Alcohol

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v50.14 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF. Note that some content may still need to be updated. More Info · V

Alcohol is the favored drink of the dwarves; a dwarf will drink booze an average of five times per season to satisfy their thirst, and although they can subsist on water, without booze, they will work increasingly slowly. Dwarves like to have some variety in what they drink, and will garner a bad thought if they are forced to drink the same variety of drink repeatedly ("has been tired of drinking the same old booze lately"). Every dwarf likewise has preferences for various types of drinks. Thus alcohol is important both for maintaining your fortress (at a minimum) and (with some investment in variety) for keeping your dwarves happy.

Alcohol can also be used as an ingredient for prepared meals. However, meals made with alcohol no longer cause your dwarves to get drunk, and will not sate their thirst.

Acquisition

Where adults drink, and children play. No matter the age, alcohol is always important.

A booze stockpile at work. ASCII mode.

Most crops and fruit trees in the game can have their produce turned into drink, and, thus, most drink is sourced from dwarven farming, both indoors and out. Most of the plants gathered from the wild can also be used for brewing, but the reduced yields relative to farming makes it a less ideal solution, though the added variety of drinks can make it worthwhile. Drinks can be sourced at embarkation, and taking at least a few barrels with you is recommended to hold your initial dwarves over until you can build a still. Caravans always bring some drinks along as well, although not enough to support a reasonably large fortress. Finally, honey acquired through beekeeping can be brewed into alcoholic mead, the only form of drink that is not derived from plants or fruit.

The most direct way to acquire the booze itself is through a still; large fortresses will usually have one or more dedicated brewers keeping the dwarven drinks cellar well-stocked. To brew a drink, a brewer will need an empty watertight container of some kind (either a barrel or large pot) and a stack of brewables. Each brewing job produces five units of alcohol per brewable item, and deposits the alcohol in the container, recovering any plant seeds in the process. The size of a stack does not affect how long it takes to brew it, which is based entirely on the brewer's skill, making brewing jobs performed on large stacks much more efficient than those done on individual consumables. Stacks of alcohol do not have quality levels, and the strength of a happy thought obtained by drinking alcohol is based entirely on the value of the drink (including the stack size) and the dwarf's personal preferences.

Mechanics

Dwarven thirst is constrained by the important [ALCOHOL_DEPENDENT] creature token, which causes them to suffer severe performance penalties when deprived of alcohol. "Dry" dwarves increasingly lose walking speed and attack speed. Alcohol withdrawal appears in the dwarf's thoughts and preferences as "starting to work slowly due to its scarcity" after 3 months, "really wants a drink" after 6 months, "has gone without a drink for far, far too long" after 9 months, and finally "can't even remember the last time he/she had some" after an entire year. Precisely how much dwarves trudge their feet due to alcohol withdrawal is unknown.

Even with a well installed, dwarves going to drink will prioritize alcohol over water. Citizens and residents of other species will also choose alcoholic drinks if available, regardless of their alcohol dependency or immoderation.

All creatures can theoretically survive drinking nothing but alcohol for their entire lives, though they may be subject to alcohol poisoning due to not having the same tolerance level as dwarves. Neither dwarves nor any other race of creature will accept an alcohol ration if resting in a hospital, and must instead be given fresh water until they recover. Water may also be given to busy dwarves that become thirsty.^Bug:2448

Vampire dwarves are just as alcohol-dependent as the mortal kind. Despite this, in fortress mode, they will only ever drink blood, ensuring they eventually suffer withdrawal, even if your pantry is stocked to the brim with every beverage imaginable. This does not stop tavern keepers from giving them drink, if such is available inside the tavern.

Despite popular belief, setting booze on fire will not cause it to explode, but exposing it to high temperatures will cause it to boil away. If the container is flammable, it (and, subsequently, the booze) will be consumed by fire; magma-safe containers would never be destroyed by magma, but any booze inside will likely quickly perish due to heat transfer (unless the container is made of nether-cap).

Alcohol, like all other liquids, does not have a quality modifier. The level of happy thought generated by drinking a preferred alcohol is dependent upon the value of the entire stack of alcohol.^[1])

Dwarves prefer drinking alcohol out of a mug, cup, or goblet, and will receive an unhappy thought for drinking alcohol without one of these three vessel types, which may be placed in coffers in designated taverns. Visitors will drink alcohol too.

Alcohol poisoning

Over-consumption of alcohol can lead to harmful syndromes, progressing to inebriation, unconsciousness, and death. Each individual has their own tolerance level based on their size (with dwarves having 1.5× the resistance for their size) and each individual will consume more or less according to their need to drink. Mysterious deaths from suffocation in your taverns are most likely cases of acute alcohol poisoning. Note that the lethal effects of alcohol poisoning are caused by impairing the function of a creature's lungs, making creatures that lack lungs, or the need to breathe, immune to death from alcohol poisoning.

