Floating Briar Brandy
The fruit of a floating briar is one of the only Distal food products that can actually be consumed safely by terrestrial creatures. Early verdials discovered this fact while braving the frosty Caudal wilderness beyond the Petalcap Vale and, with time, came to regard the fruit highly for its bright flavor and purported health benefits. Fermenting the juices of the floating briar fruit produces a unique wine and, with distillation, a brandy which has become a traditional drink among modern Vale and Blackthorn Verdials.
Components and tools
Fruits should be harvested from plants found in Caudal regions, ideally as far from the Vale as possible, as cold temperatures help favorably shift the balance of glucose enantiomers in the fruit. Floating briars from the Distal Tesseract proper produce more L-glucose, becoming harder to ferment and more likely to exhibit laxative properties; these 'shadow batches' are a frequent source of consternation among first-time brewers.
Participants
Though there are some commercially produced vintages, the production and consumption of floating briar beverags are meant to be social bonding activities. Creating a batch of the beverage is a significant commitment to undertake with ones fellows; gathering or purchasing enough fruits to make a batch takes time, but the fermentation and distillation process can take months or even years depending on the intended 'maturity' of the batch. For this reason, the brandy is usually made alongside old friends or family members and is enjoyed over several sessions with the same. 'Making brandy' has become an idiom in Valespeak for any long-term project or, with regards to romance, for committed monogamy.
Observance
Floating briar brandy is often mulled with spices and served in toddies over the winter or with fruit juice and ice over the summer. Because it keeps well, some of the brandy is to be kept in reserve for special occasions, such as birthdays, anniversaries, or holiday gatherings. Sharing one's brandy with an outsider is regarded as a sign of acceptance and, should the recipient accept, they are thenceforth considered part of one's group.
Properly prepared brandy shares the fruit's warm, tart, astringent flavor, but gains the strong nose of a liquor. The beverage is considered to have medicinal qualities and may be used to help reduce chest and sinus congestion, settle the stomach, warm up cold extremities, and reduce constipation. Strongly distilled batches have enought alcohol content to exhibit anaesthetic, analgesic, and disinfectant properties, but its use for these purposes has largely faded into the province of 'old wives' tales' with the advent of modern medical practices.
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Really well done, you clearly did your research into actual distillation processes. I really liked how you expanded on its cultural importance and use in the world with people sharing it with those that they have accepted into their group. And the use of Making brandy as a idiom related to a long-term project was a nice touch.