Beer Wine And Spirit Lover's Guide to Trill

(Note: The following guide is designed to help increase the depth an consistency of writing for primarily Trill characters, but can be used by anyone. It is also designed to help provide a similar variety of drink types to the Trill culture. Where as Earth has countless numbers of beer and wine varieties, in the Star Trek universe many, if not most, other species/cultures simply have a single variety Thorian Brandy, Bajoran Tea, Trill Wine. The hope is this guide will give people playing Trill characters the ability to have a favorite variety of wine, or a preferred brewer. As a note, NO list in this guide, from variety of wine, to producer, should be considered exhaustive. All players should feel free to expand on the list as they need or want. I've included a number of option for those players who simply want to just pick something and write and don't have the time or inclination to go into super detail creating something new.)

A Beer, Wine, and Spirit Lover's Guide to Trill

Like most species in the Federation and beyond, Trill has harnessed the process of fermentation to produce a variety of alcoholic beverages. Falling into similar categories as Terran beverages, they have fermented a variety of grains to produce a product similar to beer, fermented the juice of a berry known of juilea to produce a vast varieties of drinks similar to Terran wine, and distilled a mixture of grains and spices down into a unique spirit. This guide includes details on a number of the agricultural products used to produce the drinks, as well as details about the various types of alcohol and their producers. This guide does not cover every producer or variety of fruit and grain used in the industry and Trill, but does cover a number of the more famous and well known.

Agricultural Products

While there are exceptions most grains and fruits on Trill have a higher carbohydrate content that their Terran analogues. Research suggests that this additional, easy access to sugar is what allowed the Host/Symbiont relationship to flourish and support the additional energy needs of the joined pair. This results in alcohol that either has a higher alcohol content or sweeter depending on where the fermentation process is stopped.

• Grains
  • Lesh - A grain similar to Terran barley although it has a higher sugar content. Lesh is by far the most common grain used in beer production
  • Beaskar - Often used as a supplemental grain in beer production to help mellow out the sweet taste from the Lesh
  • Teta - Used to add spice notes to beer, but most commonly used in the production of a spirit called wansat
• Fruits
  • Juilea - When someone mentions wine on Trill they are referring to the drink made from fermenting the juilea berry.
    • Wines produced with juilea result in one of three types, Pale wines have, at most, only a hint of color, Amber wines are a deep orange to orange red color, and Blush wines fall somewhere between the two. Most varieties can make either pale or amber varieties, depending on the production method, varieties are often only used for a specific type.
    • Selective breeding over innumerable generations has resulted in the creation of hundreds of varieties of juilea. Some haven't been produced in decades, others are produced in only select regions, while others are common varieties across a number of production regions. Below are listed a number of the more common and/or famous varieties, and their most common type of wine, it is no where close to an exhaustive list
      • Tetali
      • Ashkina
      • Actani
      • Actani-black
      • Ullia
      • Ullia-pale
      • Helastin
      • Envatinani
      • Kanten'ani
      • Padian
      • Banadal
      • Vaneret

Beer

While they have beer, they lack the variety that Earth or Bardeez has. Trillan grain holds more starch per gram than Terran analogues, and this leads to two classes of beer produced, beers with higher alcohol content, and beers that are a little sweeter. Over time this lead to brewers correcting for either the harshness of the alcohol or the sweetness of the un-fermented sugars, by adding in extra flavors to the brew. There is some region by region variation, although at this point in time you can find just about any style of beer in any region. Brewers in colder climes favored warming spices for their products, temperate breweries leaned towards various herbs, and small set of brewers from tropical regions made use of what amount to citrus analogues. The region surrounding the city of Yerisha is unique due to it's location on Trill. Based in the center of the grain belt, breweries in Yerisha often produce all varieties of beer even though the city is technically located in the planet's temperate region.

Below is a short list of brewers organized by region as with any list in this document it is not exclusive or free of exceptions.

Cold Weather Brewers

• Talanack Brewery
  • One of the oldest breweries, it was started by the Talanack family, including Barton Teel, the middle son of the family. The Brewery claims that every host Barton included, has preferred Talanack’s products over the competition. In an effort to avoid any issues with reassociation the Teel’s hosts have uniformly never commented on this claim.
  • Produces in enough volume to be shipped off world.
• Bastion Rock Brewers
  • Named after a famous rock formation near its home town.
  • Generally considered one of Talanack’s prime competitors.
  • Available off world.
  • A little more experimental. Routinely comes out with new varieties.

