BroVo Spirits Uncharted Rhapsody American Forest Liqueur Review

It’s been about a year and a half at this point since I wrote this piece formally acknowledging the seeming shortage and widespread disappearance from the shelves of the indispensable liqueur we know and love as Green Chartreuse. Since then, we’ve learned a few things: The flow of Chartreuse (both green and yellow) hasn’t exactly been disrupted by supply chain issues or lingering effects of the pandemic, but has instead simply reached a point where demand has greatly outstripped supply. In early 2023, the Carthusian monks who produce Chartreuse acknowledged that they decided in 2021 to no longer increase production/supply of Chartreuse. Therefore, as demand has only continued to decrease, the existing bottles are now getting progressively harder to find in many places. This has had the real-time effect of giving rise to many suggested replacements and alternatives, but pretty much none of them have been crafted as specifically for this purpose as BroVo Spirits Uncharted Rhapsody. There are “potential Chartreuse analogues,” and then there’s this–an “American Forest Liqueur” that is about as close as you can conceptually get to the original spirit without just ripping it off.

Here’s the thing about Chartreuse replacements: There’s almost no other longtime products on the market that make a really close comparison, because Chartreuse is so unique and unusual in the first place. A common suggestion such as Dolin Genepy, for instance, is certainly in the same ballpark in the sense that it is also an herbal liqueur, but can you really compare a 90 proof spirit (which is plenty strong) to the 110 proof combination of intensity and complexity that exists in Green Chartreuse? That’s why BroVo Spirits’ product is immediately of note: It was crafted from the ground up to serve this purpose, in partnership with a pair of high-profile Chicago bartenders, Micah Melton and Chad Hauge. They joined the Woodinville, Washington company in making this fiendishly complex tribute to the alpine liqueur category, influenced by the Pacific Northwest. This is right in the wheelhouse for BroVo, a company that specializes in amaro and liqueurs such as falernum.

The result was Uncharted Rhapsody American Forest Liqueur, which BroVo Spirits founder Mhairi Voelsgen calls the most complex product the company has ever crafted. More than a decade of development is represented in its creation, which likewise involved trips to Europe to study methods used by monastic distillers. As Voelsgen puts it: “The complexity of process is an amplification of our existing processes. Generally you can think of vodka as a 5 step process, amaro as a 50 step process–by comparison this is a 500 step process. It is exceptionally complicated. We determined early that it was critical to match ABV, BRIX and acid. So when you mix with Uncharted, you don’t need to offset with anything else. The flavor is between genepi and Green Chartreuse, with a PNW feel. But in a cocktail, we believe it is VERY similar. While it is not an exact match, because our goal is not to ‘paint the masters’ as an art historian would say, it is a direct substitute for Green Chartreuse. Our goal was to be the best Green Chartreuse substitute available.”

There is, of course, a degree of mystery involved in the wide variety of ingredients–Chartreuse famously boasts more than 130 ingredients involved. Uncharted Rhapsody has more than 50, with the company saying in particular that “there’s more than $5 worth of genepi in ever bottle.” And importantly, it is bottled at the same 55% ABV (110 proof) as the original Green Chartreuse, meaning that this is begging to be substituted in to classic cocktails such as The Last Word.

But how does it taste? Well, let’s give it a try and see.

On the nose, Uncharted Rhapsody first strikes me as distinctly minty and floral–in comparison with Green Chartreuse (which I also have on hand), the mint seems clearer to place, along with warm/citrus/floral tones of chamomile and something with a more musty, dried floral dimension. It also swings a bit more tropical simultaneously in my mind, with a character I struggled to place until I surprisingly concluded that it seemed a lot like coconut. Please note: These kinds of liqueurs are very difficult to describe and parse when drinking neat, and I have no idea if coconut is actually involved here, but that’s what it reminded me of in the moment.

On the palate, things are quite well balanced between sweetness and more bitter elements. It strikes me as just a touch less assertive and bold than the Chartreuse overall, with sweet grassy, floral (elderflower) qualities that are met by herbal mint, complex cardamom-like spice and mild bitterness. None of the elements really run away with the overall profile, which is definitely what you want in this sort of thing. And yes, I am still getting more of that coconut-like note, which isn’t unpleasant though it is unexpected in a flavor profile meant to evoke the Pacific Northwest. I suspect that my palate is misidentifying some other specific ingredient here, but the effect is still pretty compelling. Notably, this holds the ABV in check nicely for it being a commanding 110 proof, and the overall profile seems more gently herbal/floral to me and less spice-forward than the Chartreuse.

All in all, Brovo Spirits’ Uncharted Rhapsody seems to do just about exactly what it is intended to do, serving as an analogue to one of the cocktail world’s most unique and difficult to replicate bottles. I look forward to trying this in more applications in the future, and intend to revisit it soon in a broader look at various Chartreuse substitutes. But in general, I wouldn’t hesitate to reach for this in all sorts of cocktail applications.

Distillery: BroVo Spirits
City: Woodinville, WA
Style: American alpine liqueur
ABV: 55% (110 proof)
Availability: 750 ml bottles, $65 MSRP

Jim Vorel is a Paste staff writer and resident liquor geek. You can follow him on Twitter for more drink writing.