Ale | "The Forkbeard himself now, from a wooden keg, poured a great tankard of ale, which must have been the measure of five gallons. Over this he then closed his fist. It was the sign of the hammer, the sign of Thor. The tankard then, with two great bronze handles, was passed from hands to hands among the rowers. The men threw back their heads, the liquid spilling down their bodies, drank ale. It was the victory ale." -- Marauders of Gor, page 82 Closer to a Honey Lager than to an ale or beer, a deep gold in color, brewed from the grains of Gor and hops imported from Earth in the early years, served in a goblet or tankard. |
Bazi tea | "Tea is extremely important to the nomads. It is served hot and heavily sugared. It gives them strength then, in virtue of the sugar, and cools them, by making them sweat, as well as stimulating them. It is drunk three small cups at a time, carefully measured." -- Tribesmen of Gor, page 38 "'I feared, when first I saw you,' said the girl, measuring the tea from a tiny tin box, 'that you had come to carry me off.'" -- Tribesmen of Gor, page 139 "'Make me tea,' I said. ...'Is it ready?' I asked. I looked at the tiny copper kettle on the small stand. A tiny kaiila-dung fire burned under it. A small, heavy, curved glass was nearby, on a flat box, which would hold some two ounces of the tea. Bazi tea is drunk in tiny glasses, usually three at a time, carefully measured. She did not make herself tea, of course." -- Tribesman of Gor, page 139 "She lifted the kettle from the fire and, carefully, poured me a tiny glass of tea. I took the glass." -- Tribesman of Gor, page 139 "Hot bazi tea I wanted. This is an important trade item in the north. I now knew why. The southern sugars are also popular. I had originally supposed this was because of their sweetness, there being few sweet items, save some berries, in the north. I know began to suspect that the calories of the sugars also played their role in their popularity." -- Beasts of Gor, page 206 An herbal beverage served hot & heavily sugared; traditionally drunk 3 tiny cups at a time, in rapid succession. It can be drunk informally in a mug. |
Black wine | "'What is that I smell?' I asked. 'Black wine,' said she, 'from the Mountains of Thentis.' I had heard of black wine, but had never had any. It is drunk in Thentis, but I had never heard of it being much drunk in any of the other cities. 'Bring two bowls,' I said." -- Assassin of Gor, page 106 "'Actually,' I said to Elizabeth, 'this is very rare. Thentis does not trade the beans for black wine. I have heard of a cup of black wine in Ar, some years ago, selling for a silver eighty-piece. Even in Thentis black wine is used commonly only in High Caste homes.'" -- Assassin of Gor, page 107 "From one side a slave girl, barefoot, bangled, in sashed, diaphanous, trousered chalwar, gathered at the ankles, in tight, red silk vest, with bare midriff, fled to Him, with the tall, gracefull, silvered pot containing the black wine. She was veiled. She knelt, replenishing the drink. Beneath the veil I saw the metal of her collar. I had not thought to have such fortune. She did not look at me. She returned to her place with the pot of black wine. Ibn Saran lifted another finger. From the side there hastened to him another girl, a fair skinned, red haired girl. She, too, wore veil, vest, chalwar, bangles, collar. She carried a tray, on which were various spoons and sugars. She knelt, placing her tray on the table. With a tiny spoon, its tip no more than a tenth of hort in diameter, she placed four measures of white sugar, and six of yellow, in the cup; with two stirring spoons, one for the white sugar, another for the yellow, she stirred the beverage after each measure. She then held the cup to the side of her cheek, testing its temperature; Ibn Saran glanced at her; she, looking at him, timidly kissed the side of the cup and placed it before him. Then, her head down, she withdrew." -- Tribesman of Gor, page 88 & 89 "I grinned, and washed down the eggs with a swig of hot black wine, prepared from the beans grown upon the slopes of the Thenis mountains. This black wine was quite expensive. Men have been slain on Gor for attempting to smuggle the beans out of Thentian territories." -- Beasts of Gor, page 20 "On the tray, too was the metal vessel which had contained the black wine, steaming and bitter, from