Distilled Liquor?

All,

My Kitsune Swashbuckler is a drinker. She likes beer and wine but I'm thinking that distilled alcohol is something she would really go for. As in spending 2 or 3 gp between adventures buying and consuming the good stuff.

Of course, this begs the question: Does distilled alcohol even exist on Golarion? And if so, can it be found in the place where most of the written adventures for Pathfinder Society members take place? And also, how much it would cost (I know there would be a range depending on quality).

I only have the Core Rulebook and it just lists beer and wine.

If you don't own the hard-cover books or the PDFs, then Archives of Nethys will be your best friend

Archives Of Nethys

Here's what it says about alcohol, from the Gamemastery Guide

Alcohol

Tags:

Alchemical
Consumable
Drug
Ingested
Poison
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 120
Price 1 cp (or more)
Usage held in 1 hand; Bulk L
Activate [one-action] Interact

Alcohol is a common substance available in stunning variety. The Price of a dose of alcohol depends on the specific beverage. You can’t recover from the sickened condition from alcohol while affected.

If you fail a saving throw against alcohol other than initial saves, the affliction’s stage doesn’t increase; the only way to increase the stage of alcohol’s affliction is to consume more alcohol.

Saving Throw DC 12 Fortitude; Onset 10 minutes; Stage 1 +1 item bonus to saving throws against fear effects (10 minutes); Stage 2 flat-footed, +1 item bonus to saving throws against fear effects (10 minutes); Stage 3 clumsy 1, flat-footed, stupefied 2 (10 minutes); Stage 4 clumsy 2 and sickened 2 (10 minutes); Stage 5 clumsy 2, sickened 2, and stupefied 2 (10 minutes); Stage 6 unconscious (8 hours); Stage 7 death

Yes, Golarion isn't in the dark ages

Whilst we don't have set rules on distilled wine, we do have things like Alkenstar Ice Wine which costd 25gp and even expressely says in the description much more expensive variants also exist. Given that in real life, distilling things like wine has existed since ~1st century, it can be assumed it probably exists in Golarion (though can't off the top of my head think of a specific example)

Exhibit A:
In the PFS adventure "The Mosquito Witch", an NPC named Rosa Hart has a brandy brewery. Brandy is distilled wine. So there's distilled alcohol on Golarion.

I'm not sure we have a list in PF2 of all the different kinds of liquor, but there are several items that imply the existence of distilled liquor. Such as the soothing toddy alchemical item. A toddy is a drink made with liquor, typically mixed with sugar and hot water and spices. The soothing toddy even has variants that have differing effects based on whether its amaretto, limoncello, or whiskey. So right there you've got at least those 3 liquors confirmed. I'd imagine any liquor you can imagine (or at least something similar) exists somewhere on Golarion.

Like you might not have gin exactly, because juniper berries might not exist on Golarion. But there is probably some similar thing made with odd tasting berries and botanicals.

Distilled spirits appeared around the 12th century-ish (although there are a few rough examples of distillation appearing as early as 6th century BC).

Beer and wine would have been FAR more common in the time period analogous to Pathfinder because they were a lot easier to make comparatively.

Masda_Gib mentioned brandy and that would have been what someone would be likely to encounter as far as a spirit. (Its basically wine that has had water boiled off.)

The spirits that existed would have really been more medicinal in nature than recreational in a lot of cases.

Saw a really cool video recently that talked about the differences between inns, ale houses, and taverns recently that kinda touches on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEOs5J4ECOM

Sake likely exists in Tian-xia, and thus kome-shochu as well.

But really, given the technology available on Golarion, distilled alcohol is extremely likely to exist.

I now wonder if there are some Azlanti or Thassilonian bottles of alcohol to be found around the Inner Sea.

Distilled spirits appeared around the 12th century-ish (although there are a few rough examples of distillation appearing as early as 6th century BC).

Beer and wine would have been FAR more common in the time period analogous to Pathfinder because they were a lot easier to make comparatively.

You do know that the Golarion setting isn't the equivalent of medieval Europe right? Technologically there are cannons and guns, which not wide spread still exist. There's also thing like pneumatic powered repeater guns. It's hard to get an exact time period in which Golarion is roughly equivalent to Earth, but probably Renaissance is closer than what you might be thinking.

Not to mention the whole magic thing. Or the androids dropping in from space. The undead running around. Cities at the bottom of oceans. Sky citadels.

What's a little hard liquor among friends?

If we see more specific spirits I don't think anyone should expect them to share names or even "regionally influenced origin" with their real-life counterparts given how the direction of the setting is slowly but surely leaning away from taking any real-life inspiration from actual human cultures with the pseudo exceptions being that they seem okay with showcasing the "positive" aspects of certain cultures stereotypes as it's viewed as far less problematic to "copy the homework" of real stuff as long as it can't be viewed as offensive, reductive, or painting actual people/cultures in a bad light.

