Today, I am taking you with me to a palace which also happens to be a distillery of an historical Heath Elixir: The Benedictine D.O.M. The Benedictine palace is located in a small town called Fecamp in Normandy, here you will find a unique story dating back to the 16th century, even though the palace was only built in the 19th century.
We went there during our road trip and booked a tour to see the palace from the inside and get some more insights about the history. And today, I am gonna tell you all about it.
The Benedictine Palace
The origin of the recipe
The herbal liqueur which is distillation here is from the brand Benedictine. Hundreds of years ago, in 1509, an Italian monk went to Fecamp to join the Benedictine monks at the Fecamp Abbey. He left Italy with a great variety of rare spices. The main task after arriving in the Abbey was creating a health potion from medicinal herbs and spices to cure illnesses and keep the body and mind healthy. The monks experimented and found 27 herbs which they wanted to put in their health potion. The recipe was believed to be invented in the year 1510. The monks kept on brewing the health potion and brought it on the market with success, until the french revolution (1789-1792) started and the monks had to leave the Abbey and fled away. The recipe was written down in a book but forgotten until Alexandre le Grand found it in 1863. He decided to start the Benedictine brand and brought the Liqueurback on the market, while carrying the name D.O.M, Short for Deo Optimo Maximo, which means ''to god, infinitely good,infinitely great'' This name honored the motto of the monks.
The origin of the palace
Alexandre le Grand hired many villagers to work at the brewery. However, he rejected 2 villagers to work for him since they were drunks. They did not accept that and set fire in the distillery on the 11th of January 1892. It all burned to the ground and they had to rebuild the distillery. They choose to rebuild an even grander building: The Benedictine Palace was born.
The building has different parts: The distillery, A little museum including the ''alexandre le grand room, which was used to bottle and label the Liqueur before and is now a simple museum room. They have another room dedicated to the monks to honor them with a statue of all the Benedictine Monks. You can have a look at the museum yourself and get a tour through the brewery
A room to honor the monks
This room is dedicated to the monks who invented the original recipe. The room is filled with a statue of every monk. The years under is from which year till which year they stayed at the monastery
Look at the glass!
The Liqueur tour
The Benedictine palace is the only place where D.O.M is distillation and the room down here is the only room where this happens. When we came in, the machines were mixing the liquids with a strong herbal scent. It smelled delicious.
This is the first room where the Liqueur is distillated. This room smells so herbal and good!
*The original recipe is a health potion designed by Fecamps monks. They have an explanation of the health effects of some spices on the wall.
They also showed us a small portion of the used spices, and you can smell the different herbal scents
This spice of the Benedictine recipe, Angelica, is also called the root of the holy spirit, was believed to protect you from witchcraft, spells and evil spirits. As I said, it is an very old recipe
Barrels in which they age the Liqueur. People aren't allowed in this room because of the explosion danger. There is a lot of ethanol in the air and that burns well
Look how beautiful this old barrels are, some dating from the time of Alexandre le Grand
The barrels are aging in this beautiful looking cellars. The D.O.M Liqueur is aged twice, once for 8 months and once for 4 months.
Alexander le Grand was from a wealthy family known for Liqueur and wine export. He knew how to advertise and sell his Liqueur, and in the end, his dream came true
The tasting
At the end of the tour, it was time to taste the Liqueur. The first one to taste is the original recipe, counting 27 types of medicinal herbs and honey which makes it very sweet. It was also my favorite due to its truly herbal and sweet taste. The second was a bit stronger and less sweet. The 3th one tasted more like cognac. Too strong for an ordinary day to my personal taste. But Whiskey or Cognac fans will totally disagree with me for sure.
The 3 bottles we got to try, My favorite is the D.O.M, the original recipe
Everyone had 3 different Liqueur to try
Or try a glass of Liqueur in their bar
At the end of the tour, you can buy a bottle in their store
The Museum
Alexander le Grands statue
Old European buildings are often built with a lot of details. Look at this ceiling, I believe nothing build in the modern days is built with so much little details and decoration
A statue of the monk D.O.M, an Italian Monk who went to the Fecamp Abbey with a bunch of spices and the task to make a health elixir. Without him, there would not be a Benedictine Palace
Old European buildings often have this colorful glass windows
A book preserved from the monastery
See you next time!
Regards,
Sascha
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