2023 Vuelta España - Stage 4: Andorra la Vela to Tarragona.
Hope you enjoyed the brief stay in Andorra and yesterday’s Andorran meal, because we are back down into the Catalonia region of Spain. Today’s end-stage town is Tarragona, the second-home for Chartreuse production by French monk refugees (1903). However, this liqueur was first produced nearly 300 years ago by Carthusian Monks in France and the original recipe is over 400 years old! If unfamiliar, Chartreuse is a potent botanical liqueur. It is now produced once more in France…but still by the Carthusian Monks! Since Chartreuse is not primarily produced for capitalist purposes (they are monks after all) a bottle can be extremely difficult to find.
Due to its scarcity (once it’s out of the monks’ hands is where capitalism creeps in), this product is not your average-priced bottle of liqueur, which I learned this weekend. After traveling many miles to many liquor stores, a 750 ml bottle cost me $110; the things I do for you people! Today, I offer you a strong, but absolutely delicious, extremely balanced, and aptly named cocktail: the Spanish Monk!
Spanish Monk
4 oz gin
1.5 oz green chartreuse
Juice from half a lemon
1 oz simple syrup
2 tsp egg white
Place ice in 2 coupe glasses to chill while you prepare the cocktail.
Combine all of the ingredients listed above in a large shaker. Cover and shake for 30 seconds, holding down the top firmly as the gas from the foaming egg white will create pressure. Alternatively, use a Boston shaker.
Add in two handfuls of ice to the shaker, close the top and shake for 20 seconds, until the shaker is frosty.
Empty the ice from the coupes, and double strain the cocktail into the glasses (using the strainer from the shaker and through a fine-mesh strainer) and serve.
Garnish with a lemon twist if you’re feeling fancy…I was thirsty and forgot!
______________________________ Copyright 2023, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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