The origins of Chartreuse, the famously emerald green liqueur, date back to 1605, when the Chartreuse monks in Vauvert received a manuscript for an “elixir of long life”. This recipe was eventually followed in 1737, then slightly adapted to be a milder type of beverage in 1764 - this beverage was Green Chartreuse.

The Chartreuse monks were forced out of France in 1793, and production halted. They were allowed to return to their monastery in 1816, and soon developed Yellow Chartreuse, which was sweeter and had a lower ABV. However, in 1903, the monks were yet again expelled from France - they settled in Tarragona, where they built a new distillery and continued to make Chartreuse. The bottled from this distillery mentioned Tarragona on the label. Chartreuse continued to be produced in some form in France, though it was unsuccessful and the brand was bought and returned to the Chartreuse monks. They returned to their distillery in Fourvoirie in the early 1900s, though this was destroyed in a mudslide and they were relocated to Voiron, where the liqueur continues to be produced today.

As Quentin Tarantino said in one of his movies, “Chartreuse, the only liqueur so good they named a colour after it.”