Alcoholic Beverages in Pretheya

It is said that the discovery of alcohol is the oldest development in Pretheyan history, with legends stating that it was the very first thing that the humans of the First Country learned how to brew before they mastered any other elements of civilisation.
In the present day, alcohol is consumed in vast quantities by individuals at all levels of society throughout the entirety of the continent. Peasants drink cheap beer that is high in calories and which serves to supplement part of their diet, while the aristocracy can afford to partake of higher-quality vintages; often considering it fashionable to sip at wine during courtly gatherings. Dozens of different types of alcoholic beverages exist, with each country and in many cases even individual regions having their own varieties, most commonly derived from the fermentation of whatever produce is grown there.
Alcohol is also an important trade good; owing to the fact that it never goes off and so can be shipped across vast distances in no particular hurry. The most coveted vintages are those which continue to grow in flavour the older they grow, and some bottles can sell for the price of a small house. Even more sought-after than these are the liqueurs produced by esoterikii, which possess unique flavours brought about as a result of their fabrication via Arcana, which cannot be reproduced with natural ingredients.
The consumption of alcohol in excess is frowned upon in most cultures throughout Pretheya, but tends to be celebrated in moderation; even within the normally-ascetically-inclined Rukhmarite world.

Among the Poor

The alcoholic beverage most commonly drunk by peasants is beer. Beer serves as an integral part of the diets of some of the poorest groups in society: It is highly valued for the ease with which it can be produced, and also its nutritional value, being extremely high in calories. As such, for those whose jobs do not allow them the time to stop and eat, or who are simply too poor to afford other food, it is often consumed as a substitute for one or more meals a day. This is, however, incredibly unhealthy, and so only done by the truly desperate.
Another valuable aspect of alcoholic drinks are their sterility: Most sources of fresh water are potential sources of disease, with rivers at times becoming polluted by animal waste or corpses, lakes often containing dangerous parasites, and wells sometimes becoming contaminated. Alcoholic drinks are by nature exempt from such concerns, which makes them a much safer option to drink. In the case of beer, its high caloric value and freedom from disease combine to make it highly desirable, and this is why it is by far the most consumed drink for most peasants.

Commercial Availability

Beer halls can be found within all settlements of any meaningful size, nearly as universal in their prevalence as places of worship. These venues are accessible to those with a modicum of disposable income and the means to travel away from their land, thus precluding their usage by serfs. As such, they are most commonly visited by free townspeople and city-dwellers. Some of the most commonly served beverages in various countries include:

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• Taral The most common type of alcohol throughout Pretheya, produced by fermenting grain. Cheap and affordable, and sold in literally every tavern on the continent.
• Rezindour: An reddish beverage produced from fermented grapes. Known to be both quite strong and quite expensive. Often drunk by the nobility.
• Meleya: A yellow-ish drink created by mixing fermented honey with water, and sometimes served with added fruit, spices, or other types of grain plant. It's slightly less strong than Rezindour, but is coveted for its sweet taste, and is more affordable to boot.
• Ginebre: A clear drink made from juniper and various other berries that was first created in a Pasdjitan Talvigh, and initially intended as a medicinal beverage. It quickly became popular as a recreational drink, however. It can now be found in taverns all across Pretheya, but remains particularly popular in Pasdjit.
• Firewater: A Belyrian beverage created by the east-Pretheyan Thousandforms that live on the coast, made from fermented sugarcane. It has an orange colouration and is both extremely sweet, and incredibly strong; able to get most people drunk in just a single glass of it. For this reason, it is mostly drunk as shots.
• Vineberakvo: A special type of wine from Zemet made with a different type of grape that grows over there. Very expensive since it has to be imported, not sold in most places.
• Ajha: A yellow-orange drink made in Intersedra through the fermenting of corn. It's essentially the same kind of drink as Pretheyan Taral, but made with corn rather than barley, and so tastes somewhat different.
• Ananku: A type of Intersedran beverage made from fermented grain and combined with the crushed bodies of a certain species of ant. The ants add a sweet taste to the drink, and are often simply left at the bottom of the bottle afterwards, rather than removed.

In most cases, taverns will only sell one or perhaps two types of beer; namely those which can be readily produced from local crops when fermented. In cities, it is more common for establishments to stock a wider variety of alcoholic beverages. The range of available drinks is dependant on commerce, and so cities that are centres of trade will likely have the broadest selection of foreign vintages available to them. The cost of importing from overseas is high, however, and this is enough to make most foreign liqueurs prohibitively expensive for common folk; leaving them only affordable to the cities' wealthy elite.