CHARTREUSE - Yellow - Santa Tecla Edition 2016 - Half-bottle - 43%<\/strong><\/span><\/p>
The Order of the Chartreuse<\/strong> had existed for over 500 years when, in 1605, in a Chartreuse monastery in Vauvert, a small suburb of Paris, the monks received as a gift from Duke François Hannibal d'Estrées an ancient manuscript of an "Elixir" nicknamed "Elixir of Long Life." This precious manuscript was most likely the work of a 16th-century alchemist, endowed with encyclopedic knowledge of herbs and skilled in the art of assembling, infusing, and macerating the 130 plants that compose this exceptionally balanced tonic. The manuscript's recipe was so complex that only certain extracts were understood and then used at Vauvert. It was at the beginning of the 18th century that this manuscript was transferred to the Order's Mother House, La Grande Chartreuse, nestled in the mountains near Grenoble. The Monastery's Apothecary, Brother Jérôme Maubec<\/strong>, managed to unravel all its mysteries and, in 1737, wrote the practical formula to prepare this Elixir, a work finalized in 1764. In 1903, the French government nationalized the Chartreuse distillery, forcing the monks' expulsion. After the factory's bankruptcy in 1929, they regained possession of the Chartreuse brand, returning to their distillery created in 1860 at Fourvoirie, near the Monastery, and resumed authentic production of Chartreuse liqueurs. In 1935, a landslide almost completely destroyed Fourvoirie, leading to the transfer of production to Voiron<\/strong>, where the emblematic distillery still stands today.<\/p>
The rigorous sorting, meticulous grinding, and secret blending of the plants, herbs, and medicinal botanicals used in the liqueurs' production are carried out directly within the monastery by only two expert monks. Once meticulously mixed, the ingredients are transported to the Voiron distillery where they are first macerated in a carefully selected high-quality alcohol before being precisely distilled. These liqueurs then undergo slow and prolonged aging, lasting several years, in gigantic oak barrels stored in a cellar renowned for housing the longest and most precious maturation methods in the world.<\/p>
At the end of the 1990s, an innovative initiative was born: the creation of a special Chartreuse bottle exclusively for the population of Tarragona<\/strong>, produced in a limited series and sold during the Santa Tecla festivities<\/strong> in local shops. The very first exclusive edition was launched during Santa Tecla 2000: Yellow Chartreuse and Green Chartreuse were bottled in a unique design, featuring a back label faithfully reproducing the official Santa Tecla poster of that year. Since then, each year, about 4,000 bottles of Yellow Chartreuse and 1,000 bottles of Green Chartreuse are marketed on this occasion, becoming a true collector's item and an essential symbol of the festivities.<\/p>