Temperate Breweries

• Alfondin Brewers
  • Located on the edge of the planet’s capital, Leran Manev
  • For Non-Trill this is one of the most well known beers as it has the most exposure to Aliens visiting the planet on Federation and Trade business.
• Ret’uni Cooperative Brewers Association
  • Not a single brewer but a cooperative group of brewers sharing equipment and ideas. Brewers agree to attach the name Ret’uni to the beginning of any of their beers.
    • Ret’uni Bowhawk
    • Ret’uni Sunrise
    • Ret’uni Redflower
  • A number of Breweries started at the Ret’uni Cooperative and when their following became large enough to support opening a brewery of their own.
• Border Brewers
  • Based in Yerisha.
  • Produces beers of all three categories and is one of the most popular breweries worldwide.

Tropical Brewers

• Ettini Brewery
  • Rivals Talanack for being one of the oldest active brewers on Trill.
  • While not generally available off world, it is the favorite beer of the Trill representative to the Federation Council, and those invited to the Trill Embassy on Earth can taste it there.
• Red Brewers
  • Relatively new brewery.
  • Located right on the coast and is well known for their attached restaurant.

Wine

While they lack variety in beer, Trill’s wine industry rivals that of Earth and Betazed. Over the millennia, wineries have developed a vast array of juilea varieties and a wider array of wines made from them. Juilea based wine comes in three broad categories, Pale wines are similar to Terran whites, Amber wines that have a dark orange to orange red color, and Blush wines that sit somewhere between. There are dozens of regions that have long been known for their wine production on Trill, and within those regions wines can vary greatly from estate to estate and from year to year, terroir is a vital part of the juilea growing process. Quality varies along a scale similar to Terran wines, and there are laws that require wines bearing certain names to meet certain qualifications.

Prior to replicators becoming ubiquitous, quality of wines varied greatly as one would expect. Simpler, cheaper wines were generally known by the variety of juilea used to make the vintage. Often these table wines were made with juilea from multiple vineyards from multiple areas, this had the effect of muting the differences inherent to each vineyard, and the taste of the juilea variety being dominant. More expensive wines tend to list the location where the juilea is grown, focusing on the village, and the most expensive on the vineyard, over even the producer. Trill wines produced by standard replicators produce generic varieties, a dark amber ullia, or a pale banadal, for instance, without accounting for vintage or the terroir of a specific estate or vineyard.

Below are a list of the two best known wine producing regions. There are many more throughout Trill, big and small.

Gatlin Valley

• Known for their dedication to tradition.
• The Gatlin Valley has 32 villages, almost all dedicated to winemaking, and it’s support.
• 80% of the production in the valley is pale wines, with the remaining production being 15% amber and 5% blush.
• Some of Trill’s most sought after wine comes from this region
• Generally speaking wine produced in this region are produced by family owned and operated vineyards. Some producers will buy juilea from various local vineyards that either don’t make wine themselves, or from vineyards that have extra stock.
  • Ra’Stian House - Pale
  • Hastia Vinyards - Pale
  • Stone Ground Estate - Pale (Astian Vineyard), Blush (Yantanas), owned by the Talan family
  • Yen'te'et Estate - Blush (Yantanas Vineyard), Amber (Te'et Vineyard)
  • River’s Edge - Pale, Blush
  • Great Dawn - Pale

Holti

• Located near the Eastern coast of the largest continent.
• Due to ocean currents, varied elevations and soil quality due to historical volcanic activity, Holti offers a huge variety potential growing climates.
• Offers a large diversity in varieties and qualities. Most growers offer a handful of varieties in each class of wine.
• Wine tend to be labeled by grower and variety.
  • Holtin House - Actani (amber), Tetali (pale), Helasti (pale), Ashkina (amber and blush)
  • Downside Estate
  • Jassick Winery
  • Bolarin
  • Double Life Winery

There are a number of other wine regions some full of variety, others focusing on only a few varieties of juilea, and everything in between.

Spirits

As with most cultures, there are a large variety of spirits, from distilled wines similar to brandy, to clear spirits similar to vodka. In this document we touch on a single unique spirit that while produced in a single specific region, is widely enjoyed across the planet.

Wansat

Wansat is a spirit produced in the Deshani region of Trill. It is twice distilled from teta, with a third distillation that includes a variety of spices and herbs, and then aged in wood barrels. Each distillery has its own blend of spices and herbs that it fiercely protects. Traditionally aged in new balat wood barrels, some younger distilleries have experimented with using wine barrels as well to add new flavor notes to their crafts. There are dozens distilleries in the Dashani region, each with its own subtle, or not so subtle, differences.