CHARTREUSE GREEN

This is Sunday, so it's only appropriate for me to focus on how religion was largely responsible for the beginning of alcoholic refreshments.  Why monastic origins?

• They owned vast tracts of land to plant grapes, barley, etc.
• There is a long institutional memory.
• Teamwork was part of their daily task.
• Alcohol for much of history promoted health to kill pathogens.  Roman soldiers were given a daily allowance of wine, more to purify water than to get drunk.  Whiskey, herbal liquers and bitters were invented for medicinal reasons.
• Water was dangerous to drink in Europe, so beer was the only safe thirst-quenching drink.
• Then, of course, the Eucharist.

Some history:

• Of course, alcoholic abuse can be a serious problem, but it is not sinful to drink and make merry, responsibly. 
• 
  Wine was invented 6000 years before the birth of Christ, probably in Babylonia, but Benedictine and Jesuit monks preserved viniculture in Europe.  The motivation had to do with Eucharist celebration, which requires bread and wine.

• 
  My guy, Irish St. Patrick, learned distillation from Middle Eastern perfume traders in AD 432, and developed the whiskies you now drink today.
• There are drawings on wine brewing in Switzerland dating back to AD 820.
• Saint Arnold of Soissons in the 11th century invented the filtration process for beers, imbibed in Trappist monasteries.

• 
  Benedictine monk Dom Bernardo Vincelli invented Bénédictine D.O.M. in 1510 to fortify and restore weary monks.
• Later in the 16th century, Maraska liqueur, cherry brandy, was invented by the Dominicans.
• Jesuits made the original brandies, grappa in Italy and pisco in South America.

• 
  The Carmelite sisters produced an herbal tonic, Carmelite water.  Clarist nuns from the Spanish colonial city of Puebla went on to Mexico to introduce Rompope, made from vanilla, milk and eggs.
• Of course, there is Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon, who legend says sampled his first batch in 1715, and proclaimed, Brothers, come quickly.  I am drinking stars!

• 
  Monks introduced the making of wine to the U.S. by Saint Junipero Serra and his Franciscan brethren in California, which has led to the industry there today.  Similar patterns can be found in Argentina, Chile and Australia.

One of my favorite liquors has always been Chartreuse, which is a French herbal liqueur available in green and yellow versions.  First made by Carthusian monks from the Grande Chartreuse monastery almost 300 years ago.  Now produced in Aiguenoire, this distilled drink has 130 herbs, plants and flowers.  The color chartreuse takes its name from the drink.

Of all the coincidencies, it turns out that the defining color of Summer 2024 is chartreuse.  

The summer link is to Brat Green, which sits somewhere between 360 and 375 on the Pantone color chart.

• Synonymous with British pop star Charli XCX's Brat album.
• Also, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority alerted commuters of trains repairs using BRAT GREEN graphics.

• 65-year old Kyle MacLachlan lip-syncing to Charli XCX's, Girl, So Confusing Remix, in a chartreuse shirt.

We are now into September, but yesterday was still August, with the birthstone of the month being Peridot.

• Peridot is the gem variety of olivine, found in volcanic rock.
• Egyptians called Peridot the gem of the sun.
• Peridot is also the 15th-anniversary gemstone.
• In 2005, Peridot was found in comet dust.
• Many of you reading this posting probably never heard of Peridot.

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