Antaquaff

Antaquaff is an alcholic beverage brewed from fermented taftra. In its final form, it is a golden red liquid resembling scotch with an alcoholic content to match. Normally consumed slowly, mainly due the burning in the throat, antaquaff is an expensive beverage.   During the Falltime festivals around the known world, the first barrel of the most recently completed batch is shared with the festival attendees. A toast to the harvest and the aspects of nature and farming occurs before the first sips are taken by anyone. It is in very bad taste (pun intended) to drink before the toast.   Taftra, being a relatively expensive grain, and the three to ten year fermentation process, leads to the high price of the bottles that are filled after the festival. Normally the wealthy and middle class consume the beverage on a semi regular basis, aside from the Falltime festival shared barrel which is free to anyone around for the toast.   Antaquaff is made by the fermentation of taftra for several days followed by a sitting period during which additional sugars from natural sources, honey, or fruit add to the flavor and increased alcohol content within the liquor. Following this, the liquor is filtered, and placed in casks to age. At least twice during the ageing process, the casks are opened, and the liquor is tested to make sure everything is still good, before it is moved to another cask and resealed.   Recipes are often closely guarded secrets of families, with families producing the bevarage for generations using the same recipes.   After the Falltime festival, all of the batch of antaquaff is either checked and placed back for additional ageing, or bottled for sale. Normally the bottles sit on shelves for a few weeks to let them settle due to the bottling process.   Several farmers produce taftra with the primary goal of selling it for alcoholic use, so as to obtain the most coin for the crop.