On a recent dreary, unseasonably cold day, I looked out at the steel-gray clouds and thought about Carthusian monks, Prohibition-era parties, and beloved Detroit bistros. What ties the three together? Nostalgia, history, and the mythic concoction that is Green Chartreuse.
Carthusian monks in the French Alps have been crafting the elixir since the 18th century. According to legend, the recipe was handed down in a secret code in 1605 and holds the key to a long life. At any given time, only three monks have access to parts of the recipe, which contains 130 botanical ingredients. Chartreuse comes in green and yellow, with the green variety considered more prized and age-worthy.
Green Chartreuse is a joyful explosion of flavors: herbal, minty, floral, earthy, and just a smidge sweet at the end.
The same monks who hold the secret to Chartreuse also announced in 2023 that they would start slowing production. The cocktail renaissance, especially the popularity of the Last Word cocktail, created a massive drain on the monks’ time and energy. Meditation was more important than sales, they declared. An already rare liqueur became that much harder to get.
A shame, then, that I wasted all those shots in 2012 and 2013. Back then, we’d belly up to the bar at Atlas Global Bistro in Midtown or The Oakland in Ferndale and knock back shots of Green and Yellow Chartreuse for a happy-hour special — in my rose-tinted memories, it cost something like $5. Today that would be sacrilege to both the bartenders and the monks. In our defense, it was the early days of Detroit’s cocktail renaissance, and we didn’t know any better. We appreciated the heady nectar!
Most folks know Green Chartreuse for its presence in the Last Word, a Detroit original. Equal parts gin, Green Chartreuse, lime juice, and maraschino liqueur, the Last Word got its start sometime before 1916, when it appeared on a Detroit Athletic Club cocktail menu.
The Last Word’s fame spread nationwide during Prohibition with some help from Vaudeville comedian Frank Fogarty and proved popular among the smart set in New York. Seattle bartender Murray Stenson revived the drink in 2003, 10 years before I started drinking it at The Oakland.
Although tariffs and a decrease in production make Green Chartreuse more difficult to find, the Detroit Athletic Club ranks supreme in its Last Word provenance. For now, the spirits continue to flow at the rooftop bar named after the club’s most famous cocktail. For that matter, Midtown’s Chartreuse restaurant ensures a steady stash of the namesake liqueur for diners looking for the perfect post-prandial sip.
On a chilly, gray October day, my mind turns to the serendipity of memory and time. The current iteration of the DAC was organized in 1913. Prohibition ended in 1933. The Last Word re-entered the cocktail scene in 2003. Atlas Global Bistro shut its doors in 2013, just weeks after I moved back to Detroit full-time and could spend more time enjoying those shots of liquid sunshine. Perhaps it’s just as well. Such miraculous mixtures really should remain rare and elusive, just as the Carthusians intended.
This story originally appeared in the October 2026 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Click here to get our digital edition.
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