WQ - DH - Hefty Brew

So, there's a festival apparently happening in a while! It's the first that Ashiore had heard of it, but it sounded something like Halloween and Thanksgiving and a carnival all at once, so that sounded like fun! Of course, no festival would be complete without preparations, so when the call for people who could cook or do alchemy of some sort went out, of course Ashiore volunteered! She wasn't great, but she had poured some points into it in the game. And she'd been asking if she could help her dad out around the kitchen in real life, so she actually knew some recipes now!

Not that that meant that she knew the first thing about beer, though.

Looking over the fields with some concern, Ashiore wondered if maybe she should back out. She didn't think that the game really beamed knowledge about recipes and stuff into her brain when she put some points into her Cooking mastery. Maybe she ought to leave this to someone else?

Or, hopefully her partner for this task might know more than she did? She hadn't met him before, but Ashiore mostly had good experiences working with other players here.

While she waited for her partner to arrive, she had a thought and pulled out the two bottles of alcohol that she had in her inventory. She hadn't really ever done anything with them, and it wasn't like they were beer, but maybe it would be helpful? Possibly?

She probably looked like an idiot, though, staring at the two bottles in Investigation Mode in the vain hope that there would be some magical beer brewing instructions miraculously printed somewhere on them. God, she hoped that @Aalam Abungu wouldn't think that she was some weird moron when he arrived.

 

He was getting involved in the making alcohol well a type of beer really but that was still alcohol even if was for a lighter palate. This was something that he had always wanted to do back in the real world or well the other world. It was getting hard not to think of terra was a real place but that wasn’t important right now he was going to be making beer, well if he got lucky he might be able to convince his partner to make either wine or ale. Excellent ale would go places, and in this world of terra, it might be much easier to get people to try.

He was supposed to be meeting a Lady what was her name now, it was on the tip of his tongue, but the thought of how they were planning to make this beer had driven from his mind for a bit. Not that he had any skill in the game in the ability of cook or alchemy, but he could craft an excellent microbrew when he had a few moment of free time. There had been a few that were something it writes home about, but he hadn’t created a new mixture ever since the funeral. He just didn’t have the time anymore but he still remember the craft and how much that he enjoyed it so much that he couldn’t stop himself from thinking of brews in his free time and ever since he got to terra that thought had just kept growing this world had such a great diversity of fruit that simply did not exist in the real world.

As he walked through one of the grain fields looking for his partner in this endeavor wondering if there was anything in those same fields that he could use. He knew for a fact that ale existed in terra, so that meant that hops and yeast existed at least. A person could do a lot with just some hops and bit of malt and some yeast. They could make pale ale or a dark one with some spices, but that would have to be decided later. There was always the chance they would try the more difficult but lovely golden beer.
He had just pulled himself out of his thought when he saw her Miss @Ashiore Evretto. She was supposed to be working with him to create something worth drinking, but her eyes were fixed on two bottles in her hands. It was a bit odd, but then he saw that they were of different color one dark and the other light. Clearing his throat slightly to get her attention before he complimented her “I see that you have already narrowed the choices down to light or a dark brew excellent. Is there anything that you like about that particular type so that we could try and get it into our brew.”

 

Ashiore froze when she heard a voice coming up behind her. "Uh," she said, very intelligently. Light brew? Dark brew? Well, the flavor would probably be different between those two? She looked between the two bottles, then back up at who she presumed was @Aalam Abungu.

"The... these? They're not beer though. This one is wine, and the other one is... brandy?" Oh boy, maybe she should come clean right off the bat. She offered him an apologetic smile. "Actually, I don't know about uh, beer. Or, anything, really. So um, I hope you know what to do here, because I sure don't." She laughed sheepishly, and put the two drinks back in her inventory.

"You're Aalam, right? I'm Ashiore. Nice to meet you." She looked back across the fields of barley, then back up to the little farmhouse in the distance. "So, basically from what I heard, we have to pick the crops and brew the drinks ourselves. There's yeast and other ingredients in the storage silos, and a few casks and other things that you use in making drinks?"

She hoped she didn't sound like a total fool. Probably did, though. Just what kind of idiot would volunteer for making beer or other alcoholic drinks without knowing the first thing about how to make them? The very special kind of idiot who didn't thoroughly read the quest description, aka her, absolutely her.

"I can do the harvesting part since I'm pretty good with plants, but you might have to take the lead during the actual brewing," she said with a wince, looking back up to Aalam to gauge his reaction.

 

Well, it seemed he had spooked her; he should make an effort to stop doing that one day it was going to end terribly. It was too ingrained in his being at this point, but not everyone was an enemy, and if he were going to make liquor that was going to knock the sock of a person, then he would have to trust them.

