Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Where has all the Chartreuse gone?

everydaydrinking.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 166 posts

Re: Where has all the Chartreuse gone?

#31

Post by vianneychevalie »

swalling wrote: post #19

Artificially limiting production on a secret recipe liqueur is a great tactic for turning what could be a commodity into more like a Veblen good. The opposite has happened to Campari, where you can now buy a ton of different red-hued craft aperitivo with similar flavor profiles. The article missed out on mentioning the best Chartreuse-based cocktail though: The Last Word. It’s absolutely sublime. https://en.wikipedia…

A friend working at Campari told me their strategy is to cut off supermarkets for a couple of years to focus on bar and restaurants, before an increase in pricing and a comeback in a couple of years.

Re: Where has all the Chartreuse gone?

#32

Post by masklinn »

christkv wrote: post #25
franky47 wrote: post #3

Living in Grenoble (25km away from Voiron where the Chartreuse is made), I welcome this decision. I'd hate to see Chartreuse (also the name of the local mountain range where the monks' monastery is based) become industrialized to the point where its authenticity is lost, for the sake of global market supremacy. For an alternative, try Genepi. It's not a brand name, but another type of artisanal liquor made out of a c…

Is it not made by the same monks?

Not at all. In fact, like pastis genepi is a "generic" name, you can get it from any number of companies, and even make your own: the name comes directly from the Artemisia it's macerated from (Artemisia genipi).

The recipe is simple enough too: 40 strands, 40 days in 40º, 40 sugar (cubes), for a liter.

Though in modern recipes it's usually macerated in pure neutral alcohol which is then diluted to 2x, and the sugar is usually ~halved (but to taste): ~300g sugar per liter is a lot, the goal of the sugar is to mellow the genepi so 100~150g is usually sufficient.

Re: Where has all the Chartreuse gone?

#33

Post by [deleted] »

callahad wrote: post #21
swalling wrote: post #19

Artificially limiting production on a secret recipe liqueur is a great tactic for turning what could be a commodity into more like a Veblen good. The opposite has happened to Campari, where you can now buy a ton of different red-hued craft aperitivo with similar flavor profiles. The article missed out on mentioning the best Chartreuse-based cocktail though: The Last Word. It’s absolutely sublime. https://en.wikipedia…

Alas, the Last Word was mentioned in passing, just not especially favorably: > It’s honestly inspiring that the monks refuse to see their earthly purpose as satisfying the demands of some knucklehead mixologist doing his little riff on the Last Word at some lame speakeasy in some third-tier city. Which is a shame, because it is a fantastic cocktail.

[deleted]

Re: Where has all the Chartreuse gone?

#34

Post by abricq »

In times such as now where there are strong forces acting to push for more production and consumption, for less thinking about the quality & sustainability or impact of our consumption, I applaud their efforts !

This kind of act is simply great, it questions about the meaning of our productive system: do we produce because we simply want to sell more / becoming richer ? Is it possible that we produce for the sake of keeping a tradition alive, or to share what is locally available without disrupting the locality ? These monks have just made clear answers to these questions.

Re: Where has all the Chartreuse gone?

#35

Post by kimburgess »

cnity wrote: post #9
oh_my_goodness wrote: post #6

Probably a good decision even for the customers. Single-malt Scotch blew up in popularity decades ago, and my favorite brands just weren't the same after about the 1990s. I've stopped even trying.

I was born in the early/mid 90s so I haven't experienced what it was "before", but can you expand? I'm a big enjoyer of whisky so I'm interested in what changed for you.

I can't talk to as far back as GP, but as someone who's been teetering on the edge of whisky snobbery for the past decade or so: a major change has been a shift to no age statement (NAS). This has been accompanied by an obliteration (either complete unavailability, or equivalent due to costs exceeding sane economic bounds) of older options. The logistics for a product that has a 20+ year lead time are extremely fragile against varying market demands.

This isn't inherently bad. There are some mind blowingly good options (Octomore et al) that fall under the NAS umbrella, just a different set of products to what may have traditionally been seen as a defining production technique.

Re: Where has all the Chartreuse gone?

#37

Post by franky47 »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #16
franky47 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here (ENSERG/Phelma). I find it funny that the name for Chartreuse + Hot chocolate in English is "Verte chaud" (I'll skip the conjugation error), while it's "Green chaud" in French.

That's because marketing people in France have to use English words for everything, for some reason. They think it sounds cool but in this case it is really ridiculous.

You could argue the same thing in English here (using a French word). But yes I agree we overuse (and abuse) English words. Don't get me started on the misuse of 's..

Re: Where has all the Chartreuse gone?

#38

Post by BiteCode_dev »

franky47 wrote: post #3

Living in Grenoble (25km away from Voiron where the Chartreuse is made), I welcome this decision. I'd hate to see Chartreuse (also the name of the local mountain range where the monks' monastery is based) become industrialized to the point where its authenticity is lost, for the sake of global market supremacy. For an alternative, try Genepi. It's not a brand name, but another type of artisanal liquor made out of a c…

Genepi production is pretty limited itself because of the heavy restrictions on the plant harvest, espacially since it grows mainly in the Alps. And the Mercantour rangers are not tolerant of people picking more than their share.

Source, I live there.

Re: Where has all the Chartreuse gone?

#39

Post by smcl »

callahad wrote: post #21
swalling wrote: post #19

Artificially limiting production on a secret recipe liqueur is a great tactic for turning what could be a commodity into more like a Veblen good. The opposite has happened to Campari, where you can now buy a ton of different red-hued craft aperitivo with similar flavor profiles. The article missed out on mentioning the best Chartreuse-based cocktail though: The Last Word. It’s absolutely sublime. https://en.wikipedia…

Alas, the Last Word was mentioned in passing, just not especially favorably: > It’s honestly inspiring that the monks refuse to see their earthly purpose as satisfying the demands of some knucklehead mixologist doing his little riff on the Last Word at some lame speakeasy in some third-tier city. Which is a shame, because it is a fantastic cocktail.

I'm quite amazed by the concentration of ugly opinions the author managed to squeeze into one relatively short sentence! I thought cocktails were meant to be fun, that they were meant to be riffed on and explored. I guess if you're from a "third rate" city that doesn't apply.

Re: Where has all the Chartreuse gone?

#40

Post by shever73 »

imwillofficial wrote: post #15

“satisfying the demands of some knucklehead mixologist doing his little riff on the Last Word at some lame speakeasy in some third-tier city.” This has to be the shittiest most pretensions statement I’ve read all year.

I agree. The pretentious gatekeeping put me off the article.
Post reply on HN