Dragonborn Ale Toxicity

[BDRook]

So my party may soon be traveling to the red Dragonborn capital. I believe when they arrive they'll hit up a tavern and I want to make a point to show how different/alien the Dragonborn really are from more conventional races. So I thought that maybe I would make Dragonborn Ale toxic to non-Dragonborns. Seeing as they can literally blow fire from their mouths I think their ale would be very acidic, and burn the throats of everyone else.

I must note I will make it abundantly clear that this stuff is not safe to drink. The barkeeper will tell the party as much and refuse to sell it to them, and instead offer them the "tasteless ale" of the common man. But my question is: when one of the ****wits inevitably decides to steal/bribe a different dragonborn to buy it for them what penalty should I give them when they drink it? Fire damage? Poisoned? Bit of both? Let's get creative.

[SethoMarkus]

Dragonborn have different physiologies and different tastes than humans and other humanoid races. So, pull a switch on the PCs. The Dragonbrew tastes horrible to non-Dragonborn, perhaps bitter or acidic, like lemon juice mixed with vinegar. It also isn't alcoholoic for non-Dragonborn. Something about their physiology changes the properties of the beverage, fermenting it within their body. For a non-Dragonborn, it's no different than drinking straight vinegar; disgusting, will probably make you sick, but not toxic in small amounts.

I think this would show the "alien-ness" more than "oh, they drink fire!" style of difference. Make it more a "why would they drink that?" than "how can they drink that?".

[Aett_Thorn]

I would say to make different types of ale for each type of dragon, and have the effects be based on which ale they managed to purchase.

Red Dragon Ale: Extremely spicy, causing the poisoned condition and leaving the creature restrained for X minutes
Green Dragon Ale: Poisonous, causing damage and the poisoned condition
White/Silver Dragon Ale: Unbelievably cold, causing cold damage and the paralyzed condition for X minutes
Black/Copper Dragon Ale: Highly Acidic, causing acid damage up front and ulcers for a week
Blue/Bronze: Statically charged, causing lightning damage and the stunned condition for X minutes
Gold Dragon: Actually okay for anyone to drink (being the good-natured creatures they are). If the characters bought this one, they might think the rest are okay, and will buy more.

[Draco4472]

But my question is: when one of the ****wits inevitably decides to steal/bribe a different dragonborn to buy it for them what penalty should I give them when they drink it? Fire damage? Poisoned? Bit of both? Let's get creative.

Creative eh?

Dragonborn (Red) Brew (Ingested):
A creature without the Draconic type or of any race other then Dragonborn must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw, taking 6d6 poison damage on a failed save, and half as much on a successful one. In addition, consumption of this ale causes the throats of non-draconic or non-dragonborn creatures to ignite, causing signifigant damage to the creature. The creature that ingested this ale starting on their next turn after consumption takes 4d6 fire damage, and has a 10% chance of causing the creature to begin breathing fire, as though they had ingested a potion of firebreathing. This effect lasts for 3 rounds, at the beginning of each of which the creature takes another 2d6 fire damage, and ends early if the creature that consumed this ale drinks an ounce dragon's milk.
After drinking this ale, the creature that consumed it is unable to speak for 48 hours due to severe damage to their vocal cords.

Side note: Maybe Red Dragonborn Assassins use this to poison their targets in your world?