The Little Green Book of Chartreuse

A first-of-its-kind guide to the 400-year-old spirit, including its history, resurgence, and 35 recipes for cocktails and sweet and savory dishes. Created as a medicinal elixir in the 1700s and still made exclusively by Carthusian monks in the French Alps from a secret recipe, Chartreuse‘s popularity waxed and waned through a revolution, two world wars, Prohibition, and a mountain collapse before it gained renewed popularity during the cocktail revival of the 2000s. In The Little Green Book of Chartreuse, authors Jordan Mackay, an award-winning spirits journalist, and Paul Einbund, owner of The Morris, the restaurant whose world-class Chartreuse collection helped usher in its revival in the U.S., distill their knowledge and passion in this unique overview of the liqueur. This comprehensive and beautifully photographed guide takes readers through Chartreuse‘s history and early development, its ingredients and distillation process, and how to buy, store, serve, and collect the spirit. Then it offers new and vintage ways to use the spirit in 25 cocktail recipes, including the pre-Prohibition Brandy Daisy ; the martini-adjacent Alaska Cocktail ; and The Last Word , the drink that saved Chartreuse from the dustbin of forgotten spirits. The innovative cocktail recipes are accompanied by ten sweet and savory Chartreuse-based food recipes including a Coconut Chartreuse Marshmallow , Elixir Végétal Asparagus with Butter , and a Chartreuse Chocolate Pot de Crème . Along the way, The Little Green Book of Chartreuse wanders the elusive green spirit‘s long path to the present: its evolving forms, its obsessive collectors, and its delirious role in the world of cocktails, old and new.