Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So, as I continue to slowly, and by degrees, assemble my in-character area, thoughts turn to entertaining, feeding and watering guests in the camp.

At present I'll be home curing bacon (absolute doddle), providing fresh fruit, home baked bread of varying styles, hard cheese and assorted 'hard tack' meat.

I've also got a rather spiffy glass decanter for Mead, and six ace little wooden cups.

But I want to offer more. Whisky is of course a traditionally popular drink, albeit one I've never developed a taste for. Now having a bottle of clearly modern Whisky out isn't exactly in-character, so I was thinking of a 1 litre wooden barrel. I've sourced such a thing for around £46, which seems a sensible investment, as it's totally reusable.

The barrel however, is Oak. An of course that will alter the flavour of the Whisky. And that's where Dakkanauts of taste and sophistication come in.

Is it better to use a relatively cheap Whisky, on the principle the extra Oak will only improve the flavour - or a a pricier Whisky, on account a cheaper one would be rendered undrinkable?

The other alternative of course is to simply steep the barrell in cheap, nasty Vodka. That should absorb much of the flavour, and then be poured down the sink where cheap nasty vodka belongs. And I may do that if I get second one for Gin, which is a particularly popular drink at the LARP I attend.

I would fill it with a cheap but good blended whisky, such as Ballantine's. Or a bourbon, or an Irish whiskey. Find something that's on offer at a local supermarket. Jim Beam White Label is £14 a bottle at Waitrose right now. Two fills of your barrel for £40!

It takes years for the oak to alter the spirit, though, so I wouldn't worry much either way if I was going to drink it quickly.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
So, as I continue to slowly, and by degrees, assemble my in-character area, thoughts turn to entertaining, feeding and watering guests in the camp.

At present I'll be home curing bacon (absolute doddle), providing fresh fruit, home baked bread of varying styles, hard cheese and assorted 'hard tack' meat.

I've also got a rather spiffy glass decanter for Mead, and six ace little wooden cups.

Aplogies as you did not specify. Are you carrying this arorund or just bringing it. Carrying glass would be...bad.

But I want to offer more. Whisky is of course a traditionally popular drink, albeit one I've never developed a taste for. Now having a bottle of clearly modern Whisky out isn't exactly in-character, so I was thinking of a 1 litre wooden barrel. I've sourced such a thing for around £46, which seems a sensible investment, as it's totally reusable.

I did this with TBone's rum, with the aging stuff. Percolated it for nearly a year and opened in my little version of an Irish wake for him. Best rum I ever had and I still have a few shots (have a special bottle) that I am literally taking with me.

Usually they recommend medium level booze to be cured. It works really well.
Is this for the event? If concerned just prepare the barrel properly (takes about two weeks for the wood to swell fully at least in Texas and get the excess charcoal out), and drop a bottle of mid grade hooch in right before you go.

Gonna be in my tent, ready to serve

Are you looking for something accurate or fun? Two wildly different things. Historically, you get whatever you can afford/scavenge/steal. Organized armies like the Romans might provide food, but poor levies were often shorted and forced to rely on forage. Food would be based on agricultural supply and logistics. Grains and the like can be stored and transported, but if an area hasn't been plundered yet, vegetables, fruits, and the like wouldn't be hard to come by (except tomatoes and potatoes until much later). Of course plundering desolated the area, which was bad if you hoped to collect taxes from the area later. An alternative was to supply by ship and travel near waterways.

Fresh meat is perfectly believable as animals could be plundered or supplied. Cured meats is less authentic, except as a delicacy or for select retinues. Certainly not something to be wasted on lesser troops. Cheese is also a luxury.

Wine was a pretty standard thing as it is much easier to keep men who may get hurt or killed from running off if you can give them some alcohol and it wasn't particularly hard to produce. Later, ales, beer, etc would serve similar functions in Europe. Medieval camp wines were often unaged.

Modern LARPers seem to follow a more modern with Ye Olde dressings, which is much more pleasant. Which is understandable because going around in dirty clothes with minimal coarse grains sounds pretty awful!

Wood is picky for liquid storage. Glass is fragile. Metal can have odd reactions and flavors. That's why plastic is so common now. For alcohol, the biggest determinate of quality before you get it is the ingredients (water included) and filtering. Aging it gives it flavor. But, like most things, it takes practice. I would not recommend putting a good whiskey in a barrel (it should be ready to drink already and adding new flavor is likely to muck it up), but can be used to mellow rougher spirits. Make sure that your barrel is designed for consumables as wood can have poisonous additives. Most aging barrels are not designed to be transported while filled, however. A liter shouldn't be bad, though. A liter should be around 1kg + barrel weight.

Make sure to thoroughly rinse your barrel *before* anything else. Then fill it up and let it sit for a couple of days to swell and make sure it doesn't leak. Test your spigot, drain the water, and put your liquor in. Use different barrels for different liquors- if you switch it later it will affect your flavors.

On a 1 liter, you should probably taste it after 10 days or so and rotate every 14ish. The greater surface area means you will notice changes faster than in larger barrels.

Have you considered maybe skins or bota bags? They should work well for wine. Alternately, maybe do a faux cask that you can just drop your winebox/bag into.

Liquor and wine bottles are designed to be pretty tough, though, so you can always consider just bringing a pretty container and filling at the site and keeping the modern containers out of sight.

Is it possible to coat the interior of the barrel/install a drink bag in it? Keep the look, lose the headache.

Sure, that's pretty much exactly what a wine box does. You anchor the spigot/pour spout and the bag just sits in the rigid container. You would need an opening to be able to get the bag in, though, which would probably ruin an aging barrel. I guess you could remove the spigot, put the bag in through the spigot hole, fill and then secure the spigot.

For a faux container, though, I would prefer a hinged barrel for easy access.

Whyte and Mackay Scottish blend is currently £18 a litre at Tescos...