Game of Thrones: Dawn of Justice

Chapter 21: Thundersmoke, the Dothraki Steed

"Garlon, is there anything special about this flower?" asked Earl Selwyn.

Garlon smiled and said, "Father, Helena mentioned in her letter that this flower has a magical effect. I think it is very suitable for making wine."

"Making wine?" Earl Selwyn was a little surprised. He had never heard that this rare flower could be used to make wine.

Even in Novos there is no such saying.

"Father, can you help me find a skilled old winemaker from Sapphire Town?"

Garlon didn't care about Earl Selwyn's doubts and continued.

Lord Selwyn thought that his son seldom seemed to have any purpose.

As long as Garlon said something, he was generally sure of it.

Although Earl Selwyn was still puzzled, he nodded and said, "Okay."

"But Garen, the tourney at Harrenhal will be held in ten days."

"If you want to go, go at least five days in advance."

Count Seven's meaning was very simple. There were only five days left. If Garlon wanted to make wine, time would be very tight. After all, making wine was not something that could be done in just a few days.

Garlon smiled slightly. Under normal circumstances, it was indeed impossible to develop a new wine from scratch in five days.

But beer is different. Beer is very simple, and there are ale and rye in Westeros. Beer is actually just ale and rye with hops and fermentation process added.

The initial fermentation is almost complete in five days.

When he thought about the economic value of beer, Garlon couldn't help himself.

In today's Westeros, low-end beverages mainly include ale, inferior wine, mead, and cider.

Among them, the most popular drink among civilians is beer, because its raw materials are common, the price is low, and it is easy to brew.

Ale has a low alcohol content and a cloudy taste. Sometimes, in order to make it easier to swallow, vanilla or honey has to be added to flavor it.

Beer is the upgraded version of ale.

It has all the advantages of beer, but has eliminated all the disadvantages and improved the taste.

People who are used to drinking ale will definitely love it once they taste beer.

People who don’t like beer will also like it because of its rich malt aroma, dense bubbles and refreshing taste.

Once beer comes out, it will definitely quickly replace ale and become the best-selling alcoholic beverage in Westeros.

Even in Essos, there are many people who like beer.

The market space is really huge!

If they keep the secret well, the Tas family can monopolize the beer business for a long time.

The profits are unimaginably high.

"Claude, take Garlon to get those snake vine flowers, and arrange for him to have an experienced winemaker."

Earl Selwyn said to the butler Claude who was busy in the distance.

"Okay, sir." Claude came over immediately and said.

Soon, under the guidance of the butler Claude, Garlon found what he wanted in the warehouse of Mulin Hall.

A small bag of snake vine seeds and a large bag of dried snake vine flowers.

The captain who was entrusted with the task was even thoughtful enough to use a clay flowerpot to transplant a small plant of snake vine.

Although this snake vine flower is a little wilted after being shipped by sea, you can still see what it looked like when it was fresh.

Garlon recognized it at a glance. This was indeed the hops from Earth!

This immediately made him very happy.

"Master, can these flowers really be used to make wine?" Claude was a little confused.

He had heard of making wine from grains and fruits, but he had never heard of making wine from flowers.

Moreover, this snake vine flower looks very strange and is not even found in Westeros.

Garen smiled: "Of course."

Well, since Garlon said so, Claude didn't ask any more questions. He immediately took Garlon to Sapphire Town and found an old winemaker.

Garlon unexpectedly discovered that this old brewer's best skill was brewing beer.

This was exactly what Garlon wanted.

"Master Garlon, do you mean to put these snake vine flowers in the beer?"

"Yes, first describe to me the process of making beer."

In the brewery, Garlon, accompanied by Claude, was talking to an old brewer with half-gray hair.

The old brewer's name is Bayful, and the people in Sapphire Town call him Old Bayful. He provides ale and wine to the inns in Sapphire Town.

Hearing Garlon's words, Old Baiver immediately said, "Master, the steps for brewing beer are the same. Take the initially germinated wheat, dry it, grind it into grains, then add water and boil it. After boiling, pour it into a wooden barrel, leave it uncovered for two days, then cover it and let it ferment."

“The main thing is to get the temperature right when drying the malt, and then keep stirring it while boiling.”