List of alcohol

Plump Helmets grow slowly, and dwarves reuse the seeds after consuming the wine.

Dwarven Ale.

Ingredient	Beverage produced	Beverage value	Type	Source	Source2
Plump helmet	Dwarven wine	2	Plant-based	Indoors	Crop
Pig tail	Dwarven ale	2		Indoors	Crop
Cave wheat	Dwarven beer	2		Indoors	Crop
Sweet pod	Dwarven rum	2		Indoors	Crop
Muck root	Swamp whiskey	1		Outdoors	Crop
Bloated tuber	Tuber beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Prickle berry	Prickle berry wine	1		Outdoors	Crop
Longland grass	Longland beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Rat weed	Sewer brew	1		Outdoors	Crop
Fisher berry	Fisher berry wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Rope reed	River spirits	2		Outdoors	Crop
Sliver barb	Gutter cruor	1		Outdoors	Crop
Sun berry	Sunshine	5		Outdoors	Crop
Whip vine	Whip wine	3		Outdoors	Crop
Beet	Beetroot wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Wild carrot	Carrot wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Cassava	Cassava beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Parsnip	Parsnip wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Potato	Potato wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Radish	Radish wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Sweet potato	Sweet potato wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Turnip	Turnip wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Single-grain wheat	Single-grain wheat beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Two-grain wheat	Two-grain wheat beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Soft wheat	Soft wheat beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Hard wheat	Hard wheat beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Spelt	Spelt beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Barley	Barley wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Buckwheat	Buckwheat beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Rye	Rye beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Sorghum	Sorghum beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Rice	Rice beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Maize	Maize beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Quinoa	Quinoa beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Kaniwa	Kaniwa beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Pendant amaranth	Pendant amaranth beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Blood amaranth	Blood amaranth beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Purple amaranth	Purple amaranth beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Pearl millet	Pearl millet beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
White millet	White millet beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Finger millet	Finger millet beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Foxtail millet	Foxtail millet beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Fonio	Fonio beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Teff	Teff beer	2		Outdoors	Crop
Apple	Apple cider	2	Fruit-based	Outdoors	Tree
Apricot	Apricot wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Banana	Banana beer	2		Outdoors	Tree
Bayberry	Bayberry wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Carambola	Carambola wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Cherry	Cherry wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Custard-apple	Custard-apple cider	2		Outdoors	Tree
Date	Date wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Durian	Durian wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Guava	Guava wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Lychee	Lychee wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Mango	Mango wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Papaya	Papaya wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Peach	Peach cider	2		Outdoors	Tree
Pear	Perry	2		Outdoors	Tree
Persimmon	Persimmon wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Plum	Plum wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Pomegranate	Pomegranate wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Rambutan	Rambutan wine	2		Outdoors	Tree
Sand pear	Sand pear cider	2		Outdoors	Tree
Artichoke	Artichoke wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Tomato	Tomato wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Tomatillo	Tomatillo wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Passion fruit	Passion fruit wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Grape	Wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Cranberry	Cranberry wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Bilberry	Bilberry wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Blueberry	Blueberry wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Blackberry	Blackberry wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Raspberry	Raspberry wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Pineapple	Pineapple wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Strawberry	Strawberry wine	2		Outdoors	Crop
Honey	Mead	1	Animal-based	Outdoors	Apiary

Modding

Any item of type DRINK:NONE is considered to be an alcoholic beverage as far as the game is concerned, regardless of the material used. Thus, if you were to make a reaction which produces drinks of, say, elf blood, your dwarves would happily chug them down, sating their alcohol dependency in the process. Note that DRINK items don't cause inebriation symptoms by themselves; these are dependent on a syndrome associated with the consumed substance (see the PLANT_ALCOHOL_TEMPLATE raws below for an example). However, you could always add this syndrome, or another one of your own design, to the material you want to use.

Bugs

Cooks will only cook alcohol and other fluids as a last resort, instead preferring to cook solid foods with solid foods. ^Bug:2393 For more information, see the kitchen page.

