I know what you’re thinking. If(*) this little web project was a drink, you’re wondering, what would it be?
Luckily, I have an answer for you.
It would be a Brillevert. A slightly forbidding drink; definitely an acquired taste. But it’s helped me to overcome my writer’s block.
Adelphine started making it in the mid-15th century – not as a drink, but as a glow-in-the-dark liquid for use in a kind of lamp she was developing to guide night-time travellers through the region’s treacherous swamps.
Sadly, she never managed to sustain the mixture’s glow for more than a single night, so that idea fell flat. She brewed one more batch to attempt one final tweak, and some passing fool mistook it for mulled wine. (How? The stuff is green! Anyway.) He took a sip, to no obvious ill effect. He did, however, suddenly gain clarity about some of the more convoluted aspects of his love life, much to the relief of his nearest and dearest.
Adelphine saw the potential. She tested the brew on several volunteers (one of whom went on to invent a revolutionary type of sock, while another discovered he had a knack for languages), waited a few months to see if any of them would go a funny colour (they didn’t), and the rest is history. She’s not the chatty type, but when she does talk about the launch of her lanterns, she tends to add that the Age of Enlightenment dawned soon after.
Obviously, Adelphine’s concoction wasn’t called Brillevert at the time. In her grimoire, it’s listed as “viridiphosphorus paludum bruxellensium” – which would translate to something along the lines of “green light-bearer of the Brussels swamps”. Somehow, that name never did catch on.
Ingredients
- 4 pounds of locally sourced roots and tubers
- A dozen half-baked ideas
- 2 pounds of waffle crumbs
- Reckless quantities of espresso
- 1 loose screw
- 1 shoestring
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 sprinkling of fairy dust
- 3 drops of Zinneke spit
Method
- Suspend your disbelief.
- Grind the screw, shoestring and spit into a fine paste.
- Soak the ideas in the coffee until your inner critic surrenders.
- Combine all ingredients.
- Boil up after sundown. Pick a clear night with a full moon for extra lunacy.
- Blend, then whisk to a froth.
- Serve piping hot before sunrise – it’ll go flat in the cold light of day.
Variations
- For a fancier version, garnish with pickled sprouts on cocktail sticks 🙂
- Traditionally, the Brillevert is served hot, but it’s also nice on ice, with twist of lime. This variation is called a Matin clair. Add a raw egg and it makes a great hangover cure.
- Like all self-respecting Belgian beverages, these drinks are typically served in their own special glasses. In addition to the name, the lettering on a Brillevert glass reads “Quand il faut un flambeau pour sortir du sombre marécage”. On a Matin clair glass, the tagline is “Quand les sorties nocturnes ont fait de gros ravages”.
- The barman at “Jos le Rêveur” serves a Finetini these days. Two measures of Matin clair, one measure of gin and a dash of dry vermouth, obviously with two sprouts on a stick. Very definitely stirred rather than shaken – none of these have exploded so far, but he’s not taking any risks.
(* It isn’t. You know this. No attempting to make or imitate this, please.)