SC - Feast Beverages

[david friedman]

Terri Spencer wrote:
> 
> Since I've been in the SCA, in the Kingdom of
> Meridies, every feast at which I cooked, served or dined included iced
> tea.  Usually ice water, sometimes lemonade or cider, occasionally
> wine, beer or mead in years past, but ALWAYS sweetened iced tea.

Mindless tradition in my area tends to lean towards cider (soft) and
lemonade, being inexpensive, non-alcoholic and not really glaringly OOP.
On occasion these have been augmented with various berry juice drinks
(donated, essentially non-alcoholic fruit-laced meads) and sometimes
replaced entirely with unfermented hydromel, on one occasion unfermented
ale brewed on site (which ended up tasting quite a bit like sweetened
iced tea, actually), and, once, hot tea for a feast of Asian foods, some
of which were actually period.
 
> Is this common throughout the SCA?  If not, what beverages are served
> at feast in other kingdoms?  And a question for Meridiens on the list:
> is it so expected as to be required?  Would the absence of iced tea
> ruin a feast?

Well, I'm not a Meridien, just nosy. My experience with other areas
where the populace has been accustomed to receiving certain dishes every
time, such as honey butter and herb butter, I have simply announced in
the morning that there will be no honey butter and no herb butter, but
there will, for example, be an herb cheese, olive oil, and honey for
dipping bread into. People thought about it for a second, then got on
with life. I expect that unless your alternative beverages are something
really bizarre, your experience would not be too different.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com