More ButterBeers... Alcohol Content

[alshainofthenorth]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:

> bboy_mn:
> 
> I have explained this in past discussions of Butter Beer, but I'll
> give it a go again.
> 
> Back in 'the good old days' the only way to get carbonation (fizz)
> into soft drinks was to ferment them; add yeast and sugar then let the
> yeast grow feeding off the sugar and producting carbon dioxide as a by
> product. That's how beer gets it foam, but that is also how beer gets
> it's alcohol; it's a by-prodict of fermentation. 
> 
> It doesn't seem reasonable to me that in the old fashioned wizard
> world, fizzy soft drinks would use 'charged' water; fermentation of
> ginger ale, ginger beers, root beer, sarsaparilla, birch beer, and
> most other root and spice soft beverages have been made with a
> fermention process for centuries. To keep them from turning 'hard',
> you control the amount of sugar available to the yeast, and you cool
> them before a significant amount of acohol has a chance to form. 
> 

The traditional May Day drink in Finland is called 'sima' (Fin.) or
'mjöd' (Swe.), and translates as 'mead', I suppose. It consists of
water, brown sugar, lemons, raisins and yeast, and some people add
hops for a little bitterness. It's fermented for a few days, and what
you get is a fizzy drink tasting of caramel with hints of lemon (quite
good, actually), and I've never in my life heard of even serious
teetotallers forbidding children to drink it. There is a commercial
version which I suppose is carbonated, but everyone agrees that the
home-made stuff is tastier. So the old-fashioned method of making
fizzy drinks is still going strong in some parts of the world.

Just thought I'd share,
Alshain