History

Chartreuse liqueurs take their name from the Carthusian Order (Chartreuse Order), which derives its name from a place where Bruno and his seven companions decided to settle in 1084: the “désert” of Chartreuse. It was in these austere mountains that a hermitage was erected to live in solitude and in community, in prayer and contemplation, in the silence of the monastery.The Carthusian self-sufficiency motto requires them to find means of subsistence in their immediate environment: they will successively become breeders, fish farmers, exploiters of the Chartreuse forests, and even blacksmiths. During its first 700 years of existence, the Order encountered many vicissitudes, setting its path to name but a few : an avalanche, eight fires and, the plague, which made many victims among the Carthusians. In the 18th century, they continued with the French Revolution, which led to years of wandering of the manuscript and political clashes, during which the Carthusians were even expelled from the Kingdom of France. From 1840, liqueurs were marketed under the name “Chartreuse”, but the brand had not yet been registered. In 1841, the revenue for the first month was equal to that of the sales of the previous year: success was rapid. Thanks to the income generated by the sale of liquors and the now famous elixir, the monastery was able to devote itself to more charity in the years that followed. The presence of soldiers in the massif in 1848, will make the reputation of the Chartreuse: they taste it and talk about it in all the barracks! This success inevitably triggers the creation of counterfeits, forcing the Carthusians to put on their bottles and flasks the words “Liqueur sold at the Grande-Chartreuse”, accompanied by the ‘L. Garnier’ signature. The beginning of the twentieth century is marked by a powerful anticlericalism which believes that the liberation of minds requires the erasure of religions. Since the French Revolution, the monastic institution has been violently attacked, and, the Carthusians, having resisted a first wave of expulsion from unauthorized congregations, article 13 of the law of July 1, 1901 (Waldeck Rousseau) gives them a terrible blow: “no religious congregation can be formed without an authorization given by a law which will determine the conditions of its functioning”. The Carthusians will soon be expelled. From now on, advertising is rethought, the name becomes in 1951 “La Chartreuse”, and the signature of the brand asserts itself in the four corners of France and abroad on a multitude of supports, such as blotters, objects of restoration or in increasingly original press campaigns. The design of the bottles is also renewed, we use the embossed marking as it was done before 1880. We also use the label of Dom Louis Garnier deposited in 1869. By these actions, we want to restore the bottles of Chartreuse liqueur to their original identity.