A Newfoundlanders' Shot of Chartreuse Verte

I did not make this. In fact, this is probably a heavily-guarded secret recipe.

Chartreuse Verte is delicious (whatever it's made of) if you like strong liquor. It’s mildly sweet, a little herbal, and very alcoholic. It’s also translucent green. To me, these are all very good reasons to drink this beverage. I first had it in a very good cocktail at L’Assommoir. Skip the salmon tartar and go for the cerf tartar, but either way, try a few drinks from their pages and pages of options. This is a place where mixology is an art. You want to see the show. They don’t really do drink discount specials, but when you have a bit of extra cash for a fun night or early evening, it’s a good place to come.

Anyway, I don’t often have a ton of extra money for splurges, so months and months after first trying a drink with Chartreuse Verte, I finally looked for it in a liquor store (SAQ). Actually it was Game 3 of the last Montreal playoffs series that I first tried it at L’Assommoir, a good restaurant/bar in the Old Port. It was August before I got to a liquor store. So you can figure out the time-line on that one. I was just curious what this stuff looked like…and how much it cost, of course.

Apparently there’s another kind of chartreuse (a different colour, presumably) that’s even better but the SAQ doesn't carry it. So I hummed and I hawed over the price of the green stuff, which really wasn’t that horrible since you certainly don’t drink a lot of this stuff at once, and decided it was time to splurge.

You want to serve it on ice, so you need a glass big enough for a shot of it plus some ice cubes. That's where my former roommate’s Newfoundland shot glass came in. It’s the size of four shots, so just the right size. It even marks off 1 oz if you’re a mainlander, 3 oz if you’re a townie, and 4 oz if you’re a bayman. Now I’m not from ‘round the bay. I’m definitely a townie since I’m from St. John’s, but I wasn’t about to have 3 oz of this stuff, so I downgraded myself to a mainlander, and a weak mainlander at that, as shown by the picture.

It was just enough. The first sip is very strong, but once the ice starts melting just a little, before it’s too diluted, the mix is perfect.

So get yourself a good shot glass, or a small, heavy tumbler and have just a taste of something delicious. Note: that does not necessarily mean Chartreuse Verte (they’re not paying me) and that does not necessarily mean something alcoholic. How about some fresh blueberry juice from some strained, crushed jam berries?