Mr. Krien's face was as unpleasant as a duck egg that had been left from spring to autumn and had a crack, attracting flies with its stench.
Just losing six yuan for no reason made him unhappy. After cursing the union members in the office, Grav came in again. He squeezed next to Mr. Krien with his bandaged hand and demanded nutrition fees for medical expenses. Although he was a damn guy, Mr. Krien did not bargain or scold him inexplicably but simply took out six yuan and then drove him away.
The two who were supposed to wait until next month to get paid for "market research" changed their clothes directly and left the station.
Duling this period, almost all bars sold various high-alcohol drinks because of the pain brought by war spreading everywhere along with significant social and political changes; people needed something to numb their spirits and bodies urgently besides women, so high-alcohol drinks like these became one of the best choices.
One after another, they entered a bar called "Worker's Friend." After Dulin went through the black door under scrutiny by a big man's eyes, he almost vomited due to an overwhelming smell: sweat odor mixed with foot odor, alcohol odor, vomit odor, dizzy body odor plus some indescribable odors constantly challenging his nerves' toughness. Grav grabbed his arm and dragged him dizzily towards the bar counter where it seemed that Grav was already familiar here since when he sat down there immediately came over bartenders asking: "What do you want today? Red fruit wine?"
Red fruit wine is a kind of fruit wine fermented from red fruits; after fermentation filtering out residues leaves slightly turbid red fruit wine behind which is not expensive at all - only eleven or twelve cents can buy one cup - becoming one of workers' main alcoholic beverages; however this kind of drink has significant drawbacks: it always carries an inexplicable rotten fruit taste in the water, which is a residual odor Duling fermentation.
In addition, if the fermentation time is not enough, there will be some astringent feeling in the drink.
However, all these drawbacks are not problems under low prices.
Grav chuckled and lowered his voice: "Give us a glass of Golden Light and a glass of Skirted Girl."
The bartender looked at Grav and Dulin with surprise; he could hardly believe his ears. If it were not for Grav's good reputation, the bartender would have thought that he had misheard.
Golden Light is short for high-alcohol drinks called "Cesijinse Yangguang," originating from Cesiviya in Grom Empire; its texture is famous worldwide because it emits faint golden light. The name Skirted Girl comes from a bottle of high-alcohol drinks called "Heaven"; on this bottle there was an image of a girl wearing red skirt - also imported from abroad - so many people affectionately call Heaven wine as Skirted Girl or Red-skirt Wine.
These two kinds of wines are considered one of middle-to-low-grade high-alcohol beverages; within Yaoxing Empire they are consumed mainly by lower-middle-class people like workers to small wealthy businessmen and families. However, after suffering heavy economic losses after the war ended their tastes deteriorated significantly since part domestic private cellars imitated them rampantly but immature technology caused deviations in alcohol content and flavor.
On the other hand, many bars in the area sell adulterated liquor instead of pure liquor. By mixing three bottles into four, they can make a profit without selling genuine products. However, Dulin won't be drinking any fake or adulterated alcohol this time because these two glasses were ordered from Grav's bar. Grav has a good reputation for being helpful and standing up for what is right, so his name and reputation are well-known in the area. The bar wouldn't dare to sell him anything fake unless they wanted trouble.
Sometimes having a good reputation doesn't just mean that someone is helpful to those around them; it could also mean that they frequently cause trouble for others.
Grav embodies both qualities!
Soon enough, two glasses of high-proof alcohol were brought over on square-shaped cups that could stand upright in one's palm. They were about ten centimeters tall and filled seven-tenths full with approximately 2.5 ounces of liquid each - one was champagne-colored while the other was orange-yellow and emitted a strong aroma as soon as it arrived at their table.
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The bartender leaned closer to the counter and lowered his voice: "Five bucks total!"
Dulin only glanced at him sideways before slapping down a five-dollar bill onto the table. The bartender smiled nonchalantly and put away the money into his cash box.
"Want to try some?" Dulin's throat rolled as he had worked hard as a porter for so long just to earn forty dollars - which was why he came here often not only to drink but also sometimes bring along one or two girls to discuss topics such as species origins with him - so he had been saving up diligently but still only managed to save up slightly more than forty dollars.
