Bénédictine

Bénédictine is a honeyed, amber herbal liqueur from the Norman port of Fécamp in France, first sold in 1863 by the wine merchant Alexandre Le Grand, who dressed it in a Gothic legend of a lost Benedictine-monk recipe and the D.O.M. monogram ("Deo Optimo Maximo"). It is built on a neutral spirit base infused and distilled with 27 plants and spices — angelica, hyssop, lemon balm, saffron, myrrh, juniper, cinnamon, nutmeg and more — then sweetened with honey and sugar and aged. Bottled at 40% ABV, it is richly sweet yet warmly spiced, with a resinous herbal depth and a long, honeyed-medicinal finish. It is sipped neat or on ice as a digestif and is central to the B&B, the Vieux Carré and the Singapore Sling. The distillery still stands in the flamboyant Palais Bénédictine, part factory, part museum, part reliquary.