[Sca-cooks] Beverages, was Royal authenticity

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> Unfortunately, there isn't anything non-alcoholic.  Water isn't safe to
> drink, unless it's from a stream (non-well water) or processed in some way
> (boiled).

Huh? Well water is usually safer than stream water.

  Milk isn't safe to drink, or seems not to be considered as a
> drink (except for Norwegian buttermilk?).

It isn't safe? Why not? I've been regularly drinking cow juice for 50 years,
and I'm not only not dead, I'm in excellent health.

> Fruit juices are too expensive to
> drink, except for apple or grape, and they won't keep unless they're
> fermented.

How long are you expecting them to keep? Generally, a bag of ice will keep a
pretty good sized amount of juice cool all day, in a reasonably insulated
cooler, particularly if yoy cover it with a wet towel and add evaporative
cooling to the mix. I fill my 5 gallon beverage cooler with (clean) beer
cans and ice, and it usually stays cool for a couple of days at most events.

> So, much like providing adequate meals for vegetarians, offering
> non-alcoholic period drinks is tricky.  I would think the easiest thing
> would be to have water (hot tea & coffee too) and ask the feasters to
> BYOBeverage.

Well, I suspect it depends on the ambience you're striving for. Now, I'm
hoping Adamantius comes up with the requested recipe for small beer, because
I strongly suspect that that was the most likely "non-alcoholic" beverage in
period (depending, of course, on your when/where). I also very much enjoy
sekanjuban, whether it's a period beverage or not. While in the mundane
world, my preferred beverages are (not necessarily in this order ;-) Coffee,
tea, water, milk, beer, wine, and various fruit juices, I'd have no problem
drinking anything else at events, as long as it wasn't too sweet, and was
something to contribute to the event's ambiance. After all, we're trying to
step out of the mundane world, aren't we?

Saint Phlip,
CoDoLDS

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....