Jeb oriented himself quickly and started moving towards the Inn he had visited his last time in the Capital. After a few missed turns, he found it and walked inside. The Innkeeper looked up and waved at Jeb with a smile.
“Welcome back!” the Innkeeper said, “are you here to take a leave of absence from the Academy?”
Jeb frowned, unsure what would give him that impression. Remembering his last visit to the Inn, though, he smiled and shook his head. “No, I actually came here to talk to you.”
The smile froze on the Innkeeper’s face. I wonder what that’s about, Jeb thought.
“How can I help you?” the Innkeeper asked after a long moment.
Jeb nodded at the barrels of beer. “Did you brew that?”
The Innkeeper didn’t relax, and he started to shake his head. “No. I know other Innkeepers, especially outside of the Capital, tend to do their own Brewing, but it’s never seemed like a rational use of space and time for me. The space I would need for Brewing is easily larger than any room I rent out, and it isn’t as though the local Breweries charge unreasonable rates. Why do you ask?”
“I was hoping to buy some malt,” Jeb replied. “What Brewery did you buy that beer from?” There was a logo on the barrel, but Jeb couldn’t recognize what it was supposed to represent.
The Innkeeper seemed to thaw, and he quickly gave Jeb directions to the Brewery. It was about half an hour’s walk, and Jeb began walking. Looking around, Jeb was once again aware of just how bustling the Capital was. Everyone seemed to be rushing from one place to another. Some people stopped to speak with each other, sure, but even the pace of their conversations seemed faster.
Lost in his observations, Jeb nearly missed the building with a small sign. Lionheart Brews seemed no different than any of the other buildings Jeb had passed. Walking inside, he was still unsure exactly how they managed to fit their entire operation in the room. It was far smaller than the barn that his Aunt used for her own Brewing.
A man with short cropped amber hair stood behind a bar. He looked at Jeb, and Jeb briefly smelled malt and felt a few phantom bubbles pop on his face, before the man smiled. He placed a hand on the bar and vaulted over it, startling a few of the other people in the room.
Coming towards Jeb, he wrapped him in a warm hug. Jeb had a moment of panic. His grandfather hadn’t mentioned any family members who lived in the Capital in any of their letters, and Jeb didn’t recognize this person at all. When the embrace ended, the man was still beaming, “it is always a true joy to meet another Brewer. Tell me, how can I help another lover of the Art?”
Jeb grimaced. “I’m not-” the man cut him off with a wave of his hands.
“Yes, yes, your Class is not Brewer. I can tell that much, even if I cannot tell exactly what your Class is. I do know that you are here to talk shop, however. My name is Cyprus Lionheart, and I am the Master Brewer here. Who are you?”
“My name is Jeb,” Jeb said. Seeing that the man was expecting more, he continued, “Jeb Humdrum.” Jeb had not expected his last name to cause any impression on the man, but he froze, hands still gripping Jeb’s arms.
“Would you happen to be from Humdrumvillle initially?” the man asked. Seeing Jeb nod, his smile came back even larger.
“Then you must have learned Brewing from Esther!”
“Do you know her?” Jeb asked excitedly.
Cyprus shrugged. “We were never close, but we did enter similar competitions for a while. If she taught you, then I cannot imagine that you are here to ask for a job.”
“I’m not,” Jeb agreed. “How do you know, though?”
“If Esther sent you to find work, she would have attached a letter of recommendation, or sent a note at the very least. What can I help you with?”
“I haven’t done much Brewing lately,” Jeb admitted. The Brewer nodded, but let Jeb continue speaking.
“I was hoping to get back into the craft, and I was hoping that you would be able to tell me where I might be able to purchase some barley and hops.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Are you looking for raw barley, or would you rather it already be malted and heated?”
Jeb shrugged. “I enjoyed malting in the past, but I wouldn’t be opposed to purchasing ready to use malt.”
“It’ll be far cheaper if you are willing to prepare it yourself,” Cyprus advised him. “One moment,” he said, rushing back behind the bar and into a room in the back. He came back with a jar filled with froth.
“I have to imagine that you do not have a yeast strain of your own right now. This is one of my more reliable strains, and it should work for most styles that don’t require anything too specific.”
“Thank you so much!” Jeb responded, taking the jar. Cyprus motioned for Jeb to join him at the bar, and he pulled the two each a small glass of a beer the same color as the man’s hair. As they sipped, Cyprus advised Jeb on the best places to look for grains and hops.
“Unfortunately, the best shops for grains are not the best places for hops. I would offer to send you with some hops that we grow, but this year was a bad harvest, and we barely have enough to cover our own Brewing needs,” the man said sadly.
