Flaming Ale!

[Tennic]

Just wondering if beer and ale work differently in the worlds of pen-and-paper RPGs.

I've seen a lot of stories on these forums where players blow up kegs of beer or set pools of ale aflame.

Now, I understand that a lot of RPers are not old enough to drink, so haven't had the chance to actually try to light beer on fire IRL.

That being said, if you're having fun you're having fun.

Our interim DM- while we wait for a player to return so we can get back to my campaign- does not rely heavily on logic.

So, how about you post your favorite flaming beer story.

[Fhaolan]

Not technically a flaming ale story, but there is a substance in my campaign world called Dwarven Chewing Ale. It's a dark, fibrous material that comes in blocks, is highly addictive, potent, flamable, and somewhat mind-altering. At the moment, nobody knows precisely what it *is*, but at least one group of PCs uses it as a last resort. You know the players are out of ideas when one of them puts his head into his hands and mutters, "Throw the Ale."

It was invented by a conversation between players, comparing RL beers. I mentioned that I don't drink beer very often, but when I do I prefer dark beers. I believe my quote was "If you can see an incandescent light through the beer, it's not dark enough." To which one player replied "Yeah, something you can cut with a knife!", and finally another player said "Chewy!".... we sat there for a second, blinking. Then the giggling started and Dwarven Chewing Ale was born!

[Tennic]

Dwarven Chewing Ale!

Awesome, I may have to steal that.

[Admiral Squish]

Awesome, I may have to steal that.

Yeah, seconded.

[Jayabalard]

Just wondering if beer and ale work differently in the worlds of pen-and-paper RPGs.

I've seen a lot of stories on these forums where players blow up kegs of beer or set pools of ale aflame.

Now, I understand that a lot of RPers are not old enough to drink, so haven't had the chance to actually try to light beer on fire IRL.

That being said, if you're having fun you're having fun.

Our interim DM- while we wait for a player to return so we can get back to my campaign- does not rely heavily on logic.

So, how about you post your favorite flaming beer story.

<morbo>That's not how beer works!</morbo>

Beer is primarily water. If you throw a match into it, it's going to go out. If you pour your tankard on the campfire, it's going to extinguish it (watching an idiot do this to a campfire I've laboriously built is probably at least partially at the root of this pet peeve).

Even most hard liquor is mostly water (most liquors are in the 40-90 proof range); if you want to light it on fire, it had better be already fairly hot, so that you're vaporizing the alcohol.

I'm not even sure that very high proof alcohol (180+ proof) would really be be explosive; you can light that on fire without pre-heating it, but it burns with a relatively cool flame compared to other materials... and even extremely pure ethanol is only about 2/3 the energy of gasoline.

It was invented by a conversation between players, comparing RL beers. I mentioned that I don't drink beer very often, but when I do I prefer dark beers. I believe my quote was "If you can see an incandescent light through the beer, it's not dark enough." To which one player replied "Yeah, something you can cut with a knife!", and finally another player said "Chewy!".... we sat there for a second, blinking. Then the giggling started and Dwarven Chewing Ale was born!

Oddly enough... many dark beers are actually lighter than "light" beers. When you make a black and tan (a layered drink with a stout or porter on to of a pale ale) with (for example) Guinness draught and Bass pale ale, you float the Guinness on top of the Bass because it's lighter.

[Yora]

For explosions you need pressure. I'm not actually sure that anything not held in a confined container can actually explode.

[Jayabalard]

For explosions you need pressure. I'm not actually sure that anything not held in a confined container can actually explode.

Anything that reacts quickly enough can explode. pressure helps, since it tends to increase the speed of reactions, but isn't strictly necessary (sea level atmospheric pressure is sufficient in some cases).

[Tennic]

It's good to know there are some sensible people out there.

I brought the matter up after the game tonight and we all had big laugh and everyone loved the idea of Dwarven Chewing Ale. We started discussing higher proof beers (too cloying for me) and finally devolved into a general discussion of drunkenness and favorites alcohols. One guy still thought it was the alcohol that burns- as opposed to the vapor- and had to be disabused of the notion.

Anyway, as we all know, D&D is not a game that sticks too closely to real world science. One of the players brought up the goofiness of not only shooting a lightning bolt from your hand, but then having it bounce off walls (as in some of the older rulesets).

Still, the flaming ale stories give me a chuckle. If you got 'em, flaunt 'em here.

[Zaq]

In my games of Kobolds Ate My Baby, all booze is roughly as combustible as gasoline until proven otherwise.

That said, in more serious games, it takes something a bit stronger than ale to catch fire.

[Ravens_cry]

Yeah, in normal conditions, ale won't burn, unless its something crazy that the Dwarves are calling Ale.

[dgnslyr]

Just as Dwarven Bread is not meant for consumption, Dwarven Ale is meant for industrial application. That doesn't stop them from drinking it, though.

[Sith_Happens]

For explosions you need pressure. I'm not actually sure that anything not held in a confined container can actually explode.

Does a dwarf count as a confined container? After all, most dwarven alcohols are so flammable that drinking too much of it before sitting by the fire can cause you to explode.

[Yeturs]

In a mildly off note, I always rule dwarven ale as 220 proof.

But yeah, ale shouldent burn like gasoline. Doesn't stop it from doing it though.

