Brewing: Brodder's Diaries Translated

(**reposted by the DenMom, credit goes to Froni for translating and transcribing this information**) ... and of course to the player behind Brodder Foamymugs, who originally wrote brewing diaries that were then adopted by VI and turned into actual in-game recipes.

I learned Gnomish to read these and found them so enjoyable that I felt should post them here. (If this duplicates a post let me know and I will remove it.) I only could find Parts I, III, IV, V, VI and wonder if maybe the missing Volume II has some of the information that we have yet to discover.

Froni Thunderpaws

Master Brewer, Baker, Pottery Maker (and linguist too)

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Brodder's Diary Part I

Many Places I have traveled and many things I have seen, but few things more than treasures and heroic deeds have moved me like a good beverage has. Each culture reveres its heroes, ridicules its enemies, but always the ale flows. Many in Norrath proper say Dwarves are the best brewers as well as the best smiths, one goes with the other. It is hot work indeed, and a crisp ale cuts the dust and replenishes the soul where minor pains and aches would eventually force one to quit. For a Dwarf some say I'm inquisitive as a Gnome, and as snooty as a High Elf when it comes to tasting brews. Perhaps I am, but by Brell it's good to be a cleric as the effects I've sufferred from my curiosity have been painful at times. I shall start in Faydwer proper as it is close to my kind.

STEAMFONT

My close companion Catbik Tinkerton took me on the tour of said lands. Fizzlepop as noted in my other journals has many purposes in brewing, due to the amount of sweetness it contains. I hear that every 1 out of 6 can cause an explosion when bottled due to the intense pressures contained inside. Catbik once even made a Kobold Pup balloon for scouting the area by force feeding this soda to the runt and tying a rope to his legs. In the Pup's tent I found the following:

GRUPPA'S POPPIN ALE

From the scrawling I assumed it was an explosive device, but instead it was a fiery brew. Two bottles of FIZZLEPOP, would be left in the sun to bake and become unstable, two bottles of GNOMISH SPIRITS would steep on an INFECTED RAT LIVER in a bowl in open air. PIXIE DUST would be used on the second mix to clarify it. Mix in a CASK the heated sodas in bottles, and the clarified liverwater mix. The cask would be wrapped in a rope to hold it together and then thrown at a rock or tress so the bottles inside would break. The Cask, if intact, would be left to sit for a week in the sun, then decanted through a cloth cap into bottles. It'd result in four bottles with a pleasant smell, horrid taste, and a huge kick.

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Where is Part II?

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(Part II was never found in-game, but we're hoping it will show up one of these days)

Brodder's Diary Part III

Other drinks I found in Faydwer by talking to merchants, travelers, and the guards are as follows:

FAYDWER STINGER:

Wasp stinger cluster, bottle elven wine, gnomish spirits, served in a bottle, a red drink can be seen as safe. If it is green it's too poisonous to drink and should be discarded.

FAYDWER SHAKER:

Bottle elven wine, bottle gnomish spirits, dwarven ale, bottle mead,large cask. Mix shake in cask and serve in shot glasses. Make enough for a full party of friends. (makes six shots)

UNDERFOOT BROWN:

Four ripe underfoot mushrooms (as grown in farms in Kaladim), bottle short Beer (starter), water, malt, and a CASK. Makes an earthy brew loved by dwarves and halflings.

Port - varied types, take 4 bottles of common wines and distill them into a cask. Known port types are:

GYPSY PORT - four bottles of Gypsy Wine

RED PORT - four bottle of Red Wine

FAYDWER PORT - Two bottles of elven wine, a bottle of red wine, and a bottle of white wine.

RO PORT - Two bottles of Red Wine and two bottles of Elven Wine

Use of an aged cask helps in bringing out the best of vintage. Halflings and elves hold the secrets to making aged oaken casks. Us Dwarves reuse out casks as is only proper, as aging this way makes each generation of ale and beer contribute to the next.

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Brodder's Diary Part IV

The Drakes of Steamfont tend to rest near some of the hotter steam vents in that land. There they shed their old skins, on this grows a lichen of properties unsurpassed in all of Norrath.

