusian Fathers and their liquors in a comprehensive manner.

I. Introduction

The Chartreuse...

...a liqueur from the massif of the same name, with a unique know-how, a secret composition unchanged since 1605, of which only two monks hold the secret. ...a liqueur which constitutes an important means of subsistence for the twenty-two houses of the Carthusian Order in the world, including the mother house: the Grande Chartreuse. 900 years of monastic Order. 400 years of liqueurs. Discover the history of the Carthusian monastery through the 348 pages of this work, which will become a reference document and the first book published by Chartreuse Diffusion

II. Presentation

"The first book on Chartreuse liqueurs published by Chartreuse Diffusion

Reference documents

More than three years of work were necessary to write this book, so rich is its content and iconography. Its great strength is to be a work of truth, thanks first of all to the involvement of the Reverend Father of the Grande Chartreuse. He opened and worked on his personal archives, thus enabling the reconstruction of authentic history, "dusted off" from what oral tradition may have long conveyed or maintained as approximate

Motivations for writing

Through this book, the working group wished to offer everyone: the curious, amateurs, tourists and collectors, the true epic of the liqueur. The book is both a synthesis and the result of research which, although it had already been carried out, had never been completed or linked to all the existing elements. The aim was therefore to produce more than a reference book, accompanied by a notebook of the most famous bottles, but to conduct an investigation on the path of 7 distilleries and 415 years of production

Description of the book - Official release on 25 June 2019

Historical discoveries

A demanding research, laborious at times, exalted at other times, allowed the working group to make real discoveries: by positioning, for example, the key stages in the elaboration of the Elixir, then of the Green and Yellow liqueurs. This quest led the working group to gather, in various parts of France, testimonies and statements from elders that could not be doubted or disregarded. These precious accounts confirmed the evidence of a distillery in Paris, but also in Marseilles: today we speak of 7 distilleries of Chartreuse Liqueurs!

From the reception of the manuscript containing the names of the 130 plant species used in the composition of the Elixir, to the creation of the first Chartreuse, more than a century of research and development was necessary. A look back at the founding dates in the history of liqueurs:

4 centuries of distillation, 7 distilleries

1605 Gift of the manuscript by the Duke of Estrées, to the Carthusian monks of Vauvert

Before 1737 Monastery of Vauvert - Paris

1737 - 1864 Monastery of the Grande Chartreuse - Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse

1864 - 1903 Fourvoirie - Saint-Laurent-du-Pont

1903 - 1989 Tarragona - Spain

1921 - 1930 Rue de l'Obélisque - Marseille

1932 - 1935 Fourvoirie - Saint-Laurent-du-Pont

1936 - 2017 Caves de la Chartreuse - Voiron

2018 Aiguenoire - Entre-Deux-Guiers

Dates of production of the main liqueurs

1764 Elixir Végétal de la Grande Chartreuse

1840 Green Chartreuse

1840 Chartreuse Yellow

1963 Chartreuse V.E.P

1984 Liqueur du 9ème centenaire

2004 Liqueur d'Elixir

2008 Liqueur des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France Sommeliers

Quality of the work

A new experience of the working group used to enrich the book as well as the testimonies of the Chartreuse's former employees bring a great deal of soul to this work. The photographs are of exceptional quality and were taken by Stéphane Couchet, a photographer based in Chartreuse who has succeeded in capture the depth and grandeur of the Grande Chartreuse monastery, capture the authenticity of the Chartreuse monks, and bring to life the bottles and flasks of Chartreuse. A complete and unpublished bottle booklet is presented at the end of the book. The result of a long work based on the precious notes left by a former distiller brother, Fère Marie Bernard

III. The working group

For three years, five people, friends and former directors of Liqueurs Chartreuse, worked hand in hand to write this book, rich in sharing and knowledge: Antoine Munoz, Christian Delafon, Philip Boyer, Martine Galiano and Jean-Marc Roget.