Chartreuse, an intensely green or yellow herbal liqueur, has become a trending drink, with more Parisians reaching for it in recent years. Its popularity among younger drinkers notably increased after the pandemic, according to a wine shop worker in Paris.
The liqueur, which has a folkloric backstory involving Carthusian monks and a secret recipe, is not easy to find. In 2021, the Carthusian monks announced plans to cap production to protect their monastic life and focus on solitude and prayer. A spokesperson for Chartreuse stated the brand is now shifting its focus back towards herbalism.
The scarcity of Chartreuse is evident in places like La Cave de Belleville in Paris, where a bottle shop receives an annual allocation of only 24 bottles each of green and yellow Chartreuse. Globally, it is thought that not much over 1 million bottles are produced each year, with half kept and half exported to countries including the US, Japan, Australia, and those surrounding the Alpine arc.
The original recipe, an "elixir of long life" with 130 ingredients, was entrusted to the Carthusian monks in 1605. Today, only three monks know the full recipe, and they are assisted by five anonymous lay people in the distillery.