So yeah, if something like Sake does exist it probably won't be named thusly and furthermore, it's probably a bit on-the-nose to have the origins in Tian-Xia.

Distilled spirits appeared around the 12th century-ish (although there are a few rough examples of distillation appearing as early as 6th century BC).

Beer and wine would have been FAR more common in the time period analogous to Pathfinder because they were a lot easier to make comparatively.

Masda_Gib mentioned brandy and that would have been what someone would be likely to encounter as far as a spirit. (Its basically wine that has had water boiled off.)

The spirits that existed would have really been more medicinal in nature than recreational in a lot of cases.

Saw a really cool video recently that talked about the differences between inns, ale houses, and taverns recently that kinda touches on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEOs5J4ECOM

And printing presses weren't invented until the 15th century, yet here they are in Golarion. This isn't the real world.

If we see more specific spirits I don't think anyone should expect them to share names or even "regionally influenced origin" with their real-life counterparts given how the direction of the setting is slowly but surely leaning away from taking any real-life inspiration from actual human cultures with the pseudo exceptions being that they seem okay with showcasing the "positive" aspects of certain cultures stereotypes as it's viewed as far less problematic to "copy the homework" of real stuff as long as it can't be viewed as offensive, reductive, or painting actual people/cultures in a bad light.

So yeah, if something like Sake does exist it probably won't be named thusly and furthermore, it's probably a bit on-the-nose to have the origins in Tian-Xia.

Well, sake will be where rice is cultivated.

Adam Bennington wrote:

Distilled spirits appeared around the 12th century-ish (although there are a few rough examples of distillation appearing as early as 6th century BC).

Beer and wine would have been FAR more common in the time period analogous to Pathfinder because they were a lot easier to make comparatively.

Masda_Gib mentioned brandy and that would have been what someone would be likely to encounter as far as a spirit. (Its basically wine that has had water boiled off.)

The spirits that existed would have really been more medicinal in nature than recreational in a lot of cases.

Saw a really cool video recently that talked about the differences between inns, ale houses, and taverns recently that kinda touches on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEOs5J4ECOM

And printing presses weren't invented until the 15th century, yet here they are in Golarion. This isn't the real world.

TBT for many many things, I feel Golarion is 16th-18th century.

Cori Marie wrote:

Adam Bennington wrote:

Distilled spirits appeared around the 12th century-ish (although there are a few rough examples of distillation appearing as early as 6th century BC).

Beer and wine would have been FAR more common in the time period analogous to Pathfinder because they were a lot easier to make comparatively.

Masda_Gib mentioned brandy and that would have been what someone would be likely to encounter as far as a spirit. (Its basically wine that has had water boiled off.)

The spirits that existed would have really been more medicinal in nature than recreational in a lot of cases.

Saw a really cool video recently that talked about the differences between inns, ale houses, and taverns recently that kinda touches on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEOs5J4ECOM

And printing presses weren't invented until the 15th century, yet here they are in Golarion. This isn't the real world.

TBT for many many things, I feel Golarion is 16th-18th century.

Agreed, if you had to liken Golarion's current state of the world to a time period of Earth, as I said previously Renaissance time period is probably the closest representation. Though obviously there will be certain things that exist wholly outside that time, both before and after. Not to mention stuff that literally came from space and other planets, or even other planes. Oh, and magic.

Alcohol from Castrovel and Akiton and the Outer Rifts ...

Themetricsystem wrote:

If we see more specific spirits I don't think anyone should expect them to share names or even "regionally influenced origin" with their real-life counterparts given how the direction of the setting is slowly but surely leaning away from taking any real-life inspiration from actual human cultures with the pseudo exceptions being that they seem okay with showcasing the "positive" aspects of certain cultures stereotypes as it's viewed as far less problematic to "copy the homework" of real stuff as long as it can't be viewed as offensive, reductive, or painting actual people/cultures in a bad light.

So yeah, if something like Sake does exist it probably won't be named thusly and furthermore, it's probably a bit on-the-nose to have the origins in Tian-Xia.

Well, sake will be where rice is cultivated.

So, the River Kingdoms then?

Besides the Soothing Toddy mentioned by Claxon, the existence of the Fury Cocktails (based on real cocktails and specifically made with rum) strongly suggests a variety of distilled spirits in Golarion.

Then there's Warding Punch, made with wine and "other alcohols".

Guys, remember to drink in moderation! Irresponsible alcohol usage is no joke, even if this a game it can and will kill you.

Don't believe me? Anything above stage 2 intoxication flat-foots you, which sounds bad for your liver but is even worse for your life. Winners don't use drugs Responsible drinkers keep it cool and ride that buzz for the +1 to saves against fear!