Yellow + Green = Chartreuse
I always take a walk around the Internet before I do a column. For this one, I was surprised how many people had written about Chartreuse without ever really including a description of what the hell it tasted like. Most of the articles might have you misbelieving it’s a kind of absinthe or anisette. Oh it is so not either of those things, but oh so much more…
Ask For The Monk Distilled Bottle
in the Seattle Weekly
May 24th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
If you’ve ever had it then you’d know the taste is, well, nearly indescribable.
Cloves, green herbs (thyme, rosemary?), something vegetal, anise, maybe peppermint or cinnamon somewhere in there as well.
It’s most easily described as “medicinal”, and many first-timers think it tastes like after shave.
Those who work their way through it, though, and eventually acquire a taste for it, will tell you it’s the most complex, flavorful, and extraordinary spirit you can drink.
Everyone else calls it downright nasty.