An elixir from the French Alps

Ah yes Chartreuse, I have a bottle myself, quite the medicinal and potent stuff. Until recently produced in Tarragona, down in Spain, after the monks were kicked outta France at the turn of the century.

A lot of interesting and tasty things are distilled in the Tarragona area.

I agree, I much prefer a Vermut (Vermouth) in one of the many Vermuterias in Tarragona, with a slice of orange on top, always hits the spot in the summer lol!

ah, one more reason to return to France . . . .

And Catalunya (yummy vermut)

Sadly, neither are available here, so I am contenting myself with sipping Aigua de Valencia (thank you Enric for the recipe!!) and remembering happy times.

I have a great Aigua de Valencia bar story: I was at a bar in Santa Barbara that boasted a lot of fresh fruit used in the drinks, so I asked if they could do Aigua de Valencia-
What's that? the bartender asked.
I explained it not very well, so he looked it up on his phone, and made a test batch for me, him, and the bar-backs, and they liked it so much that they looked at each other and declared it the bartender's choice for the night --
for the rest of the evening I got to see parties come in, settle down and be offered the bartender's choice,
and watched them all be pleased and delighted..

Great, even though I'm pretty sure they didn't have the right kind of oranges :-)

Great anecdote, Avi. I don't have the "right" kind of oranges either, but from what I've gathered they don't have many true valencia oranges in Valencia either. Any sweet orange will do and this is the season for them, at least here in Israel.

Two years ago we spent a night in St. Croix-en-Jarez, and got a tour of the Carthusian monastery there. After the tour the guide poured us 2 different chartreuse, I think green and yellow. I couldn't stand either one, nor could my wife. But it's hung around for hundreds of years. Some open bottles might be that old.