Terran Gentleman, and Other (Not So Fine) Potables

[MThompson016]

One of the many technologies brought with to the stars from Terra was distilling of the varied grain crops. While some distillery techniques do produce quality products, such as Scotch whisky or various Caribbean rums, the techniques to produce cheap, unpleasant liquor has, in fact, thrived. Often to the detriment of officers, NCOs, or people trying to get things done in a timely fashion

A brand that has found particular popularity in the Sol subsector is a whiskey known as "Terran Gentleman". Sold in brown bottles in 500 mL, 750 mL, 1 L and 2 L sizes, with the smaller two in glass, and the larger plastic, it has become a near scourge to hear the complaints to the populations that drink it. Averaging approximately 50% alcohol by volume, it retails for excessively low prices, of around .25 credits for a 40 mL drink at the dive bars it can be found at or 2 credits per 750 mL bottle. It is most commonly found in junior enlisted quarters on military bases, Belter settlements, and poor neighborhoods. The taste is described as being "cleaning agent, grain alcohol, and regret" by those who drink it a few times. It is reasonably common among junior spacers, starport vagrants, and oddly enough, fighter pilots.

Read the rest and see my low quality art on my blog: https://travellersandbox.blogspot.com/2020/12/terran-gentleman-and-other-not-so-fine.html

 

[Condottiere]

Pruno, or prison wine, is an alcoholic beverage variously made from apples, oranges, fruit cocktail, fruit juices, hard candy, sugar, high fructose syrup, and possibly other ingredients, including crumbled bread. Bread supposedly provides the yeast for the pruno to ferment. Pruno originated in (and remains largely confined to) prisons, where it can be produced with the limited selection of equipment and ingredients available to inmates. The concoction can be made using only a plastic bag, hot running water, and a towel or sock to conceal the pulp during fermentation. The end result has been colorfully described as a "bile flavored wine-cooler",[1]. Depending on the time spent fermenting (always balanced against the risk of discovery by officers), the sugar content, and the quality of the ingredients and preparation, pruno's alcohol content by volume can range from as low as 2% (equivalent to a very weak beer) to as high as 14% (equivalent to a strong wine).

Description
Typically, the fermenting mass of fruit—called the motor or kicker in prison parlance—is retained from batch to batch to make the fermentation start faster. The more sugar that is added, the greater the potential for a higher alcohol content—to a point. Beyond this point, the waste products of fermentation (mainly alcohol) cause the motor to die or go dormant as the yeasts' environment becomes too poisoned for them to continue fermenting. This also causes the taste of the end product to suffer. Ascorbic acid powder is sometimes used to stop the fermentation at a certain point, which, combined with the tartness of the added acid, somewhat enhances the taste by reducing the cloyingly sweet flavor associated with pruno.

In 2004 and 2005 botulism outbreaks were reported among inmates in two California prisons; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suspects that potatoes used in making pruno were to blame in both cases.[2] In 2012, similar botulism outbreaks caused by potato-based pruno were reported among inmates at prisons in Arizona and Utah.[3][4]

Inmates are not permitted to have alcoholic beverages, and correctional officers confiscate pruno whenever and wherever they find it. In an effort to eradicate pruno, some wardens have gone as far as banning all fresh fruit, fruit juices, and fruit-based food products from prison cafeterias.[5] But even this is not always enough; there are pruno varieties made almost entirely from sauerkraut and orange juice. Food hoarding in the inmate cells in both prisons and jails allows the inmates to acquire ingredients and produce pruno. During jail and prison inmate cell searches, correctional officers remove excessive or unauthorized food items to halt the production of pruno. Pruno is hidden under bunks, inside toilets, inside walls, trash cans, in the shower area and anywhere inmates feel is safe to brew their pruno away from the prying eyes of correctional officers and jailers.[6]

Jarvis Masters, a death row inmate at San Quentin, offers an oft-referenced recipe for pruno in his poem "Recipe for Prison Pruno",[7] which won a PEN award in 1992.

