Booze After TEOTWAWKI

I’m sure I’m not the only prepper to love alcohol. A nice cold beer, or a delicious sweet mead, mmmm. I think in a lot of situations it could be difficult or unwise to get a hold of some. So what are the options? Admit defeat and go dry? Heck no.

Sure you could just stash 100 6-packs in your remote bunker. We all know that’s not really my style. I like to play the long game. Give a woman a beer and she’ll drink for a day, teach her to brew and she’ll always have drink. I prefer to store the implements to make my own alcoholic beverages. I’ve got 4 large glass jars for the brewing of beer or wine. (Carboys is what they are called in the ‘lingo’.) Various stoppers and tubes and funnels and large metal pots for the heating of ingredients.

You can get yourself set up with a nice beer kit for only a hundred bucks or so. Or watch craigslists or strike gold at an auction or garage sale. Now getting the implements is only step 1. You have to find the raw material.  There’s a surprising amount of raw material that goes into a batch of alcohol. Check out some of these beer recipes and mead recipes. It takes around 6 pounds of ingredients, not counting the water. Where are you going get quantities like that during TEOTWAWKI?

Make connections with local farmers. The vegetable and fruit kind, not the commodity kind.  Check with your local extension office to see if they know anyone growing or producing what you need. Or ask around at the farmer’s markets. Make friends now and you’re more likely to hear about it when someone has a bumper crop of grapes or barley or honey.

Make friends with the local produce managers. Even if shipments are sporadic, or expensive they would have the contacts with food distributors. Maybe you could work out some produce to trade or order some other bulk items to combine shipping expenses.

You could grow your own of course. It’s an option if you have a bit of land. Grow some hops or a row of grapes. Or get creative with what you already grow. Strawberries and apples can be made into wines.

What do you think? Have I intrigued you? Are you making plans to secure your Friday cold one?

- Calamity Jane