Here’s a pub quiz question for you…
What green fluid links Vincent van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, and Ernist Hemingway?
I’ll give you a clue - it’s not washing up liquid. Although it does involve a green fairy…
The answer, of course, is absinthe, the high-strength anise-flavoured alcohol that soared in popularity in the mid-19th century, finding a place in the hearts (and livers) of creatives such as James Joyce, Lewis Carroll, Pablo Picasso, and many others.
After some time, absinthe – and wormwood, the herb which gives the drink its green tint - gained a reputation for causing hallucinations and mania, earning the nickname of ‘la fée verte’, or the green fairy, as a result.
While its supposedly mind-expanding properties were celebrated by the hedonic Bohemians who knocked it back, its perceived evils provoked an anti-absinthe backlash.
In 1905 a very drunk Swiss farmer named Jean Lanfray murdered his entire family.
He had consumed much more wine and brandy than absinthe, but the incident was enough to spark a moral panic, and the green stuff was quickly outlawed in a number of countries, including the US, Switzerland, and France.
Decades later, people learnt that wormwood (which is also present in vermouth) was not, in fact, hallucinogenic.
Attitudes gradually relaxed, paving the way for something of a 21st century revival.
And that leads us to a modest commercial building, tucked in behind a row of terraced Victorian houses in Poets Corner, Hove.
Madame Jennifer is a small batch distiller founded by love-birds turned gin-hounds Inger Smith and Ian Curtis in 2017.
The couple met in 2015, and within two years they’d moved in together and started building Madame Jennifer.
Both coming from scientific backgrounds – chemistry for Ian, biology for Inger - the pair have plenty in common. That does not extend to their tastes in gin though, which are so different that Madame Jennifer was launched with not one gin but two – The Biologist, for Inger, and The Chemist, for Ian.
"The Biologist turned out to be much more popular than The Chemist," Ian says.
"But then, Inger is much more popular than me."
They’ve since expanded in various inebriating directions, now producing vodka, espresso martinis, limoncello, and negronis. Having courageously tried every single one of them, this reporter can confirm that they are all delicious.
As too was the gin. I’m not much of a G&T man – or so I thought until I tried the smooth, subtle delight that Inger served up.
The latest potion to be concocted in their cosy Hove laboratory lays claim to being Sussex’s very first absinthe.
It is not green...
It does contain plenty of wormwood – as well as star anise, fennel seeds, lemon balm, and sweet orange. But to turn absinthe green, you need to add more wormwood after the drink is distilled - which goes bad (and brown) quite quickly.
Rather than opt for adding food dye (as mass producers typically do), Madame Jennifer opted to go for a natural, clear product instead.
The couple say the response has been strikingly positive.
How do people react when they first try it?
"They’re usually quite surprised…" Ian offered mysteriously.
At 64% alcohol, drinking it is a slightly daunting prospect.
You don’t drink it straight though - probably for the best.
Instead, the colourless absinthe is mixed with water, and the two fuse to form a silky, cloudy, aromatic elixir.
Bottoms up!
It is absolutely gorgeous – exquisite.
Similar to other anise-based liquors like rakı or Pernod, but light and delicate, with a complex bouquet of botanicals getting busy in every corner of your mouth.
Peppery and floral and simply divine.
And whatever scientists may now say about wormwood not being narcotic, my friend and I certainly had an energised spring in our step after finishing off the bottle we brought home with us...
Ian and Inger are a charming couple, with a fantastic little business, making delectable booze – including absinthe as heavenly as it is potent.
And as something of an aspiring writer, with a painter for a girlfriend, I look forward to imbibing plenty more of Madame Jennifer’s ‘white fairy’, assured in the knowledge that doing so will guarantee both of us success in our chosen fields.
That’s a decent excuse, right?
For more information, to order drinks, or to book a distillery tour, visit Madame Jennifer's website at: https://www.mjdistillery.com/.
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