Chapter 9

Simple Gold Rank Stout

Brewer’s Reputation: 600,715.

Our journey took us through an expanse of tall oaks. They were old and part of the northern wilderness I’d never seen before. The shade they brought was dark. The shadows were almost a smokey color. It was quiet, as though the wind tip-toed through. Leaves rustled on our heels as we passed.

“Beautiful passage,” Abigail murmured.

“Agreed,” I said. “There’s something hauntingly beautiful about these woods. Look at the bark. How thick and coarse it is. You can fit a whole hand in the fissures.”

Something old in the woods made me hold my breath. We didn’t speak to each other for a long time. Since the ground was flat and compact, we didn’t have to focus too much on where we stepped. That gave us the freedom to take in the sights. The autumnal colors of varied oak leaves that rusted upon the ground. There were leaves the color of leather that were dry and brittle. There were leaves of dark burgundy. Leaves the color of night.

When it was dark, we stopped and marched off the trail.

“Would you mind if we cold camp tonight?” Abigail said.

“Cold camp?”

“No fire.”

“Sure, why?”

She spent a moment gathering her thoughts while we unpacked and laid out bedrolls. Then she said, “I can’t say, exactly. Some part of me wants to listen to the forest without a fire crackling nearby. I want to see in the dark.”

“Spooky,” I said. “I do enjoy a cold camp every now and then.”

“I’d taken a liking to our game,” she said.

“Game? Oh, trading beers and talking shop?”

She smiled, put her arms behind her head, and leaned back against an old growth tree. “Yes, Hawkin. That game.”

After a few moments spent brewing, I traded a gush ale for a simple stout.

“Interesting choice,” Abigail said. “I’m surprised. I haven’t had a gush ale in years! This is exciting!”

“I find myself coming back to them. There’s something about them that I really like. Refreshing in a way.”

“You find a salted beer refreshing,” she said.

I cracked a smile. “Fermented on the warm side, with a pinch of salt and coriander.”

“Let’s see how it tastes.”

Abigail withdrew a wheat beer vase from her inventory. She poured the gush ale down the side of the glass. The foam built upon itself until it resembled a thick cotton quilt. Bubbles sparkled to life.

Then a system prompt came up.

[Congratulations! You have reached level 25 in the Foam Cascade skill.]

[10 Foam Cascade sub-skills are now available to you.]

[Crumble Cloud.]

[Sticky Meringue.]

[Silk Meringue.]

[Wesley’s Dollop O’Fluff.]

[Mellow Marshmallow.]

[Pearl Bubbles.]

[Static Light.]

[Cream Shaved Ice.]

[Greater Classic.]

[Whipped White.]

“I did it,” I said. “I finally reached level twenty-five in Foam Cascade!”

Abigail congratulated me. Even gave me a few moments of applause. She asked me which ten skills I received because they were different for every brewer. The only one she didn’t yet have was Wesley’s Dollop O’Fluff.

“That’s a special one,” she said. “Hard to master, but one of the best foams for certain beers.”

“What about stouts?” I said, lifting a silver boot of Abigail’s simple stout aloft. “What type of foam did you use for your stout?”

“Toasted Slush. Let’s drink.”

We smashed vessels and drank.

I was even more floored by her simple stout. It was chocolatey, heavily roasted, and creamy. I could taste each individual grain. There were hints of granite and wet obsidian. I closed my eyes and saw black mountains cutting through storm clouds. Ribbons of sweet roasted dandelion root assailed my senses. The flavors seemed to put earth and cocoa in my veins and black nights in my soul. But the warm flavors of the toasty foam brought me back to reality. The foam tasted like graham crackers made into ice cream.

“Holy shit,” I said. “I feel like I’m made of roots and chocolate right now. I feel like I just came out of a mine. I should be covered in coal dust.”

“Glad you like it,” Abigail said.

I adored the stout. It was impressive. Inspiring. I couldn’t stop talking about it.Couldn’t stop admiring the quality of the beer. Once again, we spent a couple of hours talking shop. We started discussing how we would brew our collaboration winter warmer.

When our conversation ran its course, we found ourselves beneath a starless midnight sky. It was my imagination that her eyes gleamed.

We kept silent and enjoyed the darkness. Enjoyed the sounds.

The wind was a lilting howl. Its voice ran through the woods like a parliament of owls. The leaves rustled and cartwheeled through the woods. Others fell with soft crunches. Autumn insects came alive around us. They hissed. They clicked. They chirped. Their songs undulated.

Abigail’s soft snoring joined the cacophony.

I whispered her name but she was fast asleep. So I took the opportunity to stay up a bit longer and use my Forge Ethereal skills. First on barley, and then on hops, water, and yeast. Not only were my Forge Ethereal skills leveling up, but I was well on my way to having enough ingredients to brew a 250ml quantity of ethereal beer.

I should have enough ingredients to brew at least five gallons worth of beer by the time we return to my cabin.

We had at least two to three weeks left of hiking. There was probably one more warm streak in store for us. Then we would be entering autumn in full swing. The days would get colder, the foliage would peak, and there was still so much to do.

The most important thing to accomplish in my eyes was to enjoy my time hiking with Abigail. We traveled south for another week. I used Brewer’s Harvest at each libation point and maintained some trails as we went along. Sometimes trail maintenance cost us half a day, but it was fun for both of us. I got to swing my axe. Abigail got to explore the wilderness and catalog new flowers into her journal.

At the end of the week, her journal had substantially thickened and she had a collection of seeds she’d been gathering. The closer we got to returning to the cabin, the more she started thinking of gardening during the fall and winter. Attribute beers would help her fight off the frost, and keep things in perfect growing conditions for everything she wanted to grow. I even offered for her to use the entire clearing if she wanted to.

While we talked about that, we turned southwest to begin curving back towards the coast.