Bubale

Bubble Ale, or as it has been affectionately nicknamed by its enthusiasts, "Bubale", is a creation of the university students in Ostar that has been quickly catching on with young people across the Empire, starting with the other colleges and universities.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

All Bubble Ales, or Bubales, are regular beeverages infused with a concentration of what the students call "Bubble Gas", which can be trapped during the fermentation process of alcoholic beverages and forced back in, or introduced from the natural source the students have located.

In order to maintain the bubbles, Bubale must be securely sealed with pressure contained. This step is where the most accidents have happened as the students were experimenting - there were many explosions of containment devices and seals as they perfected their method. They have finally settled on glass bottles with tapered necks, corked, with wires or wax to hold in the cork.

Common Varieties of Bubale

Plain Ale

The extra-bubbly version of whatever ale is currently being brewed, this is the most common and first created variety of Bubale.

Lemon

A sharp, tangy variety of Bubale made flavored with lemon. Unsweetened, for that shock of tartness.

Lavender

This flavor classically smells floral but but is subtly spicy, with mint and herbal taste. This one is a favorite amongst mages.

Honey

One of the objectively sweetest flavors, the honey Bubale is a favorite amongst students, but only those with a true sweet tooth.

Apple

Just the right mix of sweet and tart, the apple flavor pleases almost anyone. Usually made with a mix of red and green apples for best taste.

Whiskey

This is one of the riskier undertakings of the students, because there was an internal pool (odds 50/50) it would be terrible; but it's actually pretty popular.

image created in gencraft

Manufacturing Process

In order to create Bubale, bubble gas must be forced into a liquid and then that liquid trapped under pressure. The students have acheived this by creating a machine that can heat up the bubble gas (which is stored as a liquid) back into a gas and then force it into the beverage and quickly cork it, and then add wax or wire to keep the cork in.

History

Bubale is the creation of a group of university students who enjoyed the slightly bubbly mouthfeel of their ales and were experimenting with different methods to increase it. Despite many different explosions and accidents, they succeeded in creating methods and machines to increase the bubbles in their homebrewed beverages and even add more bubbles to other drinks they purchased.

It was only a natural extension, then, that they also began experimenting with adding the effevescent bubbles to other drinks, like waters and juices. The ones which caught on the most were their fruity beverages, especially in the summer, so that was the formulation that has become the most famous.

The creators of Bubale initially used a spell to create their bubbles, which was effective but had a couple of drawbacks. Firstly, even in a strongly magic-using world, there were plenty of people who hesitated to consume anything that relief too heavily on magic in its making, preferring to leave their food and beverages magic-free. Secondly, all magic of course had a price, and there was a limited amount of bubbles the students could make and still have the magical energy leftover for other things. Their personal pursuit of beverage perfection did not come anywhere near this limit, but they were already thinking bigger - how would they mass-produce it?

To solve their problem, the mage-students recruited some classmates studying chemistry, to help them identify what was naturally creating the bubbles in their beer and how to reproduce or amplify the effect. With their combined efforts, it didn't take long to discover two different methods to create their bubbles. The easier method was to trap the gas produced when they were fermenting their ales and beers and use a machine to force it back into the finished beverage. They called this "bubble gas".

The bigger challenge was how to add bubbles to non-alcoholic beverages! The project came to a standstill and they almost abandoned the idea of being able to expand to waters and juices, until one of them was home for a visit in the town of Stilldyard, and while visiting the hot springs discovered several smaller pools of water which, while previously ignored because they were much too small for bathing, had an inordinate amount of bubbles. She brought some back to school with her and after some experimentation and testing, the students realized that the hot springs in Stilldyard were producing the bubble gas naturally. They quickly set their minds to developing a method of trapping and then using the natural bubble gas, which has allowed them to explore many new beverage options.

Bubale

pronounced exactly as you'd expect: bub-ale

---

Item type

Consumable, Food / Drink

Current Location

Austra

Rarity

As a fairly new creation, Bubale is uncommon but gaining ground quickly.

Raw materials & Components

A Liquid Beverage
Bubble Gas

Tools

The students are very aware that the idea behind their invention is easy to copy with magic, and even reasonably easy to copy with alcoholic beverages. The unique thing they have going for them, and their trade secret, is the naturally occuring bubble gas in Stilldyard and their machines and processes for gathering it and putting it into beverages. Their bubble collector and bubbling machine is their closely gaurded secret.

Header photo by Pixabayon Pexels.

Bottling & Branding

---

"Authentic" Bubale produced by the inventors has two recognizable features. First, the students use very distinctive blue glass bottles, which they know pay a local glassworks to make for all of their batches of bubbly beverages.

To seal the bottles, and keep the cork in place, they use either gold wire or gold wax. If using wax, the flavor is imprinted into the seal. If they are using wire, it is burned into the cork.