Jeb shook his head vehemently. “You’ve already given me more than enough!” he protested, holding up the glass and the jar. The conversation drifted after that, and the man seemed as fascinated by life in Humdrumville as Jeb was of life in the Capital.
“I might just need to visit sometime,” he said when their beers were empty, standing to shake Jeb’s hand again. When Jeb took it, the Brewer pulled him in for a hug. “Best of luck with your Brewing endeavors, and please let me know if you end up going into business. I would hate to have you make the same mistakes I made when I was first starting out.”
Thanking the man again, Jeb started out towards the market section of the Capital. There were five shops that Cyprus had recommended that Jeb look at for grains, depending on what, exactly, Jeb was hoping to purchase. Jeb planned to visit all five, if only because he wasn’t entirely sure himself what he wanted to Brew. Hoping for inspiration by the available crops, he stopped outside of the first store. The door opened with a small chime. Looking up, Jeb saw that there was a bell set so that the motion of the door opening would cause it to ring.
“Welcome!” a voice called out from somewhere deeper in the shop. Jeb walked in, noticing how bright the building seemed. The mid day sunlight streamed though open windows onto samples of different grains. Barley was visible, as were a variety of breeds of wheats and other plant products. The milled flour and unmilled berries seemed to be on opposite sides of the shop, and Jeb ignored the flours.
Jeb roamed around the other section, smelling the grains that caught his eye. As he did, he heard the floorboards give slightly as another person came to his section of the shop.
“My name is Charlotte,” the woman said, “welcome to my shop. Are you looking for anything in particular?”
Jeb shrugged. “I’m looking for some grain to Brew with, but I’ve got a few other shops to look at as well.”
The woman nodded. “Let me know if I can help you find anything. If there’s a particular grain you are hoping for, I may be able to point you to a suitable replacement or a shop that sells them, assuming that we do not have it, of course.”
“Thank you,” Jeb said with a nod, returning to look at the different wheats in front of him. It was obvious where they differed. One was a spring wheat and the other was a winter wheat, as the labels said. They had different protein contents, and Jeb could tell that they looked slightly different. The only thing Jeb was unsure of is how that would affect whatever he Brewed with them.
After a thorough perusal of the shop, he thanked the Shopkeeper and moved to the next shop that Cyprus had told him to look at. The second shop was much like the first, though they had slightly different stocks of grain. The barley appeared identical between the two shops, and the second Shopkeeper confirmed that he and Charlotte used the same supplier for barley. As Jeb looked through the second shop, he became more certain that he wanted to Brew with barley, at least at first.
Regretting that he hadn’t asked Charlotte, Jeb found this Shopkeeper to ask what quantities he could purchase barley in.
“I sell barley by the barrel,” he said with a shrug. Seeing Jeb looking towards Charlotte’s shop, he nodded in that direction and continued, “Charlotte does as well, if that was what you were wondering.”
“Thank you,” Jeb said, exiting the shop. The next two shops did not stock barley at all, but Jeb noticed that the grains they did have seemed higher quality than the first two shops he’d seen. The fifth shop wasn’t where Cyprus had said it would be, and Jeb stood, frowning at the empty storefront.
“Are you looking for the grain store?” a small boy asked, suddenly coming up from behind Jeb.
Jeb spun and looked down, noting how worn down the boys clothes seemed to be. “Yes,” he said while nodding.
“They closed last year,” the boy said, before hurrying off. Jeb watched him duck into an alleyway and shrugged, making a note to himself to tell Cyprus whenever he saw the Brewer again. As he walked to the hop shops, he debated which store to purchase barley from. Given that both were selling it by the barrel, Jeb did not imagine that there was any real benefit to purchasing from one over the other.
I suppose that the second shop did tell me what quantities I could purchase in, Jeb rationalized, deciding to purchase a barrel from them.
He was startled out of his thoughts by the aggressive scent of hops. Jeb knew that he had found the right business, and he understood why Cyprus had only recommended he visit the single store. As he looked at the plants, however, none seemed to speak to him. Jeb was certain that he could brew with any of them, but it seemed as though the business was more interested in selling plants to be grown, rather than simply selling the flowers.
As Jeb made his way back to the store and confirmed purchase of one barrel of malt to be delivered to Dean Aquam, he thought about his options. He vaguely remembered that his aunt had taught him how to use other herbs to bitter and store beer. Walking back to the Academy, Jeb wondered whether anyone had ever tried to brew with Alchemical ingredients before.