far Thentis, famed for its tarn flocks, the small yellow-enameled cups from which we had drunk the black wine, its spoons and sugars, a tiny bowl of mint sticks and the softened, dampened cloths on which we had wiped our fingers." -- Explorers of Gor, page 10 "I lifted the tiny silver cup to my lips and took a drop of the black wine. It's strength and bitterness are such that it is normally drunk in such a manner, usually only a drop or a few drops at a time. Commonly, too, it is mollified with creams and sugars. I drank it without creams and sugars, perhaps, for I had been accustomed, on Earth, to drinking coffee in such a manner, and the black wine of Gor is clearly coffee, or closely akin to coffee. Considering its bitterness, however, if I had not been drinking such a tiny amount, and so slowly, scarcely wetting my lips, I, too, would surely have had recourse to the tasty, gentling additives with which it is almost invariably served." -- Guardsmen of Gor, page 247 "'Second slave,' I told her, which, among the river towns, and in certain cities, particularly in the north, is a way of indicating that I would take the black wine without creams or sugars, and as it came from the pouring vessel, which, of course, in these areas, is handled by the "second slave," the first slave being the girl who puts down the cups, takes the orders and sees that the beverage is prepared according to the preferences of the one who is being served.... The expression "second slave," incidentally, serves to indicate that one does not wish creams or sugars with one's black wine, even if only one girl is serving." -- Guardsmen of Gor, pages 244 & 245 Beans for black wine come from the Mountains of Thentis. Black wine is extremely strong and bitter. It is traditionally served hot in tiny cups with yellow and white sugars and fresh bosk milk. |
Hot chocolate | "'This is warmed chocolate,' I said, pleased. It was very rich and creamy. 'Yes, Mistress,' said the girl. 'It is very good,' I said. 'Thank you, Mistress,' she said. 'Is it from Earth?' I asked. 'Not directly,' she said. 'Many things here, of course, ultimately have an Earth origin. It is not impossible that the beans from which the first cacao trees on this world were grown were brought from Earth.' 'Do the trees grow near here?' I asked. 'No, Mistress,' she said. 'We obtain the beans, from which the chocolate is made, from Cosian merchants, who, in turn, obtain them in the tropics.'" -- Kajira of Gor, page 61 Much like hot chocolate on Earth, the trees are grown in the tropics of Gor. |
Falarian wine | "Among these petitioners came one fellow bringing with him the promise of a gift of wine, a wine supposedly secret, the rare Falarian, a wine only rumored among collectors to exist, a wine supposedly so rare and precious that its cost might purchase a city. She, though only a slave, would choose to sip it." -- Mercenaries of Gor, page 158 A rare, expensive wine that is rumored to exist, for few have has the privilege of tasting it. |
Ka-la-na | "After the meal I tasted the drink, which might not inappropriately be described as an almost incandescent wine, bright, dry, and powerful." -- Tarnsman of Gor, page 26 "I went to his locker near the mat and got out his Ka-la-na flask, taking a long draught myself and then shoving it into his hands. He drained the flask in one drink and wiped his hand across his beard, stained with the red juice of the fermented drink." -- Tarnsman of Gor, page 168 "Virginia Kent, with her pitcher of Ka-la-na, ran lightfootedly to Relius, guard in the House of Cernus." -- Assassins of Gor, page 238 A very potent dry red wine, made from the fruit of the Ka-la-na tree. Can be served warm or cool. In Treve some prefer it heated to different degrees. Serve in goblet (not metal). |
