What is Daggamalt?

Old Photo: it's now nerfed to 405 and 68/s.

Taking a mild break from making simple walkthroughs, I thought it'd be fun to look at one of the health potions we all use without thinking.

What is Daggamalt?  We know it to be the level 60 healing potion that everyone knows, loves, and wishes was more potent (which then begot us Potent Daggamalt).  The beer nerd and amateur home brewer in me wanted to look into whether it would be possible to make Daggamalt.



According to Wikipedia, the dried leaves and flowers of Wild Dagga have a "mild calming effect when smoked" whose effects are similar to cannabis but with a "much less potent high." Wikipedia continues noting "it has also been reported to cause mild euphoria, visual changes, dizziness, nausea, sweating, sedation, and lightheadedness."  So basically, everything you'd want to avoid when fighting for your life. 


Could you make a beer with Wild Dagga?  What would Daggamalt be like?

Several people, most notably Delaware's Dogfish Head Brewing, have dabbled with some ancient ales, that have been upgraded to modern standards adding small details like "carbonation."

Since Hyboria is a pre-history of our world, I think going back to very ancient ales, seems like a good start.

While not the most ancient ale know, a 2011 Wired article described a 2,550 year old Celtic beer as:

At the Celtic site, barley was soaked in the specially constructed ditches until it sprouted, Stika proposes. Grains were then dried by lighting fires at the ends of the ditches, giving the malt a smoky taste and a darkened color. Lactic acid bacteria stimulated by slow drying of soaked grains, a well-known phenomenon, added sourness to the brew.

Unlike modern beers that are flavored with flowers of the hop plant, the Eberdingen-Hochdorf brew probably contained spices such as mugwort, carrot seeds or henbane, in Stika’s opinion. Beer makers are known to have used these additives by medieval times. Excavations at the Celtic site have yielded a few seeds of henbane, a plant that also makes beer more intoxicating.

 “These additives gave Celtic beer a completely different taste than what we’re used to today,” Stika says.

Interestingly, the level 70 tradeskill resource henbane is actually used in the Level 70 mana beverages (Musewater, Ale of Auspice, and Visionwine).

A more ancient ale, and something that our Stygian friends would probably enjoy was researched and made by the good folks at the American Homebrewing Association was called Pharaoh Ale.

This ale made with Mandrake roots, another mild hallucinogen, as well as a little bit poisonous.  So let's make beer with it!

The recipe is in the article linked above but the AHA gave the following tasting notes:

The Pharaoh ale tasted unlike any other brew, in part because our modern palates have become so accustomed to the presence of hops. The brew has a minimal but fresh and appetizing bouquet. Visually, it is slightly turbid, and the color is deep reddish amber to almost light mahogany. The up-front taste shows mild notes of nuttiness (probably from the dates), with a faint scent of rose petals and perhaps of almond extract—probably a contribution from the mandrake root tea. The body is medium. As the brew spreads over the palate, strong malty notes as well as a definite date and honey aroma take over, which is especially noticeable because of the absence of any hop bitterness. This is a surprise but not an obstacle. The brew also takes on mild, lingering herb-like notes, which only serve to enhance its drinkability.

We decided, as a concession to modern tastes, to mildly carbonate the brew with CO2 for some effervescence that would enhance the gentle character of the beer, even though in ancient Egypt, we suppose, carbonation must have been very low to non-existent. A homebrewer might want to use standard priming procedures for packaging this brew. Because the adjuncts are completely fermented, there is no residual sweetness in the brew even though the starting wort tasted strongly syrup-like. The beer finishes with indefinable, subtle aromatics that seem unique to our taste buds. These notes are more interesting because of the brew’s dryness.

The overall impression the brew leaves behind is that of a very clean-tasting, refreshing, dry, medium-body, drinkable, and highly balanced quaffing beer.

How would I make the Daggamalt that Hyborians would gulp during battle?  I'd start with the Pharaoh ale and make some changes, so it would be more celtic (sadly, I couldn't find the Celtic recipe to start with).  I minimized the changes to the malt build, since I'm not familiar enough with how to successfully do my own.

• 3.75 lb (1.7 kg) Weyermann® Bohemian Pilsner floor malt
• 1.63 lb (739 g) Weyermann® Bohemian wheat floor malt
• 1.09 lb (494 g) spelt malt
• 0.49 lb (222 g) Carared®
• 0.34 lb (154 g) Carawheat®
• 0.64 oz (18 g) melanoidin malt
• 0.64 oz (18 g) Carafa® Special Type II
• 0.64 oz (18 g) chocolate wheat malt
• 0.64 oz (18 g) chocolate spelt malt
• 0.64 oz (18 g) Carafa® Special Type III
• 4 oz (113 g) Elderberries
• 6 oz (170 g) Hazelnuts
• 9.55 oz (270 g) honey
• 1 oz (28 g) Wild Dagga
• Any clean-fermenting ale yeast

During Aging, I'd add another 1 oz (28 g) of dried Wild Dagga and 3 oz of Alder wood and 3 oz of Yew wood chips to give it a woody and herbal flavor that would also bring forth some flavors from sacred plants to the Celts.

So, that's my Raid fortifying Daggamalt, since I didn't change the sugars (outside of swapping pitted dates with Elderberries and hazelnuts), it should still clock in around 4.5% ABV.

What's your vision of Daggamalt?  And more realistically, what's your AoC beverage of choice?  And lastly, if you make this beer (or any beer, I'm generally not picky), feel free to send me one.

I'm, apparently, an angry drunk.