Bénédictine is a liqueur whose original formula, according to company claims, dates back to a recipe developed in 1510 by the Benedictine monk Dom Bernardo Vincelli at the Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy, France. This recipe, which combined local herbs and spices with exotic ingredients, supposedly became famous throughout the region and was prepared by the abbey long after his death until production was halted during the French Revolution in 1789.
Whatever the truth of the formula’s origin, Legrand named it Bénédictine, in tribute to the order (and to appropriate some of the cachet of Chartreuse, which was in fact made by monks) and built a mock-Medieval palace in Fécamp to produce it. See Chartreuse. This burned to the ground four years later in 1892. Undeterred, he hired architect Camille Albert to design a larger palace and production facility that opened in 1898, the year he died. Here, in gothic splendor, the liqueur is still produced from the original recipe, with twenty-seven different plants and spices, including angelica, hyssop, saffron, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove.
The manufacturing process encompasses maceration, multiple distillations in century-old copper pot stills, barrel aging, and blending, ending with the addition of honey, saffron, and other spices. See maceration and aging. The mixture rests for four months before it is filtered and bottled at 40 percent ABV. Bénédictine is one of the first liqueurs to find its way into the cocktail and is one of the handful that Rochester, New York, bartender Patsy McDonough suggested dashing into a cocktail to “improve [it] in flavor.” That was in 1883; it soon became common practice. Bénédictine is essential in classic cocktails such as the Chrysanthemum, Vieux Carré, Singapore Sling, and Bobby Burns. In the 1930s, Bénédictine released B&B, a drier combination of Bénédictine and French Cognac, which is still available today.
See herbal liqueurs.
Bénédictine website. https://www.benedictinedom.com (accessed February 2, 2021).
McDonough, Patsy. McDonough’s Bar-Keeper’s Guide. Rochester, NY: Post-Express, 1883.
Ridgewell, Mark. Spirits Distilled. Oxford: Infinite Ideas, 2014.
By: Jim Meehan