Kal-da | "Kalda is a hot drink, almost scalding, made of diluted Ka-la-na wine, mixed with citrus juices and stinging spices. I did not care much for this mouth-burning concoction, but it was popular with some of the lower castes, particulary thouse who performed strenuous manual labor. I expected its popularity was due more to its capacity to warm a man and stick to his ribs, and to its cheapness (a poor grade of Ka-la-na wine being used in its brewing) than to any gustatory excellence." -- Tarnsmen of Gor, page 76 "Kalda is a hot drink, almost scalding, made of diluted kalana wine, mixed with citrus juices and stinging spices. I did not care much for the mouth warming concoction, but it was popular with some of the lower castes, particularly those who performed strenuous manual labor. I expected its popularity was due more to its capacity to warm a man and stick to his ribs , and to its cheapness( a poor grade of Ka-la-na wine being used in its brewing) than to any gustatory excellence. Moreover, where there was Kal-da there should be bread and meat. I thought of the yellow Gorean bread, baked in the shape of round, flat loaves, fresh and hot; My mouth watered for a tabuk steak or, perhaps, if I were lucky, a slice of roast tarsk, the formidable six tusked wild boar of Gor`s temperate forests." -- Outlaw of Gor, page 76 "I had hardly settled myself behind the table when the proprietor had placed a large, fat pot of steaming Kal-da before me. It almost burned my hands to lift the pot. I took a long, burning swig of the brew and though, on another occasion, I might have thought it foul, tonight it sang through my body like the bubbling fire it was, a sizzling, brutal irritant that tasted so bad and yet charmed me so much I had to laugh." -- Outlaw of Gor, page 79 Made of ka-la-na wine diluted with citrus juices (larma and topsit) and mixed with strong spices. Served hot. |
Larma juice | "I purchased some larma juice for a tarsk bit. 'Is it cool,' I asked. 'Yes,' she said." -- Mercenaries of Gor, page 257 Sweet juice from the larma fruit. |
Mead | "I held the large drinking horn of the north. 'There is no way for this to stand upright,' I said to him, puzzled. "He threw back his head again, and roared once more with laughter. "'If you cannot drain it,' he said, 'give it to another!' "I threw back my head and drained the horn. "... 'Here, Jarl,' said Thyri, again handing me the horn. It was filled with the mead of Torvaldsland, brewed from fermented honey, thick and sweet." -- Marauders of Gor, pages 89 & 90 "Bera went to the next man, to fill his cup with the mead, from the heavy hot tankard, gripped with cloth, which she carried." -- Marauders of Gor, page 278 "A drink made with fermented honey and water, and often spices." -- Vagabonds of Gor, page 16 "In the north generally, mead, a drink made with fermented honey and water, and often spices and such, tends to be favored over paga." -- Vagabonds of Gor, page 16 An alcohol made from fermented honey; extremely popular in Torvaldsland. It is thick and sweet. Served from a drinking horn either cold or hot. |
Milk | "Not only does the flesh of the bosk and the milk of its cows furnish the Wagon Peoples with food and drink, but its hides cover the domelike wagons in which they dwell; its tanned and dewn skins cover their bodies; the leather of its hump is used for their shields; its sinews forms their thread; its bones and horns are split and tooled into implements of a hundred sorts, fromw awls, punches and spoons to drinking flagons and eapon tips; its hoofs are used for glues; its oils are used to grease their bodies against the cold." -- Nomads of Gor, page 5 "There were only a few bosk visible, and they were milk bosk." -- Marauders of Gor, page 82 "Kaiila milk, which is used, like verr milk, by the people of the Tahari, is reddish, and has a strong salty taste, it contains much ferrous sulfate." -- Tribesmen of Gor, page 71 "The smell of fruit and vegetables, and verr milk, was strong." -- Savages of Gor, page 60 Milk is primarily obtained from two sources -- bosk and verr -- but in the Tahari region the redish milk of the kaiila is also drank. |
Milk curds, fermented | "By one fire I could see a quat Tuchuk, hands on hips, dancing and stamping about by himself, drunk on fermented milk curds, dancing, according to Kamchak, to please the sky." -- Nomads of Gor, page 28 A favorite of the wagons people. |
