A long time ago, more precisely five hundred years ago, in the abbey of the town of Fecamp in Normandy, the amazing story of the Benedictine liqueur (Bénédictine) began. In 1510, the monk Bernardo Vincelli created a drink that became famous for many centuries. How did it happen that a monk came up with it?
And it was something like this. Bernardo Vincelli was known as a Benedictine monk, one of those who lived according to the rule of St. Benedict of Nursia, adopted in the XNUMXth century as the main rule of monastic life. The works of the Benedictines were not only prayers, but also intellectual knowledge of the world. In addition, Saint Benedict urged his spiritual children to use monasteries as some kind of “incubators of knowledge.” In modern terms, he wanted to combine the citadels of prayer with science cities. Therefore, brilliant minds gathered in the monasteries of that time, comprehending alchemy, philosophy and the laws of piety. The Benedictines did not shy away from working in the monastery gardens and were especially interested in studying the properties of plants, using them in their recipes.
Fecamp, revolution, Le Grand
In 1505, Brother Vincelli, with several monks of the order, went from Montecassino to Normandy, to the abbey of Fecamp. In the abbey of Fecamp, the monks had everything: the unique location of the land gave a scattering of rare plants. And angelica, and hyssop, and various types of lemon balm came in handy when distilling Benedictine. As an extremely erudite monk, Vincelli was more of an alchemist than an “herbalist”. He pondered the creation of a philosopher’s stone, capable of turning ordinary stones into gold and silver. But most of all, he wanted to prepare the elixir of long life. Just in pursuit of this panacea, the Friar Bernardo recipe was invented, which included herbal preparations from the Norman lands, seasoned with Moorish spices.
For almost three centuries, this drink was prepared by a monastic order, and during the French Revolution in 1789, the recipe disappeared …
In 1863, while sorting through the family archive of documents, wine merchant Alexander Le Grand came across an old manuscript. After questioning the old men, he learned that during the years of the revolution the last monk of the order fled from the monastery and asked the Le Grand family to save one relic. Surprisingly, for seventy years the manuscript did not arouse even the slightest curiosity.
The manuscript, dated 1510, included about 200 pages written in the Gothic script of the friar Vincelli. Le Grand began to carefully decipher the notes, among which was the recipe for an elixir of twenty-seven herbs and spices. Despite his knowledge of distillation and alcohol, it took Alexander a whole year to decipher the secret of proportions and mixtures of liquor. And he succeeded! Inspired by success, Le Grand went to Rome. There he met with the head of the Benedictine order, showed the manuscripts and received the right to use the name and coat of arms of the Abbey of Fecamp in his drink.
Well, it’s understandable that the details of their agreement have sunk into oblivion. In honor of Bernardo Vincelli and the monks, the liqueur was named Bénédictine. Le Grand also decided to use the inscription on the bottle – DOM (Deo Optimo Maximo – to the glory of God, infinitely better, infinitely powerful). Soon Le Grand ordered a very special glass bottle for his drink: modest, but at the same time lavishly and gracefully decorated. As for the process of making the drink itself, it included the preparation of four different distillates, their aging in oak barrels, additional double distillation in copper stills, blending and aging again in barrels with the addition of honey and saffron extracts.
Since then, little has changed, even the original copper stills from Le Grand’s time remain. The manufacturing process, just like five hundred years ago, requires careful adherence to the recipe. The output is a yellow-green bitter mixture with a strength of 43%.
Cocktails with Benedictine
In addition to being consumed neat with ice, Benedictine has become a frequent ingredient in cocktails from the very beginning of production. For example, the 1888 Empire Punch cocktail recipe is preserved (in Harry Johnson’s Bartender’s Manual or How To Mix Drinks of the Present Style) or the later Ford cocktail. It is impossible not to say that in the 1930s a less sweet variety of Benedictine appeared – B&B (Benedictine mixed with brandy, which in itself resembles the recipe for the glorious Rusty Nail cocktail). However, I will give one recipe as an example.
Cocktail Ford Cocktail (recipe 1900 years, taken of books «Modern American Drinks» )
The original recipe looks like this:
- 3 desha Benedictine;
- 3 dashes of orange bitter;
- Old Jigger Gin Old Tom;
- Ig Jigger of French vermouth.
Let me remind you that a dash is a measure of the volume of a liquid, approximately equal to 0,5 ml (4-5 drops).
An adapted version of the cocktail looks like this:
- 60 ml of Old Tom gin;
- 30 ml of dry vermouth;
- 0,75 ml of Benedictine;
- 0,75 ml orange bitter.
Prepare as follows:
- pour all the ingredients into a mixing roll with ice;
- mix well with a bar spoon;
- strain through a strainer into a cocktail glass;
- garnish the orange twists by drizzling the drink with zest oil.
Nowadays, in every corner of the world, in every bar from London to Sydney, you can see Benedictine liqueur in its proper place, among exotic liqueurs and bitters. By the way, another liquor invented by the monks is called Frangelico. In general, do not pass by if you see a bottle of healing elixir.