Rurik wanted to believe that what was in the bottle was distilled alcohol, but people in this era could already purify pure alcohol?
I saw one of the two Briton women who were accompanied by Goulder ordered me to pull out the cork of a bottle very obediently, and the aroma of wine immediately overflowed!
"Are the grapes ripe? Yes, it is indeed wine." Otto was in a happy mood. He was several steps away from Gould, and he could already smell the intoxicating aroma.
Both Otto and Rurik placed a pair of small horn cups on their desks, which also had a bronze base. The whole shape was quite beautiful.
The woman carefully held up the wine bottle, moved to Otto in a humble kneeling posture, then lowered her head and carefully poured the wine into the glass.
Her orange-reddish hair drooped down, gently covering her young face.
Otto suddenly raised his right hand and grabbed the woman's chin. He was so shocked that the woman almost dropped the wine glass in her hand.
"Chief! You!" Gould asked in surprise.
"She is a beautiful woman! Gould! You live in a comfortable house, eat and drink lavishly, and have such a woman by your side. You are the richest man living in Roseburg."
"Chief, are you praising me? Do you like this woman? I can give her to you."
"No need! I won't steal anyone's love." Otto let go of the maid holding the wine and let go of his big hand.
When the woman poured Rurik the wine, Rurik raised his head and saw sadness on the woman's face.
Gould asked the woman to step back, then raised his glass and complimented: "Great leader, let us drink a toast. In this cold world, we can at least share a glass of sweet and precious wine."
"Then drink."
Otto raised his glass with no graceful gesture. He drank the glass of wine in one gulp as if he were drinking water. Suddenly, a sweet feeling filled the whole mouth, and the whole person was excited.
"It's really sweet, even sweeter than mead?! The wine doesn't even seem too strong."
"You need a stronger alcohol smell? You'll feel it soon."
Rurik had drank mead in the past few years, and it was his first time to taste wine today. In his opinion, the wine in Gould's collection cannot be said to be "extremely sweet" as his father said. To be honest, it is indeed very sweet. That's the value. It is probably like another dimension that can be bought in the supermarket for ten yuan. I can buy the 500 ml kind with money.
As for the alcohol concentration, it should never exceed three degrees.
It is more like a lightly fermented grape juice, and the sweetness makes people happy.
Immediately afterwards, Gould deliberately showed the glass bottle on the far right and solemnly introduced the almost transparent liquid in it.
He looked at the curious Otto with a proud look on his face, and said with great pride: "Great leader, this is the treasure I want to show you. You see, it seems to be filled with water, but in fact it is wine! I don't I know what to call it, but let’s call it the Wine of God.”
"Wine of Gods?" Otto chuckled, "Don't tell me that you got this bottle of wine from Valhalla."
"Of course it's not that magical." Gould shrugged. "I don't think ordinary people can create it. It's really amazing. Chief, you can taste it and you will have an unprecedented experience."
"Oh? Really? Get it quickly!"
This time Gould personally pulled out the cork, and for a moment, an almost pure alcohol smell spurted out. Rurik could feel its specialness with just a quick glance.
"It's definitely grain wine! It has a special smell that only grain wine can have. The alcohol content of this thing must be very high. Is it really surprising that people in the ninth century could really make high-alcohol wine?"
In that plane, Rurik also drank all kinds of spirits. In the world a thousand years later, low-alcohol wine can be called a kind of drink, and high-alcohol wine is generally accepted as "wine". When it comes to drinking, I'm afraid the entire world's residents are not as diverse as the Chinese, and only the Chinese generally drink strong liquor.
There is a saying that children should not drink alcohol. Rurik felt that his weak body had really drank a lot of strong alcohol. Can he be drunk to pieces quickly? It may even be life-threatening.
But people of this era did not have this concept. Russian parents even encouraged their sons to drink because it made them more like a man.
Drinking has always been a rare behavior and is regarded as one of life's enjoyments.
As a noble member of the tribe, Gould asked the maid to fill Rurik's empty wine glass.
The remaining wine in the glass was filled with mellow spirits. The strong smell of wine stimulated Rurik's nose. A strong urge to drink made Rurik boldly move his mouth over.
There are no complicated drinking rituals among the Russians, so no one thought it was inappropriate for Rurik's bold attempt.
He licked it slightly with the tip of his tongue, and the spicy feeling immediately affected his tongue.