[senrath]

In a mildly off note, I always rule dwarven ale as 220 proof.

But yeah, ale shouldent burn like gasoline. Doesn't stop it from doing it though.

Your dwarves have managed to make an ale that's 110% alcohol. That's impressive.

[icantsavemyself]

I've already posted this once and it was more in-depth but my friend had a dwarven cleric that filled a cleric with holy ale and we drowned a lich in it while it was on fire.

[Darrin]

Your dwarves have managed to make an ale that's 110% alcohol. That's impressive.

Not really. For a dwarf, that's "Tuesday".

[TroubleBrewing]

I've already posted this once and it was more in-depth but my friend had a dwarven cleric that filled a cleric with holy ale and we drowned a lich in it while it was on fire.

You drowned a lich in another cleric?

[Ravens_cry]

You drowned a lich in another cleric?

To quote Hermes Conrad, "That just raises further questions!"

[Lord Loss]

My players found a cart in a zombie infested city being pulled by a zombie mule. Inside the cart were multiple barrels of beer/ale. During difficult fights, the Half-Dragon would fly into the air and drop a barrel of beer onto the enemies, breath-weaponing it right before it struck the ground and causing large explosions.

[Incompleat]

Flamingo ale is less common, put so much more effective (as long as they are not the pink plastic type...)

[Greenish]

Even most hard liquor is mostly water (most liquors are in the 40-90 proof range); if you want to light it on fire, it had better be already fairly hot, so that you're vaporizing the alcohol.

I'm not even sure that very high proof alcohol (180+ proof) would really be be explosive; you can light that on fire without pre-heating it, but it burns with a relatively cool flame compared to other materials...

Speaking of vodka, 40% doesn't really burn, 60% doesn't burn very well, but 80% burns pretty nicely. I don't know how that translates to "proofs", though.

On unrelated news, the ease of burning seems to correlate negatively with the ease of drinking it pure.

Yeah, in normal conditions, ale won't burn, unless its something crazy that the Dwarves are calling Ale.

41% isn't "beer" any real sense of the word.

Besides, they've overdone themselves since then.

[senrath]

Speaking of vodka, 40% doesn't really burn, 60% doesn't burn very well, but 80% burns pretty nicely. I don't know how that translates to "proofs", though.

80% would be 160 proof, if I'm remembering correctly. It's also quite a ways past what a human can comfortably drink, I believe.

[Yora]

Some guys in Norway have been able to make moonshine well into the 90s Though I don't know if it was more like a "manly experiment with a destillery" then intended for drinking.

[Greenish]

80% would be 160 proof, if I'm remembering correctly. It's also quite a ways past what a human can comfortably drink, I believe.

I agree, it really hurts the throat.

[Jayabalard]

80% would be 160 proof, if I'm remembering correctly. It's also quite a ways past what a human can comfortably drink, I believe.

depends on where you are.

in the US, proof = 2 * percentage of alcohol by volume.
in the UK, they've switched to just using the %, but when they did proof it was 7/4 of the abv.

I really have no idea for most of the rest of the world though


Quick Origin (for people like me who like to know such things): the term proof had to do with sustaining combustion of gunpowder; to show that the rum hadn't been watered down, you'd prove it by mixing some gunpowder with it and then trying to ignite it. If it burned, then it was 100 proof. This only worked if the rum was ~57% alcohol or higher ... which is where the 7/4 above comes from, 4/7 = .5714 or 57.14%.

[icantsavemyself]

You drowned a lich in another cleric?

Sorry, cleric was supposed to be crater. haha

[Starshade]

Some guys in Norway have been able to make moonshine well into the 90s Though I don't know if it was more like a "manly experiment with a destillery" then intended for drinking.

It was drunken dilluted, like in coffee or cola or something. Most famous was the hot steaming cups of coffe able to pass the blue flame test of 100 proof boose!
But that is history. It used to be no laws against BUYING it or drinking, but the stills vanished when there came prohibitions, gradually. When I tasted moonshine in coffe in the 90s as a teenager, it was legal!

[Fhaolan]

Well, just to continue the WTF with dwarves in my campaign world, one player has proposed that dwarven nobility partake of a far more refined version of Dwarven Chewing Ale, having dried it even further and powdered it to use like a snuff. This creates Dwarven Sniffing Ale, commonly known as Snale.

Which leads to non-dwarves getting *really* confused and thinking that dwarves make a habit of stuffing live snails up their noses.

[Dvandemon]

Your dwarves have managed to make an ale that's 110% alcohol. That's impressive.

Not really, they just teleport the extra alcohol in

[Jayabalard]

Some guys in Norway have been able to make moonshine well into the 90s Though I don't know if it was more like a "manly experiment with a destillery" then intended for drinking.

The problem with alcohol distilled to that level is that it has no flavor compared to stuff that hasn't been distilled so much. This is caused by 2 things:

• Most of the flavor in your source ingredients (Wort when making beer, or mash when making whiskey) get lost while distilling, since distilling removes as much of the non-alcohol as you can.
• You can't do a lot of barrel maturing, since the purer the alcohol is the more you lose to the "angels' share". This is where a lot of beverages (for example: whiskey, congac, sherry) get a significant portion of their flavors.

It's good as a solvent, but as a beverage by itself... not so much.