Green Period -83
⏳ Drinking Window
Ready to drink now, with virtually indefinite aging potential due to its high alcohol and sugar content.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
dark chocolate desserts, blue cheese, roasted duck
✨ Technical Specifications
The Green Chartreuse from the Tarragona period, specifically bottled between 1978 and 1983, represents a legendary chapter in spirits history. Following their expulsion from France in 1903, the Carthusian Monks established a distillery in Tarragona, Spain, where they produced their enigmatic liqueurs until 1989. This specific release, crafted from the secret recipe of 130 botanicals macerated in grape-based alcohol and aged in oak, is highly coveted by collectors. The Tarragona bottlings are celebrated for a distinct character that differs from their French counterparts, often showing a richer, more anise-forward, and slightly sweeter profile. Decades of bottle aging have transformed the fiery 55% ABV spirit into an incredibly complex, harmonious elixir with notes of candied mint, rosemary, thyme, and warm baking spices.
🍾 About the Producer
Chartreuse represents one of the world's most legendary and enigmatic spirit traditions, rooted in an alchemical manuscript for an 'elixir of long life' presented to the Carthusian monks by François Annibal d'Estrées in 1605. Brother Jérôme Maubec and Brother Antoine spent decades unraveling its formula, establishing the Élixir Végétal in 1764 and Green Chartreuse in 1840. While production historically migrated from Fourvoirie to Tarragona during monastic expulsion, and later Voiron, primary distillation moved to the Aiguenoire facility in Entre-Deux-Guiers in 2018. Surrounded by the limestone massifs of the Prealps, only two designated Carthusian monks hold the complete secret formula, overseeing the selection, weighing, and blending of 130 alpine herbs, plants, and botanicals. The complex multi-stage macerations and copper pot distillations age in colossal uncharred oak foudres, creating peerlessly complex liqueurs capable of decades of bottle maturation. Benchmark expressions include the intensely herbal Green Chartreuse (55% ABV), saffron-tinged Yellow Chartreuse (43% ABV), and extended-cellared V.E.P. bottlings.