He took another bold sip and swallowed it bravely.
This must be distilled liquor, the alcohol content is already astonishingly high. Rurik felt a strong burning sensation in his throat, which showed that it was not a good wine, it was the so-called low-end wine at the level of an old village chief.
A really good wine should be soft in the mouth, and you can still feel a faint sweetness on the back of your tongue. Although the alcohol content is high, it is not spicy. When the wine enters your stomach, you should feel a warm feeling of happiness. Drinking a few glasses of high-quality wine will naturally make you drunk, and the wonderful feeling of ecstasy is what drinkers are keen on.
The quality of the spirits Gould took out was very average, but he still praised loudly that what he had in his hand was good wine. It was obvious that this person had no idea what good wine was.
After taking a sip, Rurik didn't want to take another sip. He had already taken a big sip, and the burning sensation in his throat really made him think that methanol was accidentally mixed into it?
Looking at the wild behavior of his father Otto, this strong man really drank it all in one gulp.
The strong spicy feeling in his throat really gave Otto an unprecedented feeling. The unprecedented extreme spicy feeling made his whole face become distorted. After enduring the pain, he breathed a long sigh of relief and felt a warm feeling in his belly. Another unprecedented experience.
"This is wine? It's incredible! I've never drunk wine like this! It's really good wine. Gould, please tell me where you got it." Otto asked hurriedly.
Gould was holding the wine glass and savoring it carefully. He didn't have the courage to drink it all in one gulp.
"I bought it from the Franks. Just the wine in the bottle cost me a gold coin. So this bottle of wine and the bottle cost a huge sum of thirty gold coins."
"This... what kind of luxury is this?!" Otto glanced at the empty cup again, then glanced at the glass bottle, and couldn't help but sigh, "Didn't I drink at least two of your gold coins with this glass of wine? For this reason? You have to make at least seven pieces of sulfur soap to earn this glass of water-like wine?"
"Haha, you think it's like water? Look at me."
After saying that, Gould made a crazy move, holding up the oil lamp and bringing the burning cotton thread close to his cup. In an instant, Gould's calf-horn wine glass burst into flames—the wine was burning.
"Ah! What's going on? What are you drinking? Is this wine?" Otto shouted in disbelief.
"This is wine, so I call it the wine of the gods." Gould said proudly, "Great leader, do you think it is worth it for me to spend a huge sum of money to buy such a bottle of wine?"
"Worth it. Does wine burn? That's unheard of for me."
Gould smiled, and then in front of Otto's shocked face, he drank the burning flames in one gulp, and then burped full of wine.
He went on to talk proudly: "Isn't the wine that can burn the wine of God?"
"It's indeed a miracle. I didn't know that the Franks could create such a miracle."
Gould shrugged, "I guess it was not made by the Franks. I prefer to believe that it was created by the Romans."
Because Rurik drank some wine, his face gradually turned rosy, and he felt confused. Gould talked about the origins of the spirit, but did it really come from the Romans?
In fact, the truth is more complicated than this. Including glass bottles and bottles of spirits, whether they are Franks or Eastern Romans, they are middlemen who make the difference.
In the Western world, the Egyptians were the first to invent alcohol distillation. They did this to make some spices that were soluble in alcohol. The purpose was quite simple at first.
The technology gradually spread to the north, to the ancient Arabian Peninsula, and further to ancient Persia. The locals know how to make wine, and they are also willing to distill alcohol and process spices.
In this era, alcohol was completely prohibited in the Arab world, but the skill of distilling wine and making spices was not abolished.
There are also some local medical experts who believe that spices must be holy things. Applying spice solutions to the suppurating wounds of the injured can drive away the evil things that cause abscesses. The pus and blood are drained, after which a perfume solution is applied.
Such a high concentration of alcohol kills all kinds of bacteria and viruses in the wound at once, and the wound recovers quickly.
This experience was inherited, and doctors believed that the spices dissolved in the spirits helped the wounds heal faster, but they did not know that the spirits were the best medicine.
However, they absolutely prohibited alcohol. In this regard, the days in Eastern Rome were more secular, and Eastern Romans could drink.
Among the vast number of Eastern Romans, the actual subject democracy has gradually been replaced by the ancient Slavs. The Slavs who went south have even settled in the Peloponnese Peninsula. Although they speak Greek and live more and more like Greco-Romans, they still retain many ancient Slavic habits.
