Bénédictine

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Name Variations

 * Bénédictine D.O.M.
 * Benedictine

About Bénédictine
Wikipedia Article About Bénédictine on Wikipedia

Bénédictine is a brandy-based herbal liqueur beverage produced in France. Its recipe contains 27 plants and spices, and has a cognac base.

It is believed that Bénédictine is the oldest liqueur continuously made, having first been developed by Dom Bernardo Vincelli in 1510, at the Benedictine Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy. Production of the liqueur was ceased by the monks in the nineteenth century, taken over by a private company founded in 1863 by Alexandre le Grand, which continues to produce the liqueur today.

The recipe is a closely-guarded trade secret, ostensibly known to only three people at any given time. So many people have tried (and failed) to reproduce it that the company maintains on its grounds in Fécamp a "Hall of Counterfeits" (Salon de Contrefaçons) displaying bottles of the failed attempts.

The manufacturing process involves several distillations which are then blended.

The same company also produces "B & B" (or Bénédictine and Brandy), which is Bénédictine diluted with brandy, making it less sweet than Bénédictine. B & B was developed in the 1930s when consumers began a trend of mixing Bénédictine with brandy to produce a drier taste. Both Bénédictine and B & B are 43% alcohol (86 proof). Also, the company introduced in 1977 a 60 proof (30% alcohol) coffee liqueur, Café Bénédictine, a blend of Bénédictine and another coffee-flavored liqueur.

Every bottle of Bénédictine has the initials D.O.M. written on the label. This stands for "Deo Optimo Maximo", or in English, "To God, most good, most great."

Other herbal liqueurs include Chartreuse, another monastic-in-origin beverage which is precisely the color it suggests, and Jägermeister ("Hunter Master").