See also

• Alcohol plant stockpile — Brewery input stockpile helper page
• Brewer
• Beekeeping industry
• Crop
• Thirst

Raws

[MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:PLANT_ALCOHOL_TEMPLATE] [STATE_COLOR:ALL_SOLID:BROWN] [STATE_NAME:ALL_SOLID:frozen alcohol] [STATE_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:frozen alcohol] [STATE_COLOR:LIQUID:BROWN] [STATE_NAME:LIQUID:alcohol] [STATE_ADJ:LIQUID:alcohol] [STATE_COLOR:GAS:BROWN] [STATE_NAME:GAS:boiling alcohol] [STATE_ADJ:GAS:boiling alcohol] [DISPLAY_COLOR:6:0:0] [MATERIAL_VALUE:1] [SPEC_HEAT:2440] [IGNITE_POINT:10800] [MELTING_POINT:9850] [BOILING_POINT:10150] [HEATDAM_POINT:NONE] [COLDDAM_POINT:NONE] [MAT_FIXED_TEMP:NONE] [SOLID_DENSITY:789] [LIQUID_DENSITY:789] [MOLAR_MASS:20000] [IMPACT_YIELD:10000] [IMPACT_FRACTURE:10000] [IMPACT_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:100] [COMPRESSIVE_YIELD:10000] [COMPRESSIVE_FRACTURE:10000] [COMPRESSIVE_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:100] [TENSILE_YIELD:10000] [TENSILE_FRACTURE:10000] [TENSILE_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:100] [TORSION_YIELD:10000] [TORSION_FRACTURE:10000] [TORSION_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:100] [SHEAR_YIELD:6600] used high salinity ice [SHEAR_FRACTURE:6600] [SHEAR_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:100] [BENDING_YIELD:10000] [BENDING_FRACTURE:10000] [BENDING_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:100] [MAX_EDGE:500] [ABSORPTION:100] [ALCOHOL_PLANT] [SYNDROME] [SYN_NAME:inebriation] [SYN_IDENTIFIER:INEBRIATION] [SYN_AFFECTED_CLASS:GENERAL_POISON] [SYN_INGESTED] [SYN_INJECTED] [SYN_NO_HOSPITAL] [SYN_CONCENTRATION_ADDED:100:1000] [CE_NAUSEA:SEV:35:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:120:PEAK:480:END:1200:DWF_STRETCH:4] [CE_DIZZINESS:SEV:50:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:20:PEAK:240:END:600:DWF_STRETCH:4] for ataxia [CE_UNCONSCIOUSNESS:SEV:25:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:120:PEAK:480:END:1200:DWF_STRETCH:4] [CE_CHANGE_PERSONALITY:FACET:BASHFUL:-50:FACET:PRIVACY:-50:FACET:BRAVERY:25:FACET:CONFIDENCE:25:FACET:POLITENESS:-25:FACET:THOUGHTLESSNESS:25:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:10:PEAK:120:END:480:DWF_STRETCH:4] [CE_FEEL_EMOTION:EMOTION:EUPHORIA:SEV:75:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:10:PEAK:120:END:480:DWF_STRETCH:4] [CE_ERRATIC_BEHAVIOR:SEV:50:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:10:PEAK:120:END:480:DWF_STRETCH:4] [CE_IMPAIR_FUNCTION:SEV:20:BP:BY_TYPE:BREATHE:ALL:PROB:100:SIZE_DILUTES:START:120:PEAK:480:END:1200:DWF_STRETCH:4]

V · T · E Industries
Primary	Beekeeping · Farming · Fishing · Gathering · Meat · Poultry · Stone · Wood
Secondary	Alcohol · Armor · Arms · Ceramic · Extract · Finished goods · Fuel · Furniture · Gem · Glass · Metal · Paper · Soap · Textile
Tertiary	Military · Health care · Noble · Trade · Tavern
Quaternary	Library · Temple

V · T · E Materials
More: Gems • Metals • Stones
Creature	Blood • Bone • Cartilage • Cheese • Chitin • Egg • Fat • Feather • Hair (Wool • Yarn) • Hoof • Horn • Ichor • Leather • Milk • Meat • Nail • Nervous tissue • Organs • Parchment • Pearl • Scale • Shell • Silk • Skin • Spit • Sweat • Tallow • Tears • Tooth • Wax
Plant	Fiber (Paper • Slurry) • Flower • Fruit • Leaf • Oil • Plant powders (Dye • Flour • Sugar) • Seed (Press cake) • Wood
Creature/Plant	Alcohol • Cloth/Thread • Extract (Golden salve • Gnomeblight • Honey • Royal jelly • Syrup • Venom) • Glob • Liquids • Soap
Inorganic	Metal • Milk of lime • Soil (Clay • Sand) • Stone (Ash glaze • Earthenware • Gem • Gypsum plaster • Porcelain • Quicklime • Stoneware • Tin glaze)
Hardcoded	Amber • Ash • Coral • Filth • Fuel • Glass • Grime • Ice • Lye • Magma • Mud • Pearlash • Potash • Salt • Unknown substance • Vomit • Water
See also: Material science