Collecting this lichen, some water and a clay pot I joked that this would combine to make a potable alcohol of unusual flavors. It did indeed, and to Catbik's distaste proved much more palatable than his favored gnomish spirits, and nearly as smooth as some of the aged Vodkas I've tasted. To keep the Gnomes happy I named this Gnomish Cleaning Fluid recipe as it resulted in two fluids. The pot itself decanted and filtered into a bottle provided a small potable beverage that I enjoyed, but the remains in the pot proved, once aged, that it'd make a great stripper and cleanser.

A LICHEN COVERED DRAKE SCALE found near steam vents, MEDIUM CLAY JAR, WATER FLASK, and a BOTTLE, result in SUPERIOR LICHEN SPIRITS, and a pot of cleaning paste.

The Minotaurs of Steamfont had few ideas on brewing that I discovered, but it's rumored that a visiting Minotaur Hero had a case of huge bottles of Malt heavy brew, from our tort... in question sessions, with serveral slavers in the area and compounded with my knowledge of brewing, I've determined that this MINOTAUR HERO'S BREW was a heavy malted liquor. I think I've properly reproduced it, though due to the varied nature of waters, hops, and malt arouond the lands its quality can vary, Until I find the proper recipe this one shall bear its name. Take three MALTS of heavy quality, a single YEAST, two measures of WATER, and two SHORT BEERS to start the reaction, into a CASK of darken wood place these and let steep. Decant into bottles of Large size, suited for heroes. cover this bottle in brown parchment or leather to keep the sunlight off of it and provide discretion for others will want one themselves. I've found large bottle produced in Feerrott, by the ogre glass blowers, and in Solusek by the goblins there.

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Brodder's Diary Part V

My experiences with Trolls and Ogres.

Ogre swill and other swamp inspired beverages aren't the only thing to come from these beasts. Some of them have a gift for brewing. They joke, I hope it's a joke, that it came from earing a dwarven brewer at one time or another.

First off is BOOT BEER, strange indeed as it sounds. The foul brew requires a Large Leather Boot, swamp vegetables, swamp mushrooms, malt, a water flask, and milk.

The solids are bundled in a lil cloth bag and stuffed at the bottom of the boot. A troll wears the boot for a few days and then adds the malt, water and milk. It sits on a shelf till remembered, or until it foams enough that someone notices it. This beverage is as disgusting as it sounds, and floored me for over a day and a half, luckily the troll teaching me the secrets was unconscious just a bit longer. I copied the notes and stole away. I left him this gift, written in runes and pictures so he might understand it easier as a fair trade:

SKUNK BREATH ALE

2 skunk glands, gnomish spirits, short beer, malt, yeast, water, cask. From the sudden trade in skunk glands to South Ro from Butcherblock one must assume that this is a hit with the Trolls of Innothule. I hear Innothule's Breath is what they named the beverage. I hear the smell stays on your breath for days after you drink it, a probable source of amusement for the trolls.

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Brodder's Diary VI

Ogres - I've managed to befriend some of the ogres, by playing off the politics that run between the shaman cultures and their shadowknights. Here I tried such things as ARMADILLO SIMMER ALE and TAIL KICKER. As best as I can remember the first is made with Armadillo fat, while the husk is made into a serving bowl, the fat is rendered and mixed with ogre swill, which clears it up considerably, mixed with vinegar, malt and yeast. Surprisingly it was a passable beverage, with a surprising kick. Which leads me to think that an alchemist imprisoned here developed this drink to buy his freedom and to make a living here, while waiting for freedom, bearable.

The TAIL KICKER is made by boiling lizard tails in vinegar, adding malt, yeast and two flasks of water. The results are distilled into clay flasks, trust me one flask of this juice is enough to uncurl a Dwarf's beard and untie his boots.

I asked about the fabled Burning SKULL ALE, and was told that it was made for big ceremonies and required a sacrifice of not a few prisoners. Their skulls were cut open at the top and the brains removed and mixed with rare herbs and vinegar (what's with ogres and vinegar?), and spices and short beer. It was set near a fire and ready when the skulls began to burn with an internal flame. Alchemy or brewing I'm not sure, but I did steal a nicely carved Cyclops skull.

My host wondered why no one made that drink anymore, my last words in Ogguk were "maybe it's that brains are just in short supply on Ogguk" I left in a hurry before they figured that one out.

Created: 2003-07-09 08:52:03          
Last Modified By: EQTC Editor Krazick          
Last Modified on: 2003-07-09 08:52:03          


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