His darkened lips pressed against the edge of his glass before taking small sips of air followed by trembling all over his body; then he raised his neck like he was groaning and let out a sigh, "It's really delicious!" He took another big gulp, finishing half of the glass. His muscles that had been tense from heavy physical labor also relaxed considerably. He pushed the glass towards Dulin and said, "You should try it too."
Dulin picked up the wine glass and turned it in a different direction before taking a sip. A spicy and pungent sensation immediately filled his mouth. He swallowed the small amount of liquid, causing his neck to turn red. It felt like there was a flame burning in his chest, making his whole body warm.
"It's spicy and pungent, but also has a hint of sweetness," Dulin put down the glass and smacked his lips. "It seems like there's also an indescribable woody taste?"
Grav nodded with a smile. "Yes, that's dragon blood wood powder. Most high-proof alcohol contains dragon blood wood powder; only by adding it can high-proof alcohol be brewed. I don't know the specific principle behind it, but everyone says so."
At this moment, Dulin realized that in this world, the brewing and distillation process of high-proof alcohol had no connection whatsoever; instead, purification was completed through a material called dragon blood wood. He had heard about this thing before - apparently it was a species left over from prehistoric times found all over the world. The growth rate of these trees wasn't slow either; they could be used after approximately twenty years or so of growth time. The only trouble was that this kind of tree required slightly different nutrients during each stage of its growth - it needed to absorb enough cow blood to grow.
Nowadays, there were enormous ranches next to the largest dragon blood wood forest in the world where cows were raised for their blood which irrigated the trees while their meat was sold for people to eat as well. Ironically because of this reason beef prices weren't very expensive in this world; even ordinary families could afford them.
Dulin tasted another cup of wine which had some bitterness but didn't ruin its overall flavor; instead added something long-lasting to its aftertaste . He kept nodding his head; this girl in a skirt was better than Jin Guang. It gave people a bittersweet feeling like heartbreak, but after the bitterness there was also happiness and lingering sweetness of being in love.
After finishing their drinks, they left immediately which surprised the bartender. After all, every time Grav came he would always be intimate with the bar girls - it had become customary for him. This time he...the bartender couldn't help but take another look at Dulin walking towards the door; indeed he was quite handsome! The bartender smirked and didn't know what he thought of as an odd expression appeared on his face.
If Grav knew that someone mistook him for gay, he would definitely kill them. Fortunately, he didn't know and neither did Dulin.
The two returned to their rental room and immediately took out the high-proof alcohol from under the bed before pouring it into two glasses to taste again.
After adding syrup its taste wasn't as bitter anymore but compared to Jin Guang or Red Skirt there were still significant differences not only in terms of alcohol content but also mouthfeel and flavor. Drinking this kind of distilled high-proof alcohol felt like getting hit by an axe on your forehead making you grimace with pain . Such liquor wasn't unsellable but its sales volume certainly wouldn't be as good as those other two types of matured high-proof alcohols.
Jin Guang and Red Skirt could sell for 2.5 yuan per cup at bars while this type of liquor could only sell for up to 1.5 yuan per cup at most - a difference of one yuan per cup which meant that each bottle had a minimum price difference of three yuan between them; something both Dulin and Grav couldn’t afford .
"What should we do?" Holding up his glass while gritting his teeth , Grav rubbed his head while slightly intoxicated . "Think of a solution!"
Dulin recalled some things from his dream while thinking about how to achieve the qualitative change in distilling alcohol with this world's level of technology. After a while, he hesitated and said, "I have two methods."
Grav's eyes lit up like light bulbs. "Quickly tell me!"
"The first method is storage; use wooden barrels with fragrant wood, preferably dragon blood wood barrels to store these wines and keep them in the wine cellar for one year. By then their taste will definitely be much better than now."
"The second method is further blending by adding more berries or fruits and reducing its alcohol content to make it into high-proof fruit wine which would saturate its flavor and mouthfeel even more."
Without hesitation Grav shouted out loud: "Don't choose the first one! It takes too long; I can't stand waiting that long. Let's go with the second one instead - it’s faster . As long as we have money we can try both methods later on . I'm tired of living in poverty!"