"I've also tried the method you mentioned of adding plants or fruits, but it's hard to satisfy everyone. In the end, none of them are as effective as adding honey directly after brewing."

Old Baiful patiently explained to Garlon.

After hearing this, Garen smiled but kept shaking his head.

This ale is indeed the predecessor of beer, and the principles and steps are the same as brewing beer.

But the brewing of beer is too crude and can be said to have little technical content.

But this is also an advantage on the other hand.

He can use the differences in steps to form a monopoly.

Garlon recalled the beer brewing process.

The most important thing is to add hops during the boil.

Hops can neutralize the rough taste and sweetness of beer, giving the beer a hint of bitterness, floral and fruity aroma. The bitterness can make the aroma of malt more pure.

In addition to adding hops, Garlon discovered that old Bayver did not add yeast when brewing beer.

They open the lid of the barrel and let it sit for two days, which is essentially to capture wild yeast in the air so that they can complete the fermentation of the beer later.

Although this method works, it will result in each barrel of beer brewed having a different taste, sometimes delicious, sometimes not.

The most practical way is to take some yeast residue from the previous brewing of beer and add it to the newly brewed beer.

Apparently, the brewers of Westeros haven't figured this out yet.

After understanding the situation, Garlon immediately asked Old Bayver to improve the beer he was brewing according to his ideas.

When Garlon and Claude arrived, old Bayfur was boiling the pot, preparing to boil the malt grains and brew new ale.

This batch of malt was just right for Kanon to try his hand at brewing beer.

Soon, the malt granules in the big iron pot slowly boiled after adding water, and old Bayver kept stirring with a wooden stick to prevent the bottom of the pot from sticking.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Garlon personally poured two handfuls of hops in.

Old Baiver watched but didn't stop him.

Although he subconsciously felt that this was useless, Garlon now had a high prestige on Tas Island. He felt that as long as Young Master Garlon was happy, there was nothing wrong in playing with him.

At worst he'd just lose a few barrels of ale.

But soon, the expressions of Old Bayver and Claude changed slightly, and they were a little surprised.

Because from the smell of boiling, in addition to the aroma of malt, they also smelled a faint floral and bitter scent. This smell was subtle and seemed to make the air in the brewery a little fresher.

Old Baiver was experienced and immediately realized that this "snake scale flower" seemed to have a unique and rich fragrance.

He couldn't help but feel a little excited.

Time passed slowly, and the sun was setting outside, but Garen didn't care. Soon, the boiling process was finally completed.

Old Bayford filtered a pot of wort through a sieve and poured it into the wooden barrel.

At this moment, Garlon suddenly remembered that brewing beer would be more effective if ice cubes were used to cool it down.

So he immediately asked Claude to go to a nearby hotel to get some ice from the ice cellar.

The hotels in Sapphire Town are very old, and two of them have underground ice cellars.

Soon Claude and two servants came over with two buckets of ice.

Garlon had the steaming barrels of wort placed in ice to cool them down.

After doing this, Garlon asked old Bayver to take some waste residue from the previous brewing of beer and put it into the wooden barrel.

"Master, do you really want to put this 'waste' in there?"

Old Baifer looked a little confused.

This waste residue is the sediment in the wooden barrel after the beer is brewed. Generally, it is filtered out and thrown away or fed to pigs before delivery.

He didn't expect that Garlon would ask him to put the waste slag into the newly brewed beer. This operation really confused him.

He had been looking forward to this barrel of beer with "snake scale flower" added to it.

Now that "impurities" have been added, how can it still taste good?
"Don't talk nonsense, just do what the master tells you to do."

Claude cursed with a smile.

He and old Bayford were old acquaintances.

"Ok."

Old Baifer could only join in reluctantly.

Garen smiled but said nothing.

These "waste residues" are actually yeast residues. With these yeast residues, the beer will ferment faster.

After Old Bayver put in the yeast residue, Garlon was still worried, so he put a handful of dried hops in the barrel.

Adding hops at different times will give the beer different flavors.

"Put the lid on it."

Garen ordered.

"what?"

Old Baiver looked surprised.

"Master, you must open the lid and let it sit for two days. Otherwise, the beer won't ferment and won't have any flavor. It will just go bad."

Old Baiful said earnestly.

Garen smiled and shook his head: "Just do as I say, I'm just doing an experiment."

