(slideshow_) “Holy” spirits from monasteries

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D.O.M. Bénédictine from the Abbey of the Trinity of Fécamp

This is one of the ancestral secret recipes invented by French monks. According to legend, this elixir based on medicinal plants was designed by a Venetian Benedictine monk, Bernardo Vincelli. In 1863, a merchant from the city of Fécamp rediscovered this forgotten recipe. He gave it the name of the Benedictine monks of his city, borrowing their motto, Deo Optimo Maximo, abbreviated D.O.M. (“To God most good, most great”). He also built a large building to house the distillery where the liqueur is still produced today. The recipe includes four basic preparations that use 27 different plants, infused in alcohol and then distilled. The resulting brandy, called Esprit, ages in oak barrels and is colored with saffron. Lemon balm, juniper and angelica are the main aromas.

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