Paga | "I decided, if worse came to worst, that I could always go to a simple paga tavern where, if those of Tharna resembled those of Ko-ro-ba and Ar, one might, curled in a rug behind the low tables, unobtrusively spend the night for the price of a pot of paga, a strong, fermented drink brewed from the yellow grains of Gors staple crop, Sa-Tarna, or Life Daughter. The expression is related to Sa-Thassna, the expression for meat, or food in general, which means Life-Mother. Paga is a corruption of Pagar-Sa-Tarna, which means Pleasure of the Life Daughter." -- Outlaw of Gor, pages 74 & 75 "I liked paga warm. One felt it so much the sooner." -- Raiders of Gor, page 100 "'Paga,' I said to her. She rose to her feet and went to the vat behind the counter." -- Explorers of Gor, page 132 "I ordered another cup of paga. I played a game of kaissa with another guest of the tavern. The Paga tasted a bit strange, but it was a local paga and there is variation in such pagas, generally a function of the brewers choice of herbs and grains." -- Explorers of Gor, page 132 "I then gave my attention to the paga, and to my thoughts. In time I sent her back for another cup, in the tavern of Pembe, was only a tarsk bit. I paid it to the paga attendant, who collected it at the table. The girls in Pembe`s tavern, as in many taverns, are not permitted to touch coins. Evelyn, of course, who had come with the higher price of the first cup, was mine until I chose to leave the tavern or in some way release her." -- Explorers of Gor, page 173 "This is not unusual at an inn. The proportions, then, would be one part paga to five parts water. Commonly, at a paga tavern, the paga would be cut less, or not cut at all. When wine is drunk with Gorean meals, at home, incidentally, it is almost always diluted, mixed with water in a krater. At a party of convivial supper the host, or elected feast master, usually determines the proportions of water to wine. Unmixed wine, of course, may be drunk, for example, at the parties of young men, at which might appear dancers, flute slaves and such. Many Gorean wines, it might be mentioned, if only by way of explanation, are very strong, often having an alcohol content by volume of forty to fifty percent." -- Renegades of Gor, page 70 "The girls filled their vessels which, like the hydria, or water vessel, are high handled, for dipping in a large kettle hung simmering over a fire near the entrance to the enclosure. Warm paga makes one drunk quicker, it is thought. I usually do not like my paga heated, except sometimes on cold nights. this night was not cold , but warm. It was now late spring. Some Cosians tend to fond of hot paga so, too, are some of the folks in the more northern islands, interestingly, such as Hunjer and Skjern, west of Torvaldsland. this probably represents an influence from Cos, transmitted through merchants and seamen. In the north generally, mead, a drink made with fermented honey and water, and often spices and such, tends to be favored over paga." -- Vagabonds of Gor, page 16 A grain-based, distilled hard liquor akin to whiskey, served hot, usually served in a footed bowl. |
Palm wine | "Schendi's most significant exports are doubtless spice and hides, with kailiauk horn and horn products also being of great importance. One of her most delicious exports is palm wine." -- Explorers of Gor, page 115 "'He is a trained fighter, Kisu,' I said. 'Do not fight him.' 'What am I to do?' asked Kisu. 'My recommendation,' said Ayari, 'would be to stab him when he is not looking, or perhaps to poison his palm wine.'" -- Explorers of Gor, page 429 An export of the Schendi. |
Rence beer | "Steeped, boiled and fermented from the crushed seeds and the whitish pith of the rence plant." -- Raiders of Gor, page 18 "I had carried bowls of cut, fried fish, and wooden trays of roasted tarsk meat, and roasted gants, threaded on sticks, and rence cakes and porridges, and gourd flagons, many times replenished, of rence beer." -- Raiders of Gor, page 44 Made from the meaty pith of the rence plant, this fermented beverage is a favorite of the rencers. |
Slave wine | "It had been long since I had had a woman. 'Tab,' said I. 'Yes captain,' said he. 'The two females,' I told him, 'have recently been free. Accordingly, as soon as they are collared, force them to drink slave wine.' 'Yes Captain,' grinned Tab. Slave wine is bitter, intentionally so. It's effect last for more than a Gorean month. I did not wish the females to conceive. A female slave is taken off slave wine only when it is her master's intention to breed her." -- Marauders of Gor, pages 23 & 24 and 83 & 84 "'Have you had your slave wine?' asked Ina. 'Yes,' I said. This is not really wine, or an alcoholic beverage. It is called 'slave wine,' I think, for the amusement of the masters. It is extremely bitter. One draught of the substance is reputed to last until the administration of an appropriate 'releaser.' In spite of the belief, however, or perhaps in deference to tradition, lingering from earlier times, in which, it seems, less reliable "slave wines" were available, doses of this foul stuff are usually administered to the female slaves at regular intervals, usually once or twice a year." -- Dancer of Gor, page 174 Brewed from bitter herbs, this drink acts as a contraceptive for slave girls. It is drunk once per month in early books, but later books show a type that is only needed to be drunk once and then needing "second wine" to conteract the effects. |