After Garlon said this, old Bayford nodded.

Forget it, let’s just accompany Master Garlon to try it out.

It's just a barrel of ale anyway.

After closing the lid, Garlon became more and more excited.

However, he also felt a little regretful that because the technology was not mature, there was no way to incorporate carbon dioxide into the beer to make the bubbles stronger.

But it's enough.

This is a purely natural and hand-brewed beer, and the malt aroma must be extremely strong, which is incomparable to any industrial beer on earth.

After doing all this, Garlon returned to the Castle of Dusk Hall. He asked Claude to stay and arrange the follow-up matters.

The most important thing is confidentiality.

Regardless of whether the brewing is successful this time, there must not be any leakage in the brewing process just now.

Garlon planned to recruit old Bayfer and have him move to Mulin Hall in the future.

Including future beer production, it must be divided into different production steps and kept strictly confidential.

After all, the principle of beer is a bit simple, and once it is leaked, many people will imitate it.

Monopoly is the most profitable.

Garlon is still counting on beer to make a fortune.

There is no need to say much about the huge profits in the liquor business. Just look at the Redwin family on Qingting Island.

The Arbor Fleet is one of the three most powerful fleets in Westeros.

How could the Redwyne family, a family of earls, afford to support themselves? It all came from the wine business.

Garlon felt that once his beer came out, relying on the profits from the beer, the Tas family would be able to build a fleet that was no less powerful than the Qingting Island fleet, or even stronger.

At that time, the Tas family will be able to attack and defend, and it can be said that they have truly risen to prominence.

……

Returning to Duskfall Castle in the evening, Garlon began to write a letter.

In the letter, he shared some of his daily life with Helena, and then at the end he asked Helena to meet him at Harrenhal.

This Harrenhal Tournament is unprecedentedly grand, and the Hightower family will definitely participate. Helena should have the opportunity to follow Earl Layton or her brother-in-law Baelor to Harrenhal.

After writing the letter, Garlon found Maester Amo and asked him to send it to the Hightower family by raven.

Scholar Yamo has become accustomed to helping Garlon receive and send "love letters". Now he no longer asks about it and just smiles without saying anything.

After writing the letter, Garen comforted Brienne for a while.

When Brienne learned that Garlon was going to attend the particularly grand tourney of Harrenhal and Lord Selwyn would not allow her to go with him, she was so angry that she burst into tears on the spot.

But Earl Selwyn was firm in his words and she could not argue with him.

So I cried so hard that I didn't even eat dinner.

Garlon finally coaxed her by promising to make her a tailor-made fine steel sword after he returned.

Over the next few days, Garen continued his training while also packing his bags to prepare for the tourney at Harrenhal.

This time he went to Harrenhal, he was definitely going to participate in the tournament.

Then you need to bring armor, spears and horses.

Garlon originally planned to pick out a suitable set of plate armor from the castle's armory, but who knew that Earl Selwyn would give him a surprise.

"Garon!"

In the sacred forest, Garlon, who was shirtless and doing his daily training, suddenly heard the voice of Earl Selwyn coming from outside the forest.

He was a little surprised, because usually when there was something, Earl Selwyn would send someone to call him back and rarely came in person.

But as soon as he turned around, a hint of surprise and joy appeared in his eyes.

For Lord Selwyn was walking slowly towards him, leading a tall, smoky-gray horse, followed by two servants.

The horse was covered with a layer of short smoky gray hair, which shone with a faint silver light in the sun. It was about sixty-six inches tall at the shoulder, and its muscle lines were as smooth and powerful as if carved by a knife, especially its chest and hind legs, which were like taut bowstrings.

The horse's head is higher than Earl Selwyn's, and it looks very majestic, but when led by Earl Selwyn, it is very docile.

An exquisite black leather saddle was already placed on its back, inlaid with the sapphire of the Dusk Hall and embellished with two silver lines.

You can tell at first glance that this horse is a valuable and fine horse.

"Father, what is this?"

Although Garen already had a guess in his mind, he still couldn't help but ask.

Lord Selwyn smiled. "This is your first time participating in a tourney, so you need a qualified warhorse. This is a fine horse I specially found for you from the Dothraki steppes of Essos. Its name is Thundersmoke."

(End of this chapter)