The Chartreuse Caves

Our  guide explained the process of
making alcohol from flowers

They sound pretty cool, don’t they?  Before you get any ideas, though, I suppose I’d better clear the image of “Chartreuse Caves” out of your head:  “Cave” is the French word for a cellar or a cavern (not really a cave), and “Chartreuse” is the name of an order of monks who used old medicinal elixir recipes to start a liquor cellar.  So, I’m not about to write of our visit to greenish-yellowish holes in the side of a mountain.  Instead, this is the story of our visit to a pretty cool liquor manufacturing place nuzzled next to a monastery in the mountains.

Getting ready for our tasting!

My friends have been excited for our tour of the liquor cellars since the beginning of the trip (we are all college kids, after all.  There’s something alluring about the lower drinking age, especially for my under-21 friends, so alcohol gets the whole group pretty excited.)  To add to all of the excitement, we were let out of class half an hour early to catch our bus to Chartreuse.  It was about an hour-long bus ride (as most trips seem to be).

We arrived at a building with beautifully ornate stained-glass windows telling the history of the Chartreuse Order (the order of monks) and the distillery itself.  We were given a tour of the distillery and an explanation of the processes.  Chartreuse liquor is made from mountain plants, trees, and flowers, and it was fascinating to hear about how the drink is made.  Our tour included a 3D movie of the history of the town, order, and distillery, and (of course!), it ended with a tasting.

The "Green" really WAS green!

The distillery has two main specialties:  Green and Yellow (both naturally colored by their contents).  I tried green for the tasting, and my was it strong!  I couldn’t finish the shot-sized sip I was given.  Green has 55% alcohol by volume and Yellow has 40%.  It tasted good, though; definitely had a natural, plant-y taste.  It almost tasted like mint and pine.  The best liquor that I tried was one made from raspberries.  It was smooth and sweet and, as my friends and I discovered after coming home that night, especially delicious when mixed with sprite or sparkling white wine. 

And the "Yellow" was actually yellow!

The Chartreuse Caves lived up to my friends’ and my expectations.  It turns out that monks really know what they’re doing when it comes to alcohol production, and I really enjoyed learning about the process of making alcohol out of flowers.  Who knew it was possible?  So the next time you are debating whether or not it is too girly to get your male friend a bouquet of flowers for Valentine's Day, remember this:  there are monks in the French alps who make bouquets in to very strong liquor.