Chapter 87

Nut Brown Ale

Hawkin

It felt like the beginning of the brightest summer ever. The sun seemed larger than it had ever been. The days were getting hotter, and the skies had been absent of clouds lately. I was thankful for the full sun my garden had been getting. The squash came up, the tomatoes were doing well, and the cabbages and cardoons were off to a slow start. A host of other veggies were only just starting to come up and I watered them everyday with care.

Other than the garden, I was on a roll completing small quests. It had all started with the ‘Laughter is the Best Medicine’ quest which required that I find the feather of a seagull. Then I had to use Alchemical Control to brew a bronze ranked Laughter Attribute beer. I’d decided to brew a light beer. Something sessionable.

BarnacleEyes and I had a wild time drinking that beer. We’d laughed until our sides hurt over the dumbest things. When she showed me her Thrush costume, we lost it. We were dying of laughter, both of us rolling on the ground.

I had earned a handful of loot chests from that quest. Among the rewards, I received some Brett yeast, which fulfilled one of my quests from a couple months ago. After absorbing some skill books, I was imparted with the knowledge that Brett creates distinct flavors and has a longer fermentation and conditioning phase. It can impart flavors that are reminiscent of horse sweat, wet leather, and barnyards.

My next quest had been to break another quality barrier which took a tremendous amount of effort. It all came down to the temperature of the mash. It had to be just right, with a little wiggle room. Something that was extremely difficult to manage using mana and the Mash Master skill. Because I had days within days to practice my skills, it took a few weeks of consistently working on achieving the right temperature to break the quality barrier. Super Tavern quality ales and above were now measured by level. When I poured a drop of my first Super Tavern ale onto a new page of my collector’s journal, it said:

[Hawkin’s Nut Brown Ale.]

[Bronze ranked Super Tavern ale 12/100]

[Inspired by the woodlands, this beer expertly boasts toasted nutty undertones. The foam is beige and simple. A nice autumnal beer.]

Yea, I thought. It is rather nice, isn’t it?

I don’t quite know why, but I was most proud of the nut brown ale then most of my other brews so far. I’d put a lot of work into it, and I was finally brewing something that was on the right path to eventually brewing great beer.

Over the following days, I completed an additional 2 quests, receiving a few bronze ranked common loot chests, and one legendary loot chest. Among the items was a brilliant shard. With it came a new quest.

[New Shard Quest: Hiccup’s Silo #43]

[Collect 1600 shards to earn Hiccup’s Silo #43. This item will hold 500,000 bushels of grain. Links directly to an inventory space without contributing to your carry capacity.]

[Donate 1600 attribute beers to Dellia Lucerne to earn 1600 shards.]

[Accept Quest?]

[Y/N]

Hiccup’s Silo. I’ve had one of his beers before—Ol’ Sludge. What I really wanted was something like that but for barrels. Which got me thinking about another cellar, Thrush, and the ethereal plane.

I eagerly accepted the quest and shared a beer with BarnacleEyes to celebrate. I made a small fire for us to enjoy while we drank. Since I knew she didn’t like the beers I’d been making for myself, I gifted her a 5 gallon barrel of goblin spit beer. She was over the moon about it.

“We should talk about what I owe you,” I said after she’d poured herself a silver boot full.

“Owe me?” She said, scrunching her face.

“Your help in the brewery won’t go without compensation. You should think about what you want. Silver, beer, food, hide, anything. I’ll see what I can do.”

“I’d like a big-great-ship,” she said.

“I’ll see about cutting some planks for you. Maybe I can help you build something. In the meantime, give it some more thought. I at least owe you a bunch of silver.”

“Thrush already told me I could take all the silver I want, so I’m not worried about that. Silver isn’t exactly going to get me much right now—but yea, I’ll give it some thought. What are you going to do about the brewery? We’re running out of space to put all the barrels you’ve been making.”

“A good place to store them would be on the ethereal plane,” I said.

“So do that.”

“It’s not that easy. It’s always summer there.”

“So what?”

“I need to keep the beers in cooler temperatures so they don’t get stale or skunky.”

“Couldn’t you build another brewery there?”

“I was thinking of building another cellar there.”

“Like the one in your cabin?”

“Yea. That way I could keep barrels underground where it’s cooler. My first cellar is going to fill up pretty soon.”

“Can I come on the plane? I’ll help you dig since Thrush isn’t here.”

What an odd thought. It never really crossed my mind to invite BarnacleEyes along, but why not? She might enjoy the plane.

“Sure,” I said, “but you’ll be stuck there with me for twenty four hours at a time.”

“We have to be there that whole time?”

“Yes, but things are different there. You don’t get tired like you do here. It’s almost like you’ve got all this reserve energy that you can infinitely draw from.”

“What if I get hungry?” She said, almost panicking.

“I’ll bring some onions and garlic for you. How’s that?”

BarnacleEyes was eager to come with me and I shared a planes cutter beer with her. She went ballistic on the ethereal plane. Instead of having a reserve of energy, she seemed to have too much energy. She put herself to work right away and started digging up the ground with her bare hands.

“Wait,” I said. “Wait, wait, hold on a second.”

She wouldn’t stop, so I put an arm around her belly and lifted her off the ground. She growled and hissed while clawing at the air and stretching her limbs to reach for the hole she started.

“BarnacleEyes,” I laughed. “Calm down, we can’t just start digging. I need to plan the layout and where it’s going to be.”

It took a moment before she calmed down enough to relax a bit. We walked around together while I spoke my thoughts aloud and planned construction. I wanted to put the cellar entrance right near to where I entered the plane everyday. The first step was to dig as much as we could and fortify the cellar with support beams.

“What about your cellar under your cabin?” BarnacleEyes said.

“Like I said, that’s going to get full too, very soon, but I was also thinking about Thrush. If Thrush sent someone onto the plane to come find me, maybe I could send that person back with something in return. Having barrels at the ready just makes sense.”

For half the day, I broke the earth with my axe, and BarnacleEyes scooped out the loose dirt. We took breaks every now and then and I took those opportunities to harvest ingredients and brew 1 gallon batches in mid-air. Mostly nut brown ales.