Tarragona Fabriquee Green -89
⏳ Drinking Window
Fully mature and ready to enjoy now, though it possesses an almost indefinite aging potential in bottle, continuing to develop tertiary complexity over many decades.
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
dark chocolate, blue cheese, roasted nuts
✨ Technical Specifications
The legendary 'Tarragona' bottlings of Chartreuse hold a mythical status among spirits collectors, representing a historic era when the Carthusian Monks produced their famous elixir in Spain. Following their expulsion from France in 1903, the monks established a distillery in the Catalan port city of Tarragona, continuing production there until 1989. The 'Tarragona Fabriquee Green 1985-89' represents the very final years of this Spanish chapter. Crafted from the secret recipe of 130 botanicals, this expression is celebrated for its unique character, often described as richer, rounder, and possessing a distinct herbal density compared to its French-distilled counterparts of the same era. The spirit was aged in large oak vats, allowing the complex botanical compounds to integrate beautifully with the alcohol, creating a legendary digestif that bridges monastic tradition and Spanish history.
🍾 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.