Another recipe for pruno can be found in Michael Finkel's Esquire article on Oregon death row inmate Christian Longo.[8]

In 2004 at the American Homebrewers Association's National Homebrew Conference in Las Vegas, a pruno competition and judging was held.[9]

A variety of other prison-made alcoholic potables are known to exist. These include crude wines, famously fermented in toilet tanks. Sugary beverages like orange drink may also be fermented and distilled using a radiator or other available heat source. Though popularized in prison fiction, these techniques are slow and laborious, and generally result in a low alcohol content.

 

[MThompson016]

That's even lower than Terran Gentleman! Where you at least won't get sick off of anything other than the alcohol content!

 

[BRover]

"Terran Gentleman" sounds like moonshine--which is perennial. Reportedly, a family barn just 7 miles (under 12 km) from here has the copper tubing for distillation embedded in the walls as a Prohibition remnant. And how many war stories, especially naval, but also some ground units, include alcohol distilled by enterprising sailors or soldiers.

 

[aramis]

"Terran Gentleman" sounds like moonshine--which is perennial. Reportedly, a family barn just 7 miles (under 12 km) from here has the copper tubing for distillation embedded in the walls as a Prohibition remnant. And how many war stories, especially naval, but also some ground units, include alcohol distilled by enterprising sailors or soldiers.

Moonshine often hits 70% ABV, but also is sometimes as low as 25% ABV... it's basic grain alcohol. And some of it is in fact up to several percent methanol - hence the risks - due to careless brewing of the mash and distilling from the mash. (holding the wort at 150°F for a bit to get the methanol out is a VERY good idea in any distillation. The desirable ethanol distils at about 175°F. anywhere from 175°F to 205°F can get other sometimes-desired flavor elements out of the mash.)

Most of the flavor of whiskey is the barrel - the alcohol literally leaches flavors out. Straight corn-liquor is clear and almost tasteless... tho if you distill ad about 205°F, it carries some of the flavors over.

So, if it's not clear colorless, "Terran Gentleman" is using some form of flavoring... like possibly, barrels previously emptied of higher quality booze...

 

[BRover]

Moonshine often hits 70% ABV, but also is sometimes as low as 25% ABV... it's basic grain alcohol. And some of it is in fact up to several percent methanol - hence the risks - due to careless brewing of the mash and distilling from the mash. (holding the wort at 150°F for a bit to get the methanol out is a VERY good idea in any distillation. The desirable ethanol distils at about 175°F. anywhere from 175°F to 205°F can get other sometimes-desired flavor elements out of the mash.)

Most of the flavor of whiskey is the barrel - the alcohol literally leaches flavors out. Straight corn-liquor is clear and almost tasteless... tho if you distill ad about 205°F, it carries some of the flavors over.

So, if it's not clear colorless, "Terran Gentleman" is using some form of flavoring... like possibly, barrels previously emptied of higher quality booze...

I recall somewhere along the way of hearing how they made whisky in the old West--basically grain alcohol plus flavor. IIRC, much of it was caramelized sugar, plus other (often less savory) ingrediments. . . .

 

[BRover]

Not what I recall, but this YouTube video does give some of the process:

Whisky in the Old West by Arizona Ghostrider

 

[MThompson016]

It's not quite moonshine. It's the bottom shelf stuff that comes in large plastic containers, barely meets the traditional standards for whiskey, and once you start making some money, you stop drinking it.

Except for fighter pilots. In which case, it's kind of like Jeremiah Weed today.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Jump-distilled Scout Stout

You can take your favorite stout - Solomani Scouts still use Guinness, traditionally - and pour it into a vacuum-proof bottle (i.e. one that won't just shatter or crack in vacuum). Many StarshipMarts sell bottles made specifically for this. Make sure the bottle and any accessories are adhered to the Hull just before Jump Entry. Some say that old denture fixate works great for adherence. Remove from the Hull, just after Jump Exit.

Repeat before and after each Jump until 7 Jumps have passed, or as desired for taste. Although there is little agreement on how it should taste different than regular Stout.

Some Scouts have even gone to great lengths to brew and distill the Stout on the Hull while in Jumpspace. Many use Robots, others have more secretive means.

Citizens ask who is in charge on a Scout ship. A lot of Scouts think it's the Scout with the most Jumped Stout.