For example, their love for wine cannot be changed by any factors! If the king orders them to abstain from alcohol for religious or health reasons, riots will immediately break out.
The attitude of the Slavs everywhere was very resolute. Even if there was not enough food to eat, they must use part of their wheat to make wine. They cannot imagine life without wine, even a thousand years from now.
Even for the Slavic people living in Novgorod, they have to pay a large "tax" on wheat to the Russians. Regardless of rations and grain crops, they still have to make wine even when they are half hungry and half full.
The Abbasid dynasty owned large granaries such as Egypt, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia. If they had enough food, they could produce alcohol on a large scale. They only use alcohol as a perfume solvent, medicine and incendiary agent.
In order to make profits, merchants sold various rare items to Eastern Rome at high prices. Glass bottles and alcohol are both high-profit commodities on this road. Of course, silk, porcelain and tea are always the three most profitable.
Some profiteers in Eastern Rome invented the blending technology. The grape juice was blended with a little alcohol that was almost distilled by the cannibals to almost pure alcohol, and was sold as wine.
The highly concentrated alcohol was transported to Northern Europe for sale, which brought extreme profits. After all, only a handful of businessmen dared to cross the roadless hinterland of Europe.
Gould did not buy alcohol that was purified to the extreme. What he bought was diluted and could still be ignited.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Gould couldn't help but talk about his views on wine: "I think the most important thing about all wine is its essence. The so-called wine of God must be the person who makes it extract this essence. Come out. If I can get the essence of a bottle of wine, I can freely mix different flavors of wine. Chief, I don’t know if you have ever thought about it like this."
"I..." Otto thought for a moment and thought about it carefully. It does make sense. He laughed: "I didn't think much about it. I can make wine myself. Maybe you are right. If the essence of wine exists, maybe we can get it all out."
"Thank you for your understanding, but unfortunately I don't know how to do it. I believe those Romans already know how to do it. If I can learn the skills, I will be richer." Gould's red face revealed heavy regret. . Regret filled his heart, and he drank the strong drink in one gulp.
Rurik stared at the fat Gould with his big eyes. In an instant, the little boy's blood boiled. Rurik stood up suddenly while holding on to the table. It was from this sudden standing that he realized that the alcohol had already taken effect on his body, making his whole body feel light.
"G... Gould, do you want to know?" Rurik suddenly shouted.
"You, what? Know what?"
"Do you want to know? How to get the essence of wine out of ordinary wine, just like how to get edible salt out of sea water."
"You..." Gould, who was also in a daze, suddenly cheered up. He slammed the table hard and shouted excitedly: "Quick! Tell me the answer."
"You want to know? You... you give me money. Give me gold coins! Just give me a hundred gold coins and I will tell you the answer."
One hundred gold coins? Otto, who was actually a good drinker, was startled. He quickly pushed his son back on the leather mat and scolded: "Are you crazy? How do you know? You still want to ask for a hundred gold coins. Boy, you are drunk. !”
"I'm not drunk." Rurik broke free from his father's big hand and stood up unsteadily, looking even more excited. "Gould, give me the money, and I'll tell you the answer right now. I want a hundred gold coins. If you don't have it...then give me fifty."
"Rurik, do you really know? Okay, I'll give you money."
Gould never looked down upon Rurik. Even though he was a little confused now, Gould tried to maintain consciousness. He firmly believed that Rurik was not making any nonsense.
Fifty gold coins is not a small amount. According to the market in Northern Europe, it can be exchanged for five Roman pounds of pure silver!
People who drink can hardly stay rational. Now Gould can no longer care about so many things. His mind has become more and more rigid. Driven by a strong desire for knowledge, he called his subordinates and framed himself. Bring the special small money box with gems.
His rough hands opened the lock unsteadily, and without looking twice, he grabbed a handful of gold coins and piled them into a golden cylinder. Suddenly, the cylinder collapsed, and with the sound of metal, the gold coins fell onto the table, illuminated by the fire from the ceiling, reflecting the golden light that could tempt people to rob!
Look at the warriors that Gould raised with silver. They couldn't help but look at the gold coins on the table. Each of them controlled their desire to plunder with willpower, but their eyes were like hungry wolves.
Tip: Enter "giant panda literature" in the search engine to find this site, thank you.
Chapter 117 Burning Spirits
