Fantasy Book Club discussion

There are many books that at least mention in passing the kind of alcohol that the characters are imbibing. Be it the Ales, the Wines or the spirits -- has anyone ever been curious what those things actual taste like?

Some authors have characters that drink fruity (literally) dessert wines, some drink the clear harsh spirits, others dark and rich stouts.

All of these things are feasible to find (for the most part with time and effort), but some authors take it a step further, and come up with their own flavorings or processes. These come up with interesting ideas, but I have often wondered what that product would be like if it actually existed.

Further, there have been times when I will be reading a book and the author will talk about what the party is drinking, and I feel the urge to go out and open a bottle of pear brandy or a bottle of old whiskey. Has this ever happened to anyone else or have these thoughts ever crossed anyone else's minds??

Oh yea, and I'm not an alcoholic... I swear!

I cannot think of many of the alcoholic drinks standing out too much for me, but I have occasionally come across food. Obviously, some of it included a meat that is not real, but the sauces or spices or vegetable combination used sparks an interest in trying with meat/fish I do have access to.

I'm interested to try the Ginger Scald, from The Lies of Locke Lamora.

Depending on the fantasy world, and the grains they grow, the drink would change, I suppose. I always imagine the wine being what much Roman wine reportedly was. Essentially a fruit juice that was lightly fermented, only partly for alcohol content, but mostly for preservation.
Of course, mead is popular in ancient lore and fantasy. If you haven't had the chance to try mead, it's a slightly bitter drink made from honey. The sweetness definitely bleeds through the bitter though. When it's served traditionally you heat it up with spices (basically the stuff you'd put in apple pie) and it's freaking delicious.
As for ale? Maybe it's just their marketing campaign, or my love for the drink itself, but Hobgoblin is the brand of beer I imagine most fantasy world taverns serve. If you like a heavy dark-ish beer, go check this stuff out.

Yes its funny how when reading a long book, you can be sometimes influenced by what the characters eat or drink. I know this happened to me while reading the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings as my consumption of tea increased dramatically during this time. They always seemed to have tea to relax and talk, so I did likewise.

As far as alcohol is concerned, the Gor series by John Norman had much details of wines and other beverages and even how they were made. Many of these were based on drinks from Greece or Rome, which apparently could be as high as 80% alcohol, but usually watered down. You can make many of these drinks yourself.

The best example i have seen of a drink becoming available was from a game called Eve Online. In the game could be seen fantasy advertising for a drink called Quafe. The game company did eventually market this drink for a short time from their website for $1.50 (USD) for a single bottle. The drink had a lemon-lime taste.

Maybe one day a novel will have a alcholic beverage marketed to the public.

I love the drinks in A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (maybe more sci-fi than fantasy but this post made me think of it). The best is the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster.
"The effect of drinking one of these is rather like having your brains smashed out with a slice of lemon, wrapped around a large gold brick."
There's an earth version on wiki I've been interested in trying but the worm from a bottle of Mezcal is a little frightening and hard to come by in Canada. Might have to omit that part.