Chartreuse is offering you the chance to win a fantastic skiing trip to the Alps.
The dramatic landscape that has been the home of Chartreuse since 1084. There will also be a fantastic array of runners-up prizes.
The idea for Chartreuse came from the Marshall d’Estrees, an alchemist in search of a life-giving tonic. He gave a list of 130 different flowers, herbs and plants to monks at a monastery in Paris in 1605.
They worked to develop a recipe at La Grande Chartreuse, their monastery in south-eastern France, finally creating the Elixir of Long Life in 1737 and then launching Green Chartreuse in 1764.
In 1869 the Chartreuse trademark was officially registered by one Louis Garnier (it’s his signature that still appears on the label today), and soon Chartreuse was proving so popular that the French government attempted to nationalise it.
Following the separation of Church and State in 1903, the monks were expelled from France and went to Tarragona in Spain to carry on production of Green Chartreuse. The monks were eventually reinstated as its sole producers, back at their home in France in 1929.
Today Chartreuse is inspiring mixologists all around the world, which is why The Chartreuse Challenge wants to hear from you. All you need to do is create an original recipe featuring at least 25ml of Green Chartreuse – any other ingredients are entirely up to you. The best recipes will be shortlisted for one of five heats later this year:
- Bristol: Monday 7 November
- Leeds/Liverpool/Manchester: Tuesday 8 November
- Birmingham/Nottingham: Monday 14 November
- Edinburgh: Monday 21 November
- London: Monday/Tuesday 28-29 November
- (venues to be confirmed)
Two winners from each heat will go forward to the Grand Final, which will be held in London on Monday 5 December. Here, contestants will not only have to make their winning drink, they will also get to score each other’s efforts too, along with a top panel of trade judges.
Email your recipe to Matthew Dakers at chartreuseuk@hotmail.com by 31 October 2011
The winner must be available to take the skiing trip from 24-26 January 2012