=====
Also, our Absent Friend plop101 made a Liquid refreshment list thread a while back you might like.

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=4920&highlight=stout

Raising a glass for plop101!

 

[MThompson016]

Ah, another drink. I also added a link to your blog post to mine.

And that was a thirst inducing thread.

 

[Dolphin in a Robot Suit]

Man, this thread reminds me of a few years back when the internet learned about the wonderful world of Sierra Leonean liquor. Chief among them is the absolutely dire-looking "Armaan's Black Booster Whisky", which is sold in a large HDPE plastic jug like something you'd buy at Autozone to pour into your car. Note that it is "premium quality", as evidenced by its taped-on label and the fact that it is 42% alcohol by volume and yet somehow still has an expiration date.

I'm sure there are more than a few worlds where this is how people have to get their drink on.

Also here's a commercial for one of their more top-shelf offerings, "6 PM Malt Whisky". This is obviously for the higher class Startown dive bars, the ones that have actual floors instead of packed dirt. Wow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XehwSM9n_Ko

 

[Quint]

One of my favorite bits of lore in my campaign is that Basic (ala Dumarest) is a standard thing on board most ships - just as a easy to maintain quick meal. "Scout's Brew" is the result of some genius (or desperate) Scout who figured out how to flip some isomer or whatever in the Basic and make a alcoholic drink somewhere between pruno and moonshine. It then spread through the Imperial services (or Terran) and every base, ship, etc. has at least one little "still" around to make it.

D.

 

[MThompson016]

Yes, people would find a way to get drunk.

 

[whartung]

It then spread through the Imperial services (or Terran) and every base, ship, etc. has at least one little "still" around to make it.

Mind I don't know anything about Dumarest, but...

Why?

Why would every ship in the sky have a still?

Is alcohol rare? Low quality? Expensive?

Sounds more like something you might see in a prison, honestly.

 

[Condottiere]

Hydration.

Disinfection.

 

[coliver988]

Mind I don't know anything about Dumarest, but...

Why?

Why would every ship in the sky have a still?

Is alcohol rare? Low quality? Expensive?

Sounds more like something you might see in a prison, honestly.

Because sometimes it is just seems to taste better if you are not supposed to have it (the forbidden fruit thing).

 

[kilemall]

Because people stuck in a tin can for a week or more at a time will seek ANY diversion, and other people are willing to risk penalty to satisfy that diversion.


Plus, I expect, tradition.

 

[Quint]

Mind I don't know anything about Dumarest, but...

Why?

Why would every ship in the sky have a still?

Is alcohol rare? Low quality? Expensive?

Sounds more like something you might see in a prison, honestly.

The number of vets I now that equate having been in the military to serving in prison.

In my setting it's partially tradition, partially a way to get around standing orders around the availability of alcohol - much as other's here have described. Even more so than ship duty of earth, jumpspace travel is seemingly full of nothing to do and idle hands...

In the Dumarest universe, "Basic" is a high calorie nutritional drink/sludge that keeps you alive and healthy but is not the most tasty thing in the 'verse but common as a very low cost way to feed crew. (I can't remember how it's described at the moment but it's clearly far from haute cuisine).

D.

 

[Enoki]

Fermentation is easy to achieve. Anything with some yeast in it will work. That gets you alcohol. To raise the alcohol content the easiest way is to:

1. Strain out all the solids from your mash (the fermented material)
2. Freeze as hard as possible the liquid, then throw away all solids.

That will get you to about 20 to 25% (40 to 50 proof) content.

Beyond that distillation is necessary.

For a ship's crew, put the liquid in a sealed container in an airlock and expose it to outside temperature for a bit... easy enough.

 

[BlackBat242]

Mind I don't know anything about Dumarest, but...

Why?

Why would every ship in the sky have a still?

Is alcohol rare? Low quality? Expensive?

Sounds more like something you might see in a prison, honestly.

The number of vets I know that equate having been in the military to serving in prison.

D.

No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company.

Samuel Johnson

Author Profession: Writer
Nationality: English
Born: September 18, 1709
Died: December 13, 1784