Alcoholic Beverages of Glorantha

[Sir_Godspeed]

Cracked did a video on ancient/early intoxicants a while back, in which they tried them out on themselves. The last they did was supposedly Soma, although the version of the video on Youtube does not mention which recipe they used (the original did, but I can't find it), it does, however, use some kind of (presumably psychedelic) mushroom. Not sure how authentic it is, but I know they *tried* to be authentic.

The different people have very different reactions, which can be an amusing watch.
 

 

Edited March 19, 2019 by Sir_Godspeed

[Julian Lord]

4 hours ago, Joerg said:

Does anybody know more about the recipe/preparation method for the ancient Persian holy drink of soma? Short research points to it being plant sap harvested from ephedra or sarcostemma, and potentially non-alcoholic yet inebriating.

The *only* thing I know about it is that it was indeed alcoholic.

But what % I have no idea -- many traditional drinks had either a low or a high degree of alcohol content.

It's BTW become a serious PITA that traditional ginger beer is so hard to find (and so excessively expensive when you sometimes find it regardless) -- and if I were an American, I'd probably be just as annoyed by the even more pervasive absence of traditional root beer.

[davecake]

Don’t forget that dark elf mushroom drink the Waha cultists are so fond of. 

[scott-martin]

On 3/19/2019 at 7:03 AM, Joerg said:

Does anybody know more about the recipe/preparation method for the ancient Persian holy drink of soma? Short research points to it being plant sap harvested from ephedra or sarcostemma, and potentially non-alcoholic yet inebriating.

The tradition of Looking For Soma goes back to the philologen and remains fractious. I like the "cocktail" hypothesis (see also Gods Wall II.23) and the recent "mushroom honey" angle is also interesting. Mysteries of Minlinster, secrets of the hive. Where the bee gorakiki went.

[soltakss]

On 3/18/2019 at 2:08 PM, Julian Lord said:

Technically, these are usually Liqueurs. The distinction on whether something is a "beer" or a "wine" or a "liqueur" or a "spirit" depends mostly on technique.

Beers are brewed (which is why Japanese Saké is technically a "beer", as it's "brewed") ; wines are macerated and fermented naturally (Which is why there's Rice Wine) ; spirits are distilled ; and Liqueurs are generally speaking just plain weird.

My brother makes berry wines at home, naturally fermented just like a grape wine, in fact he uses a normal winemaking kit and uses various berries. I can't vouch for their quality, as I don't really drink and don't drink wines, but they used to be quite potent.

[Julian Lord]

On 3/22/2019 at 9:07 PM, soltakss said:

My brother makes berry wines at home, naturally fermented just like a grape wine, in fact he uses a normal winemaking kit and uses various berries. I can't vouch for their quality, as I don't really drink and don't drink wines, but they used to be quite potent.

The strongest drink to be officially recognised as a "wine" in France rather than a "liqueur" is Banyuls, which is about 16% - 17% alcohol -- I've actually tasted just as strong elsewhere in France, including a pure Hautes Côtes de Beaujolais-Villages which was probably about 17% - 18% (powerful stuff !!), but they usually cannot sell wines that strong to the public except as "liqueurs" (some reasons for which come from old 19th Century alcoholism laws -- see Zola's L'Assommoir for why they exist -- and some from more recent taxation ones).