Sul-paga | "I pressed my lips to the cup, and handed it to him. My eyes smarted. I almost felt drunk from the fumes. I withdrew. Sul paga is, when distilled, though the Sul itself is yellow, as clear as water. The Sul is a tuberous root of the Sul plant; it is a Gorean staple. The still, with its tanks and pipes, lay within the village.... 'Excellent,' said my master, sipping the Sul paga. He could have been commenting only on the potency of the drink, for Sul paga is almost tasteless. One does not guzzle Sul paga." -- Slave Girl of Gor, page 134 An alcohol made from suls and akin to vodka. This is the clear paga. Served from a footed bowl or goblet. |
Ta wine | "One girl held back our head, and others, from goblets, gave us of wines, Turian wine, sweet and thick, Ta wine, from the famed Ta grapes, from the terraces of Cos, wines even, Ka-la-nas, sweets and drys, from distant Ar." -- Tribesmen of Gor, page 213 "It was Ta wine, from the Ta grapes of the terraces of Cos. In the last year heavy import duties had been levied by the high council of Vonda against the wines of certain other cities, in particular against the Ka-la-nas of Ar." -- Fighting Slave of Gor, page 306 A dry wine made from Ta grapes from the Isle of Cos, served at room temperature, or warm, in a tankard or goblet. |
Turian wine & liqueurs | "A sweet, syrupy wine flavored and sugared to the point where one could
almost leave one's fingerprint on their surface." -- Nomads of Gor, pages 83 & 84 "One girl held back our head, and others, from goblets, gave us of wines, Turian wine, sweet and thick, Ta wine, from the famed Ta grapes, from the terraces of Cos, wines even, Ka-la-nas, sweets and drys, from distant Ar." -- Tribesmen of Gor, page 213 "She picked up the small tray from the stand near the table. On it was the small vessel containing a thick, sweet liqueur from distant Turia, the Ar of the south, and the two tiny glasses from which we had sipped it." -- Explorers of Gor, page 10 "The liqueurs of Turia are usually regarded as the best." -- Kajira of Gor, page 406 "Publius, to my surprise, selected a liqueur of Turia. 'Those of Turia are the best,' he said to Drusus Rencius, smiling, almost apologetically." -- Kajira of Gor, page 407 Sweet, thick beverages that are often considered the best on Gor. |
White wine | "In the hall was a open circle of small tables, at which a handful of guests, on cushions and mats, reclined. There were four men and two women at these tables, other than the Lady Florence, the hostess, and her guest of the past several days, the Lady Metpomene. The tables were covered with cloths of glistening white and a service of gold. Before each guest there were tiny slices of tospit and larma, small pastries, and in a tiny golden cup, with a small golden spoon, the clustered, black, tiny eggs of the white grunt. The first wine, a light white wine, was being deferentially served by Pamela and Bonnie. -- Fighting Slave of Gor, pages 275 & 276 Not mentioned by specific name, white wines did exist on Gor. |
Strength of Gorean wines | "This is not unusual at an inn. The proportions, then, would be one part paga to five parts water. Commonly, at a paga tavern, the paga would be cut less, or not cut at all. When wine is drunk with Gorean meals, at home, incidentally, it is almost always diluted, mixed with water in a krater. At a party of convivial supper the host, or elected feast master, usually determines the proportions of water to wine. Unmixed wine, of course, may be drunk, for example, at the parties of young men, at which might appear dancers, flute slaves and such. Many Gorean wines, it might be mentioned, if only by way of explanation, are very strong, often having an alcohol content by volume of forty to fifty percent." -- Renegades of Gor, page 70 |