Chartreuse: the lovely French liqueur made by the Carthusian Monks since 1737. A one hundred percent secret recipe that contains 130 herbs, flowers and plants that’s only known to 2-3 monks at a time.
There are a lot of fun trivia about this drink. It was the first to use the word ‘liqueur’, from the latin word ‘liquor’ which basically means “a liquid”. The color chartreuse (a color halfway between green and yellow) was named after the drink, and not the other way round and many more interesting facts.
So yes, a liqueur with such a rich history, attracts a lot of collectors of vintage bottles. But how are you going to know the exact bottling date of each bottle? Well, we have a cool little trick to share. (the article continues after the ad)
You see, each bottle comes with a six-digit number on the gold band at the top of the bottle. Something that looks like this L928353. This number holds the secret for the exact bottling date of each individual bottle.
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HOW TO USE THIS CODE
Just take the first three numbers and add it to 1084 (the year the Carthusian order was formed in the Chartreuse mountainside). In our example that would be, 1084+928=2012; that’s the year the liqueur was bottled.
The next three numbers reveal the exact day – 353 stands for the 353rd day of the year, which in 2012, was the 18th of December. So this specific bottle was made on December 18, 2012: (the article continues after the ad)
Pretty neat, huh?
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A couple of years ago i bought a bottle of Chartreuse and by using this technique, i found out it was made in 1993. I wouldn’t call it a ‘vintage bottle’ but it’s definitely not a bottle i’m opening anytime soon!
If you like what you read, then you will definitely love this one: This Is The Difference Between ‘Blended’ And ‘Single Malt’ Whiskey
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Main Article Photo: Jarv / Wikimedia, I’m A Useless Info Junkie
Photoshop: I’m A Useless Info Junkie
Sources: Spirited Talks: Chartreuse with Ria Soler and Philippe Rochez | HISTORY OF THE CHARTREUSE LIQUEURS | A Guide to Collecting Vintage Chartreuse | Cracking the Date Code on Vintage Chartreuse
