Rice Wine Success

On the fifth floor, Corvinus laid Agif down on the bed and covered her with a blanket. The stubborn woman had defied the odds and downed two ounces of the eighty-proof head distillate in one go. She hadn't even made it two minutes before she passed out in his arms.

...

Corvinus returned to the kitchen, where the pipes of the four distillation pots were flowing like open faucets. His choice to brew rice wine wasn't solely because of the high quality of the resulting liquor; another reason was the high yield of rice wine. The maximum yield could reach ninety-seven percent, meaning that from a hundred pounds of rice, ninety-seven pounds of rice wine could be produced. This yield was unattainable with other grains.

Corvinus tasted the wine with his finger and found that the alcohol content was now around fifty to sixty proof, indicating that the head distillate was almost gone.

"Change the wine barrels!"

At Corvinus's command, Cadia and the others quickly brought in new wine barrels to replace the old ones.

"Do you want to taste it?" Corvinus smiled at Cadia and the others, as well as the crowd of werewolves and boar men packed behind them.

"No way!"

"We don't want to taste it!"

...

Instantly, everyone shook their heads vigorously, having witnessed the chief's wife's condition just moments ago.

"It's fine. The head distillate is done. The wine being collected now is safe to taste," Corvinus said with a smile.

"You three, give each of them about two ounces to taste!"

Following Corvinus's instructions, Cadia and the others poured roughly two ounces of wine for each orc. It wasn't that Corvinus was stingy; there were just too many orcs, and since most of them were tasting it for the first time, two ounces would likely be more than enough for some, let alone more.

"So fragrant!"

The orcs took a whiff, and the wine had an enticing aroma that was hard to describe. Just the scent was enough to make some of their tongues water.

"What do you think?" Corvinus looked at Tyton, whose tolerance for alcohol was the best among them, perhaps due to his background. After all, ordinary orc tribes might only get to drink wine once or twice a year.

"It's so strong!" Tyton's face contorted a bit. There was no way around it; the wine was too potent.

"However, it's very fragrant!"

"Too strong?" Corvinus shook his head. "This wine isn't strong. It's just that you're not used to it because it's your first time tasting it."

Rice wine isn't strong; the strongest rice wine is sorghum wine.

"What about now?" Corvinus asked again.

"It has a slight sweetness, a mellow aroma, and it's very unique. It's more mellow and more wine-like than dragon shed wine or wheat wine," Tyton swirled his tongue around and replied.

"That's right. It's smooth, sweet, and has a pleasant aftertaste. This is what rice wine is all about!" Corvinus said with a smile.

Thud...!!

A loud noise interrupted the wine-tasting scene between Corvinus and Tyton. They turned around to see a large number of orcs and boar men lying on the ground, with only a few still standing. The one who made the thud was Gava, the boar man, whose massive body lay unconscious on the floor. Cadia, with a flushed face, was draped over Gava, probably not even aware of what was happening.

Corvinus couldn't help but laugh. Fifty to sixty proof白酒 was still too strong for them!

Time ticked by.

About three hours later, the four distillation pots finally began to collect the pot water, also known as the tail wine. Pot water, as the name suggests, is the last wine that flows out. These wines have an alcohol content below forty degrees, poor taste, turbid body, and strong off-flavors. Skilled distillers might use it for blending, but of course, those with less skill wouldn't dare, as it could easily ruin the batch. So many distilleries simply discard the tail wine.

However, Corvinus collected the tail wine. Although the quality was poor, it could be sold as a second-rate product, or stored for future distillation, which would still produce good wine.

As for the head distillate, the first wine, Corvinus didn't plan to use it either. Although it could be blended with the middle wine, he wasn't confident in doing so. So he also planned to store it, to mix with the tail wine later, or for secondary distillation.

The head wine is actually a good thing. Stored for a certain period, it can be used as an exceptional high-grade cooking wine for marinating food.

After all the wine was processed, it was already getting dark outside.

Corvinus weighed all the wine, which totaled 154 pounds. Including the amount drunk by his tribe members, there was about 170 pounds of wine, with about thirteen or fourteen pounds of head wine and about twenty or so pounds of tail wine. That meant there was about 130 pounds of good wine.

Two hundred pounds of rice produced 170 pounds of wine, with a yield of eighty-five percent. Of course, this didn't mean the yield was low. There were over a dozen types of rice, and he had bought the cheapest kind. Better rice would naturally have a higher yield.

"I'm so hungry!" After cleaning up with Tyton, Corvinus's stomach growled loudly. They hadn't eaten since breakfast.

However, the werewolves responsible for cooking hadn't woken up yet.

"Shall I go out and see if there are any open restaurants nearby? I can buy some food to bring back," Tyton suggested, as his stomach was also growling.

"Sure!"

...

On the fifth floor, Corvinus returned to the room, but Agif was still asleep, clearly not yet sober from the alcohol. He guessed that the silly woman might not wake up until tomorrow morning.

But where would he sleep?

He couldn't sleep with her, could he?

...

Corvinus groggily opened his eyes, feeling something wriggling in his arms like a worm. He blinked and saw Agif's emerald green eyes staring back at him.

"You're awake!"

Agif's voice was incredibly soft and alluring.

"Mm-hmm!"

"By the way, stop wriggling around like a worm and sleep properly!" Corvinus patted Agif's fluffy ears and whispered with his eyes still closed.

"Do you know what you did to me last night?" Agif stopped her playful wriggling and tugged at Corvinus's white-blue mane, asking with a bite.

Corvinus opened his sleepy eyes, glanced at Agif, and then closed them again. He hadn't even taken off his clothes; what could he have done?

"Humph, I'll punch you!" Seeing that Corvinus completely ignored her teasing, Agif puffed up her cheeks and lightly pounded his chest with her fist.

"Stop moving!"

The scent from Agif was very comforting to Corvinus.

"By the way, has the sun come up yet?"

"It's long past sunrise, almost noon!" Agif said with a smile.

"Almost noon?" Corvinus was taken aback. He quickly pulled his hand from Agif's waist, jumped out of bed, and opened the window. Sure enough, the sun was almost directly overhead.

"Damn it, no wonder I'm so hungry!" Corvinus cursed. He had planned to go sell wine today.

It was already noon, and he had wasted half a day.

"Get up, aren't you hungry?" Corvinus pulled the blanket off and lifted Agif up.

"Not hungry, let me sleep a bit more!" Agif said as she was about to lie back down.

Corvinus quickly helped her up and planted a kiss on her cheek: "Stop messing around, I'm starving!"

"Alright, but tonight..."