CHARTREUSE - VEP Green VEP - 1 Litre Bottle - 2021 Bottling - 54% ABV
The Order of the Chartreuse has existed for over 500 years. In 1605, at a Chartreuse monastery located in Vauvert, a small suburb of Paris, the monks received an exceptional gift from Duke François Hannibal d'Estrées: an ancient manuscript describing an "Elixir" nicknamed the "Elixir of Long Life." This precious document was probably the work of a 16th-century alchemist, endowed with great knowledge of herbs and unique expertise in assembling, infusing, and macerating more than 130 plants to create a perfectly balanced tonic. The complexity of the recipe meant that only certain elements were understood and exploited at Vauvert. At the beginning of the 18th century, this manuscript was sent to the Mother House of the Order, the Grande Chartreuse, nestled in the mountains near Grenoble. There, the Monastery's Apothecary, Brother Jérôme Maubec, managed to unravel the mystery and, in 1737, wrote a practical formula for preparing this elixir, finalized in 1764. In 1903, the Chartreuse distillery was nationalized by the French government, and the monks were expelled. When the company went bankrupt in 1929, the monks recovered the Chartreuse brand and returned to their distillery, built in 1860 at Fourvoirie, near the monastery, to resume production of the genuine Chartreuse liqueurs. In 1935, a landslide almost completely destroyed Fourvoirie, forcing production to be transferred to Voiron, where it continues to this day.
The process of selecting, grinding, and blending the secret herbs, medicinal plants, and other natural ingredients intended for the production of the liqueurs is carried out by two monks directly at the monastery. Once the ingredients are meticulously assembled, they are transported to Voiron where they macerate in a rigorously selected alcohol before being carefully distilled. These precious liqueurs are then aged for several years in large oak barrels, placed in the aging cellar renowned for housing the longest maturations in the world, thus guaranteeing unparalleled aromatic complexity.
A small portion of this liqueur is specially selected for exceptional treatment. This fraction is aged for an additional period, and once approved by the master distiller as ready for bottling, it is bottled and marketed under the name V.E.P. Chartreuse ("Exceptionally Prolonged Aging"). Each bottle of V.E.P., a faithful reproduction of a version used in 1840, is individually numbered, sealed with wax, and presented in refined packaging, making this edition a prestigious collector's item for connoisseurs of exceptional spirits.
