Mystery surrounds the origins of Chartreuse. In 1605, one of Estrées’‘ marshals presented the Carthusian Monks at Vauvert, Paris with a manuscript containing the formula for a plant elixir. In 1764, this formula using 130 plants was perfected and formalized by Father Jérôme Maubec, who created the Elixir Végétal de la Grande-Chartreuse, the monastery where Chartreuse would be produced until 1864. After a difficult end to the century marked by a French Revolution that posed many problems for religious orders, green and yellow Chartreuse were created in 1840 and quickly became popular. In 1903, the monks were expelled from France and sought refuge in Tarragona, Spain, where they continued to produce Chartreuse, despite the brand being sold to a group of liquor producers. They recovered the brand in 1929 and returned production to France, although the Tarragona distillery would continue operating until 1989. Today, Chartreuse Diffusion manages production, now at the Aigueneoire Distillery, which follows in the footsteps of Fourvoirie and Voiron. Various types of Chartreuse are distributed, from green Chartreuse, to yellow Chartreuse, the Elixir Végétal and VEPs. Older versions and limited editions are hugely popular among enthusiasts and collectors, who have nicknamed it the “Queen of Liqueurs”.

Yellow Chartreuse was invented in 1840 by Brother Colomban and Brother Bruno Jacquet, who added the finishing touches. It is sweeter than Green Chartreuse and bottled at only 43% but uses the same plants and is also named after its colour. This edition was released between 1936 and 1941. It was produced at the Voiron distillery, where production was moved in 1936 after a rock slide destroyed the Fourvoirie distillery the year before. The words “Une Tarragone” refer to the Spanish town where the monks opened a distillery after being exiled from Grande Chartreuse by the government of the Third Republic, at the time headed by Emile Combes, who was fiercely anticlerical and rose to power after the Bloc des Gauches’’ victory in the 1902 elections. Although the monks recovered their brand in 1929, the Tarragona distillery continued to operate up until 1989. The bottles produced there are now highly prized by Chartreuse collectors and enthusiasts.