Questions about RP-ing Brewed Alcohol

[SleepySloth]

From what I understand, at the moment you can brew craft beer and moonshine. When it comes to selling your batches to other players, especially those that work at bars, do you just say you're selling moonshine/beer? Or can you say that you're selling Whiskey, Vodka, Gin, etc. Some of the bars my character has spoken to seem really interested in a variety of alcohol so I was wondering if I needed to just RP that my moonshine was something else. If not, is there a way to brew those other types of alcohol? Or is there a way to custom name my moonshine so that it's Whiskey, etc. for RP?

[Ink]

Good to see more people interested in brewing RP! The short answer to your question is that the people who are most interested in buying your craft beer and craft liquor/moonshine are probably going to be the liquor stores, because that's what is used to stock their inventory. You're pretty much free to roleplay your craft beer as being any style of beer, your craft liquor as being any style of liquor, and your moonshine as being... well, moonshine--or any real spirit. If you're roleplaying it in the production properly, you can roleplay the outcome with a lot of freedom.

 

I'll get into a longer answer here and please don't take it as me accusing you in particular, but as someone who puts a lot of effort into craft liquor RP it's something which is a subject of passion to me, and it's where I see a lot of people who just treat the brewing system as a way to make some quick extra money.

 

The roleplay around the sale of your liquor is really where the creativity of the role shines. After considering how your character even learned to brew and why they're doing it in the first place, you should be considering how your character made this stuff, how they're packaging it, and how they're presenting it. Realistically, very few bars, night clubs, or liquor stores would be interested in buying home-made liquor from someone because they have no guarantees about the quality or hygiene of the product. We don't know what your process looks like. We don't know what your equipment or technique looks like. And chances are good, the reality of it is that your character is brewing on improvised equipment in a non-sterile environment. This has a major impact on the flavor of the product that you're making, and I am not exaggerating when I say that poorly made liquor can literally kill someone who drinks it.

 

It's a little bit power-gamey for your character to set up a moonshine still in the middle of the wilderness and make beer there, and then gather that beer out of what is essentially a 40-gallon plastic drum, do no roleplay about how this is even canned/bottled/jarred, no roleplay about how it's stored and kept from spoiling, and then approach bars saying "I have an excellent beer to sell you!" It is also power-gamey for your character to make hundreds and hundreds of units of liquor a day with what is essentially just a DIY jury-rigged kit; a regular guy who just decides to start brewing at home is going to be making enough beer for him and his friends to drink with weeks of effort, not enough to supply bars/clubs/liquor stores every day. 

 

That being said, do some research about how liquor is made. It's not that distilling liquor is necessarily hard--a lot of "hillbillies" make liquor IRL after all and people have been doing it for thousands of years--but it does require some knowledge, and if you want to make a product that won't explode or kill your customers/make them very sick, it requires precision. Distilling liquor is much harder than fermenting/brewing beer. Brewing a delicious beer is very difficult and requires lots of unpleasant trial and error until you find a balance of malt, hops, yeast, fermenting time, temperature, and so on that makes it taste good and not just someone farted into spoiled kvass.

 

You cannot, as an individual, just "make" whiskey. Whiskey, by its very definition, is aged in a barrel under stable temperatures and humidity for a number of years. So if you're working at a moonshine still and roleplay that you just made some good whiskey, that is actually powergaming. It is impossible to just "make" whiskey. You can make a clear grain spirit. That's vodka. You can make "fake" whiskey by adding coloring and flavor to your vodka/moonshine, and then ICly lie to people that you make good whiskey. Of course, just about anyone will be able to taste the difference.

 

Here are some ideas!

• Find an existing brewery (there are four that I know of) to work in as a brewer. This will allow your character access to a facility and equipment, probably give them means to package their product, and a legitimate avenue to sell this to business in a realistic way.
• Roleplay as someone who makes home-made beer/spirit, but realistically sell it as a home-made beer/spirit. You're selling a product you hand-made with passion. You might even think it's good! But realistically RP the limitations you're facing without the benefit of a full operation. Sell it to seedier bars (especially ones out in Sandy Shores) for a steep discount against their competition. Be scrappy. RP the struggle and the passion. And then build up from there--maybe your character starts getting a following for the shit they make at home, and it makes them enough money they can actually rent out a proper facility.
• Roleplay as someone who makes bootleg liquor and then sells it to individuals. So what, bars and night clubs have their liquor suppliers who sell them market-quality goods at an affordable rate. You'll get your own customers. Sell to people directly. Talk to people, get them interested in your liquor, and then tell them they can buy it from you by the jug. This realistically solves your issue of packaging because while bars/night clubs won't want to buy jugs off of you, an individual would. This is the roleplay that I see the least of on this server in brewing, and which I think is missing.

 

Most moonshiners in real life sell to individuals. They sell to friends, family, and locals. There is a lot of fun roleplay to be had from brewing, whether you're doing it as part of a full-scale brewery or you're an individual looking to make some cash. Just don't cut any corners and powergame doing things which are unrealistic for a home brewer.

 

 

[SleepySloth]

Thank you for such a detailed and informative reply. A lot of what you say makes sense and gives me a lot to think about! Also, thank you for listing some ideas. Since I'm new, I'm still navigating what's available and what I would like my character's path to be on the server.

 

You mentioned that there are possibly 4 brewery's available, is that not the brewer's job spot (the golden/yellow icon)? Or are these ran by players? I didn't know about this at all and I would love to check that out.

[Ink]

39 minutes ago, SleepySloth said:

Thank you for such a detailed and informative reply. A lot of what you say makes sense and gives me a lot to think about! Also, thank you for listing some ideas. Since I'm new, I'm still navigating what's available and what I would like my character's path to be on the server.

 

You mentioned that there are possibly 4 brewery's available, is that not the brewer's job spot (the golden/yellow icon)? Or are these ran by players? I didn't know about this at all and I would love to check that out.

 

My pleasure! Glad you could get something out of it and I hope it can help a few more people, or just open up some visibility on the cool stuff some people are RPing on this server.

 

The brewer's job spot is really just for the job and nothing else. The 4 breweries I acknowledged are 100% player-run! At least two of them are doing some great roleplay, though I'm biased by my character owning one of those two. If you're interested getting deeper into brewing and distilling roleplay, feel free to message me!