Well even if she didn’t know anything about making beer she should have tasted something in her life right. So they would work from there at least. “Well I have some knowledge on how to create a certain mixture, but I don’t have the required skills in Terra so I will have to rely on your hands.” She did seem to have an excellent natural selection on her person though, so that was promising, it even seemed that were both made and bottled in terra. He was starting to love this world.

He could feel the chill as it rode the air it was going to get colder in a few months, and an excellent spiced drink would go very far. Well, it was up to her he was just here to help even if she thought that they wouldn’t be able to create something that was worth drinking. Giving @Ashiore Evretto a small bow, there was no reason to impolite. “Pleasure lady Ashiore and yes you are correct most drinks are yeast and a few other ingredients, what goes into the drink depends on what type of drink that you wish to make.”

Well at least she was honesty the woman knew nothing about making a beverage, but she had to know a little something about what she liked. So that was where they would begin, she was eager, and that was nice but they needed to start from the beginning, and that was with figuring the direction they would be heading in. “Before we start harvesting anything what are your thoughts? What do you like to drink something sweeter something with a bit of spice?”

 

Oh, hm. Both of those options sounded appealing. But she had smelled beer before, and that was a foul, foul stench. Maybe having a bit of sweet would be a lot better. "The first one, sweet, I guess."

Well, @Aalam Abungu would have to take the lead on the brewing process. There wasn't much she could do to mess up picking barley, so that's where she'd focus all her efforts. "I'll leave the initial preparations to you, you know, the ingredients and instruments and stuff. I can deal with the harvesting, so that we won't waste too much time. I don't think we should make too many batches, since I'm new to this, but hopefully if we work together, they'll be really good!"

And then maybe she'd have her first taste of alcohol.

She went over to the side and picked up a large basket. "I'll meet you near the silos. Just let me know when you have everything set up!"

And with that, she headed to the barley fields. Time to get to work! All this grain wouldn't pick itself.

 

So she wanted something sweet that was going to be interesting there were a few ideas that came to him in the seconds after she left to pick some barley, but there was one that stood out. They would make a mead one that would be severed both warm and cold for the chilly day and the hot ones. Yes, but what would they need, if he could find the ingredient that would be something to write home about. Going through someone of the collection barrels and into a few farms looking for the right items, he found two types of honey both in a two-gallon drum, so he took those. They would give the drink the sweetness that was needed, and they were in luck someone had some crystal malt in a jar. He took all of that and left behind the appropriate payment.

He didn’t waste time looking for any barley or hops. However, @Ashiore Evretto would have the well in hand with her skills however he did need to find some moss and a bit of yeast. So he went back to the farmhouses looking it took him a bit of time, but he was able to find both the yeast and the moss but not much. It seemed they were in demand well that would limit that amount of mead they could make. He was about to leave the farmhouse when he spotted something under some rags; it couldn’t be what he thought it was. It was looked like the gods smiled down on him that day it was a bottle of malt extract, and there was more than half. Oh, that would go nicely with everything else. Grabbing everything in big handfuls and making his way to the silos to meet Ashiore. This would be a good drink.

 

Phew! This was hard work. But Ashiore thought she had a decent haul. Pormont's soil must be really high quality, so no wonder there were so many farms out on the plains. This kind of farming stuff was actually quite fun! She had a bit of a hands-on experience in helping the Brisshal farmers with their boar-tramped fields, but it was still tough work under the afternoon sun to harvest all the necessary crops.

But, she filled up the first basket with some healthy-looking barley, and after getting a heads up from one of the farmhands she filled up another one with some hops, and she was all set. Making her way over to the silos, she hoped that @Aalam Abungu had everything set up already.

Ah, and approaching the silos, it looked like he did! There were some casks and glass bottles of other ingredients, what looked like a big old case of honey, some other materials that she wasn't able to identify. Oh boy, looked like this would be a real chore to prepare.

"Hey, Aalam!" Ashiore smiled and walked over to him, putting her harvested ingredients down. "Okay, I've gotten what I could. Looks like you're ready too? So, let's get started! Just tell me what to do and I'll get to it."

 

Well, that was a lot of barley it seemed that he was right not to worry the woman seemed to have a way with plants that was interesting. In all honesty, he hadn’t expected her to get that much form just picking from the fields. With her help, this batch might just turn out to be something that would end wonderfully. Grabbing a hand full of barley crushing the grains between his fingers then taking a nice deep sniff getting a feel of the strength of the grains, to see how strong a flavor he would be able to get from them. They were nice and fresh that was good, however, this was where he would have to take a back seat from preparation, he did have any mastery in cooking or alchemy in Terra so if he tried to make something it usually came out bad.

