NOVEL NEXT Chapter 22: Whiskey Flavor Bomb
In the afternoon, after calculating the time, Alan went to the wine cellar to check since he had no customers. The whiskey he brewed yesterday reached the age for bottling. He didn't know what it tasted like.
People who were used to the rich and fruity aroma of Lafite didn't like the smell of other types of alcohol.
The barrel that brewed Lafite occupied half of the space in the winery, and the other half was the equipment for distilling whiskey. The excess wine was bottled and transferred to the cellar and sorted into different types and years.
Alan opened a small opening on the oak barrel that was aging whiskey, and a pungent smell of alcohol assailed his nose, but it immediately turned into a strong wheat aroma.
Alan was intoxicated as he smelled the aroma of whiskey leaking out from the small opening on the oak barrel. The smell was comparable to the aroma of Lafite even though it had a different flavor. After smelling it for a long time, he even felt a little dizzy as he was about to stand up. After his test, the alcohol content was indeed high. Just smelling it for a long time made him feel a little dizzy.
It was already quite good to be able to sell a whiskey that was aged to this point. Alan divided the whiskey in the opened barrel into bottles while letting the remaining barrels continued to age. He started to brew a new barrel as well. After all, the tavern needed to continuously brew more alcohol.
In the evening, still treading on the sunset, Wayne walked toward the tavern. He had a middle-aged man with a reluctant expression on his face following him.
"Little Alan, I am here. Come and see what I brought for you!" Alan, who was lying at the bar counter, was startled by a rough voice. He glanced outside the door, and after a while, he saw two middle-aged men enter the door.
Alan didn't expect Wayne to actually bring him a new customer.
"Mister, can't you speak quietly? I heard your voice from far away." Alan said with disdain, but he didn't hide the smile on his face.
The man who came with Wayne could see that the two of them were quite close, but he didn't know when this boorish man next to him began to pay so much attention to this young man.
"Hahaha! Speaking in a blacksmith's shop is all about shouting. I'm used to it. This is the most successful businessman in Rock City. You can call him Mister Dorje." Wayne was even friendlier to Alan than yesterday and he spoke more casually.
"Hello, Mister Dorje. We met at the elven tavern." Alan followed Wayne's introduction and greeted him.
Alan remembered that this person was one of Wayne's drinking buddies. He ran a grocery store in Rock City. When he was young, he was a merchant, selling goods from all over the world. Now, in his words, he was old and wanted to settle down.
When Dorje stood next to Wayne, he looked a little thin, but when he stood next to Wayne, he still looked like a strong man.
"Wayne, this little friend here really has good wine? Did you two come to some secret agreement?" Looking at the suspicious Dorje in front of him, Alan was not angry at all.
This level of doubt was within his expectations.
"What do you know? If it wasn't for the fact that you were looking for me today, I would have brought someone else first," Wayne said with a disdainful look, glancing sideways at Dorje.
"Mister Dorje, since you're here, why don't you give it a try? I'm quite confident in my wine." Alan invited the two of them to sit down and have a drink.
Although Dorje was hesitant, he came prepared. After all, he had been drinking with Wayne for a long time, so he still trusted his friend.
Wayne took Dorje to the bar counter and sat down. He immediately said boldly, without even asking the price, "Little Alan, yesterday you said there would be a new beverage tonight. Just bring the new drink."
"Okay. Please wait a moment." Every time Alan stood at the bar counter and received the customer's orders, he would become more serious.
There were new bottles in the display case behind him. Alan took one of them down. In the transparent rhombus bottle, there was amber-colored whiskey. The same type of glass stopper. Just from its appearance alone, it gave off an inhuman feeling.
After sitting down, Dorje looked around at the environment of the tavern. The price on the menu on the wall surprised him. When he was about to ask, he saw the bottle in Alan's hand. His pupils constricted and he was shocked.
"This bottle is not crystal, right?" Dorje asked with a frown.
After many years of traveling and doing business, he had accumulated a certain amount of wealth. However, he did not buy a noble title like other merchants. Instead, he chose to come to the border town of the empire and become an ordinary grocery store owner. However, if one he looked down on his knowledge because of this, they would suffer a great loss.
This was the first time that Alan met someone who realized that glass was not a crystal. He was slightly surprised.
Wayne, who was listening to his old friend's question, had a smug look on his face as he tried to explain before Alan opened his mouth. It was rare for him to encounter something that he knew about but Dorje did not. He was quite excited and there was a strong sense of superiority in his tone.
Alan didn't know that this rough middle-aged man had such a childish side when facing his old friend. Sure enough, a man's desire to win didn't change with his age. He immediately smiled and didn't plan to explain.
Whiskey was sold by the cup. After all, a large bottle of high-grade whiskey was too much for the people of the Hailar continent, unless it was someone who could really drink.
Alan tasted it in the afternoon. According to his rough estimation, the whiskey was about 45-48 percent alcohol. It was not considered high for distilled liquor, but since the highest alcoholic drink on the continent was only about 30 percent, it has a very high alcohol content beverage.
Alan brewed the new liquor and the system prepared ice cubes of the right size in the freezer in the bar.
He took out two rhombus-patterned glasses of the same design as the whiskey bottle, put a large ice cube in each, and pushed the glasses to the two of them.
While the two of them were puzzled by his action, Alan pulled the cork out of the whiskey bottle.
In the next moment, Alan saw two large hands reaching for the bottle in his hand at the same time.
"I'll go first..." the two people sitting by the bar looked at each other and said in unison.
Alan felt that the two men were like peacocks fighting for a mate rather than two middle-aged men who liked to drink. Sparks even appeared at the point where their gazes met.
"Let go of your hands first... I'll pour for you..."Alan suggested weakly.
After waiting for a while, he felt that the two big hands that were controlling the bottle let go at the same time. Almost at the same time, the two of them sat back on the stools.
"Phew..." Alan let out a sigh of relief. The pressure from the drunkards...
As he poured the whiskey, Wayne and Dorje sat down and stared at Alan's every move. To be precise, they were staring at the bottle in his hand.
Although Alan expected that the whiskey would have a good response among the drunkards, it seemed a little too good...
As the amber-colored liquor flowed out, the tempting aroma of the liquor and the aroma of the wheat mixed together caused the two gluttons to feel uneasy.
"Oh..."
"This aroma is superb!"
"With such a drink, how can we possibly drink other beverages in the future!"
"Little Alan, tell me, how did you grow your brain? How did you manage to brew such a fragrant drink!"
Alan looked at the two middle-aged men who were praising him endlessly. He felt a little smug and full of superiority.
"This is my new drink. It's called whiskey. The alcohol content is very high, much higher than the Spirit Beast wine. Therefore, it's more suitable to drink with ice. Of course, if you want to drink it directly, you can."
Alan gestured for the two of them to drink it first. Ice whiskey and normal temperature whiskey had two different tastes, and the flavor was completely different.
When the fragrance of the malt exploded in their mouths, it instantly made them feel like they were in the middle of the wheat field. A gentle breeze brushed past their bodies, the fragrance of the malt lingered at the tip of their nose, followed by the spiciness of the alcohol, burning from the root of their tongue to their stomach, they could feel the liquor flowing through every part of their body.