Les Peres Chartreux 1605 Chartreuse Verte

Few liqueurs carry a story as genuinely remarkable as Chartreuse. In 1605, a French Marshal handed Carthusian monks a mysterious manuscript containing a recipe for an "elixir of long life" — and the monks have guarded that secret ever since. Today, only two monks at any time know the complete formula for the 130 herbs, plants, and flowers that go into it; they pass it down only when one is near death.

Green Chartreuse, developed from that original recipe in the 1840s, is intensely herbaceous and bracingly complex — the only naturally green liqueur in the world, its colour coming entirely from chlorophyll rather than dye. The monks have voluntarily limited production to protect their way of life, making each bottle genuinely scarce.

Sip it neat to appreciate its full complexity, or use it as the backbone of a classic Last Word cocktail.