Beer in Ostland

(This article is a stub and will be filled out shortly)

Beer (Ostlandic: Bier) is, by far, the most consumed alcoholic beverage in the nation of Ostland. However, the laws, taxation and traditions surrounding the beverage make it a complex subject - often confusing natives and foreigners alike, akin to Ostland's complex system of currency.

In Ancient Ostland

The tradition of brewing beers is thought to have originated in ancient Normark, with this method of fermenting cereal grains into a drinkable alcoholic beverage having been brought with those that crossed the Strait of Haifa and settled what is now Ostland. However, Ostlanders are known to consume, on average 50% more beer per capita than their Norse cousins. This is attributed to the much longer growing season, more favorable climate and soil types for the growing of grains. As such, there is a much richer tradition surrounding the brewing and drinking of beers that has survived to this day.

Originally, the brewing of beer was the work of temple priests of whom used surplus grain that had begun to germinate and could no longer be used for the milling of flour. They used leavened bread as a source of yeast, which brewed a slightly sweet and mildly effervescent beer known as kivaßbier. This method of brewing came from an unfamiliarity with the abundance of wild yeasts and through the interaction with the Livlandic peoples along the northern sea coasts and the western Strait shores. Among the Livlanders, this beverage was known as vaasa. It would take another century after permenant settlement before the use of local, wild yeasts came into widespread use.