Monks, Booze, and a Secretive Recipe for a Values-Based Life (2 Min Read)

January  10, 2025

“It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” ― Roy Disney

Monks, Booze, and a Secretive Recipe for a Values-Based Life

Carthusian monks have been distilling chartreuse, an herbal liquor, in the Alps for over 260 years. The recipe itself dates back to a 1605 manuscript delivered to the monastery called the “elixir of long life.” The concoction is said to have over 130 ingredients. The monks spent a century and a half perfecting the recipe before selling the “elixir” to fund their order. In 1840, they formulated a milder version, green chartreuse, and a sweeter version, yellow chartreuse. At one point, chartreuse became so popular that the Vatican had to remind them that they were monks, not businessmen. 

Today, there are only three people in the world who know the recipe. Two still work at the monastery and another has left the order. And no single monk knows the entire formula. Each is entrusted with half. Like a pair of keys to a nuclear silo, it takes two to brew chartreuse. 

Each day, the two monks descend from their mountain monastery (in the same beat-up car) to oversee the distillery where the ingredients arrive in unmarked bags for secrecy. One flat tire and the ageless spirit could give up the ghost forever. 

Chartreuse might have remained an obscure liqueur, if not for Murray Stenson. In the early 2000s, Stenson found an old Prohibition cocktail recipe in a 1951 cookbook called “The Last Word.” Invented in the Detroit Athletic Club around 1916, it called for gin, lime juice, maraschino liqueur, and, you guessed it, green chartreuse. Stenson resurrected the recipe and is credited with helping launch the modern craft cocktail craze.

Faced with years of accelerating demand, the Carthusian sent a letter to all their customers in January of 2023. They had decided to limit production to “focus on their primary goal: protect their monastic life and devote their time to solitude and prayer.” They also wanted to “do less, but better, and for longer.” 

Until 2023, every self-respecting bartender would have bottles of green and yellow behind the bar. Today, they are nearly impossible to find and often sell for two to three times the regular price. While this is disappointing news for fans of the herbal liqueur, it seems remarkable in this day and age that values won the day. 

I love this story of monks, booze, and the secretive formula. Their chartreuse recipe may be top secret, but their recipe for life is open source. Turn your occupation into a vocation by following your values. 

One question to ponder in your thinking time: What would have to change for my occupation to become a vocation?

Make an Impact!
Jay Papasan
Co-author of The ONE Thing & The Millionaire Real Estate Agent