Assuming one had the constitution to do more than merely look at it before passing out.
“…very light in body compared to most dairy drinks. It has a unique, slightly sour flavor with a bite from the mild alcoholic content.”
I would imagine its “uniqueness” would only be magnified after aging five hundred years inside a clay jar inside the Earth’s shameful armpit
Horse vomit. Fermented horse vomit.
It will be served in a shallow wooden bowl, with a consistency of clotted cream and a bouquet to strip the hair from your nostrils and melt the jelly in your eyes. If you are brave enough to draw the bowl to your lips you should expect to loose all sensation and not taste a thing, as the ancient curds burn the nerve endings of all it touches. One gulp will render you as high as a pint of LSD and when you come down you’ll be horrified at having to lick the bowl clean. Not much water on the steppes and one should always aim for a fully traditional immersive experience so as to brag to your mates about how ‘authentic’ the whole event was. It is best to allow one full week for this ‘tasting’.
Fourth City Airag wouldn’t necessarily have to be that old, London only fell 32 years ago. Fourth City Airag could be as young as that. To say, it’s possible that we could have Fourth City Airag younger than Broken Giant.
"Day five" Chibuku is the foulest ‘drink’ I have ever attempted. It was possible to keep day "Day two" down - the days relate to how long it ferments in the carton.
Here’s some in a glass!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocH97oWHmDY
edited by Snotra on 2/1/2016
Looks like someone’s been holding out on us! We should be asking for Fourth City Arkhi :)
Edit: Khailmag sounds like it’s delicious! I’m off to raise my Connected: the Widow.
edited by Charlotte_de_Witte on 2/1/2016
I tried kumis recently out of curiosity. It was only very slightly alcoholic though and tasted like mineral water mixed with milk gone bad. Strange, but certainly not so awful as London texts imply.
Well, this is centuries old kumis. It might have been fine, but it was always potent, but if it tasted like milk gone bad initially, imagine how potent it would be after 100 years?
There are favorable interpretations of recently made airag. I believe the temple club provides it, and that tastes fine.
Wine is always more potent with age, though, and their desirable traits in wine are not ours.
edited by Grenem on 2/23/2016
You certainly may be right, I did not try any old wine and can’t imagine how different it will be. More alcoholic and vinegary? Then the taste will be less noticeable, maybe for the best :)
I was in Mongolia back on the Surface. That was some years ago, and I enjoyed airag in the countryside. It was homebrewed. I remember it tasted like runny sour yogurt with a very slightly alcoholic tinge. It was also slightly gamey as it was made from mare’s milk, and left a tinge of carbonation on the side of the tongue. It was always made fresh and never left to age.
Incidentally, I’ve recently started making milk kefir and the taste is quite reminiscent of airag, though kefir is much more sour and thicker too, even though I use (cow) skim milk.
As to what Fourth City Airag would taste like, I’d imagine it might have solidified from the ageing. There were some hard cheeses I tried in the Mongolian countryside, and they were unlike any of the Western cheeses I’ve had. These were made into small cakes and brick hard. One literally had to gnaw away at them, either that or pop a suitably small piece in the mouth to slowly work away at. They were dense and very sharp and sour. The closest thing I can think of is an incredibly hard piece of extremely aged manchego, just without the taste of musty age. Then again, if it’s been aged since the fall of London, it would be about 32 years old, so would definitely be musty.
edited by navchaa on 2/24/2016