La Grande Chartreuse Distillery of the Chartreux Fathers

The story of the Elixir des moines de la Chartreuse is worthy of a novel.

It was in 1605 that Marshal d'Estrée gave the monks of the Charterhouse of Vauvert located in Paris the manuscript recapitulating all the botanicals used in the development of an Elixir. From 1611, the beneficial action of the "Elixir of long life" is known to all, Cardinal Richelieu reinforces this reputation by declaring that this Elixir heals and relieves it. In 1737, the monks of the Grande Chartreuse near Grenoble set the final recipe for what would become the Elixir Végétal de la Grande Chartreuse. The revolution of 1789 did not fail to shake up the habits of the Carthusian brothers, but it was the law of separation of Church and State at the start of the 20th century which marked a major turning point in the history of Grande Chartreuse. The brothers went into exile in Spain in Tarragona and continued to make liquor there. The extreme scarcity of bottles of Chartreuse "Tarragona" is causing the prices of these bottles to soar, which have become the object of mad speculation. The brothers returned to France in the 1920s and settled in Voiron. The Carthusian fathers still pass on the secret of making these Elixirs known throughout the world.

Only two brothers know the secret of the elixirs of the Chartreuse.