Grabbing about half a cup of crystal malt to a mesh bag he would need the flavor but not to have the malt in the drink. The grabbing a pot from one of the farmers, this drink was going to cost him a lot of money but you had to do it right. “Ok, first you’re going to need to take about two gallons of water add to this pot and then add this little bag here. Bring it up to a boil then remove the bag then add some honey and some of this syrup. Then let it boil.”

 

All right! "Got it!" Time to do this part really carefully, making sure that she followed all of @Aalam Abungu's instructions. She was careful to keep the ingredients in order so she didn't mix up which one was which beforehand, asked Aalam about each of the tools that she needed, and got to work. Good thing that she brought along her set of utensils with her, to make the preparations slightly easier.

It was a long process, that she tried speeding up with a bit of naturamancy. You know. Just for the sake of expediting everything, and all. Promote the growth of the yeast, hopefully bring out the flavor in the honey and the malt... Just little things that she really hoped wouldn't ruin the final batches.

At long last, their brews were finished. From what she gathered from talking with Aalam, the process normally took at the very least a few weeks. But with a bit of help from her magic and some of the cooking know-how that she got from her masteries, it was compressed down to a single evening. Which, wow. The things that magic could do. If only such things were available to do in real life...

Ah well. She turned to Aalam, smiling at what appeared to be their success. "I think it worked!" she said, gesturing at the casks. "But, well, you're the judge."

Roll
Final results: 71 and 89 (both High-quality)​

 

Aalam watched @Ashiore Evretto work she was good, she had no idea how to make mead but she was able to cook, and that was half that battle. He only had to set in a few time to help correct her or edge her on when she was a bit too careful. People could be like that when they were trying out a new recipe for the first time. However he could see from here that there was no reason for her to be afraid of what she was making, she had even brought her tools excellent simple excellent.

It would have taken a bit longer for everything to come together but it seemed the lady Ashiore had some ability with nature and was able to speed up the fermentation process. It was a bit unusual, and he would have stopped her in the standard case, but this wasn’t a standard case. This was terra a land of magic, and she was using it to her advantage. She was able to speed up the process considerably and what would have taken a few weeks was done in the afternoon. However now came the most challenging part the sampling and test of the drink.

Popping up the cork and taking a nice deep sift of the scent; it was nice light with just a hint of honey and hops. Grabbing a little glass and wash his mouth out with water twice and then the glass three times. Pouring out a little in the cup, holding it up to the light to get a chance to admire its color. It was a lovely vibrant golden hue, so that was two out of three things right. Now it was time for the final test how did it taste. Taking a sip from the glass letting the liquid play on his tongue before swallowing. That was heaven in a glass it was rich but still smooth with just the right amount of sweetness.

“It is an excellent brew you have created and all in the space of an afternoon. Well done you are sure to win with this.”

 

Looked like @Aalam Abungu was fond of it. That was a relief! His praise for the drink was a bit too much though, and Ashiore laughed it off a bit bashfully. "Okay, so it sounds cliche and all, but really! Couldn't have done it without you. I didn't know the first thing about what I was doing, and it's all thanks to you that we have this now."

And, well, time to taste the fruits of her labor for herself. She found a small container and poured a little bit out for herself. Giving it a preliminary sniff, she found it... okay. It had a rather strong flavor, in her opinion. There was definitely the smell of honey in it, but it was mixed in with something else. It wasn't necessarily bad, per se. Ah well. Bottoms up!

...This was what Aalam said was the sweet one?

With a herculean effort, she finished off her little glass. Okay, maybe beer really wasn't for her after all. She laughed nervously. "Well, uh. It's, uh, certainly something."

Looks like they had enough for two kegs. When everything got marked and sealed, she went to find one of the farmhands who would help with transporting everything to where the festival would take place.

And, looked like that was it for today! She turned to Aalam once more. "It was really great working with you. Thanks so much for all your help. I guess I'll see you at the festival, then?"

 

Finish off the rest of the drink in his glass yes this was a much sweeter variation than one would usually find it should go over nice in the contest. As for the fact that she wouldn’t have been able to do this without his was a bit false but he took the praise all the same. It was nice to have been able to help someone without having to do anything too horrible. She was going to be an excellent brew smith if she could just get over the taste but it wasn’t for everyone she might like the taste of wine better that was a bit sweeter though it could have a more complex taste.

“Yes, I guess I will see you there, I’ll be cheering you on from the crowd. Best of luck out there.” Watching the farm hands load the caskets onto the back of a cart, she really had a way with people that one. They would reach without trouble he knew the path to the contest it was relatively clear. So he gave her one final wave before making his way off the farm. “Take care Lady Ashiore." There was something the need his attention and he had spent enough time relaxing as it was. It was time to get back to work.