blueteamnovel Chapter 19
Chapter 19
Chapter 19: Brewing at Age Seven
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Father quickly sprang into action.
He gathered the townsfolk at the mansion and threw a sake-tasting party. I assumed it wasn’t just an excuse to drink... right, Father?
“What is this sake?!”
“It’s unbelievably good!”
“It’s strong, but so easy to drink!”
Peeking through a crack in the door, I saw that Horse King was a big hit among the gathered villagers.
“Delicious, right? So, would you be interested in making this sake yourselves?”
“Huh?”
“Haha, this is the sake my son Toma made, and we’re calling it ‘Horse King’!”
“Horse King?!”
The name might sound intense, but it’s just because the base ingredient is horse barley. There’s nothing fierce about the actual drink.
“B-but, did young Master Toma really make this?”
“Oh yes, the boy’s a genius. And that’s not just me being a biased parent—he really is a genius.”
Please, spare me the “genius” label.
At any rate, after tasting the Horse King, the adults became enthusiastic about producing it.
The next day, with pounding hangovers, the adults began discussing who would be involved in brewing. It was hard not to laugh as I watched them clutch their stomachs with blue faces.
“The carpenter Byrd is making two types of barrels for us.”
There were the large five-gallon barrels for brewing and the one-gallon barrels for selling.
We decided that for transporting and working inside the tunnels, five-gallon barrels were the maximum manageable size.
“We’ll start by removing the husks from the horse barley. Any leftover husks can affect the taste of the final product, so this step is essential.”
“Understood!”
To remove the husks, we put the horse barley into hemp sacks and beat them with sticks.
It requires just the right amount of force so as not to crush the barley.
I had Jin and Ram take turns with the sacks.
“Ram, you’re using too much force. This won’t work.”
“S-sorry...”
“It’s normal to have some trouble at first. Try loosening up a bit and go again.”
“Alright.”
“Jin, if you relax your grip just a little more, you’ll be doing fine. Keep it up.”
“Got it!”
Ram’s barley kept turning to powder, while Jin seemed to have a good sense of how much force to use.
After they each did five sacks, Jin had already reached a passing level.
Ram, however, still had trouble with the pressure.
“Ram, how about trying with your hand instead of the stick?”
“Let me give it a try!”
Pounding with her fist worked better than the stick, but still wasn’t ideal. When she tried slapping it with her open palm, it was finally usable.
By doubling the sack layers and having her use an open palm, she managed to get it just right.
“If something doesn’t work, it’s important to think of creative solutions. By trying different methods, we can produce a high-quality product.”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
“Next, we move on to steaming the horse barley.”