Ancienne distillerie des Chartreux à Fourvoirie

English translation

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History

Transferred in 1860 to Fourvoirie, the production of the famous liqueur of the Grande Chartreuse was conceived from 1737 by Father Jérôme Maubec, apothecary of the monastery. Of long confidential manufacture, the green liqueur benefited from the improvement of processes, from the transition from fractional distillation to continuous distillation, from better preparation and better control of plants and distillates obtained in the laboratory. From 1862 to 1884, an extensive programme of extension was undertaken. The expulsion of the Carthusians in 1903 led to the transfer of the distillery to Voiron and the abandonment of the buildings for thirty years. With the return of the Carthusians in 1932 and the creation of the Compagnie Française de la Grande Chartreuse, activity resumed at Fourvoirie until the landslide of 1935 which destroyed two-thirds of the distillery. This was definitively transferred to Voiron, where the liqueur is still today manufactured by the Carthusians from 130 plants and marketed by the Société Chartreuse Diffusion. Of the Carthusian site, only the building of the eight stills remains, half-ruined, which was supplied with steam by a boiler situated to the south, and the vaulted cellars with ribs and square pillars, the most remarkable elements of this complex; also remaining are the chimney of this heating room, the woodsheds and stores situated near the entrance, bordering the road.