u/ArmQueerFolk

Ahoy hoy. I'm a nerd who has recently gotten into making a couple different fermented things (I've got a mean passion fruit wine recipe, a couple really good ciders, and a kvass that's ... coming togther, I'm still tweaking it lol) and it's been a side project on my channel recently, I made a quick little "how to hooch" episode and I'm planning on doing a much longer one with animated concepts and recipes. It's part of a larger series on community support projects and community defense, including DIY MRE's.

Someone on my channel's discord messaged me asking about "Survival Beer," specifically meaning taking the very old recipes of low-alcohol beer that people subsisted on in a large part, modifying them with modern knowledge of things like anti-oxidants, micronutrients, and complex nutrition models and create a product specifically as a "boost" for the end of a long hike or at the end of an exhausting day.

I've found references to the historical use of beer as a subsistence food, but I've found just as much myth being repeated as actual fact and sourcing has been hard (if you have any good sources please feel free to share!) and I would really appreciate your perspective on ideas for producing a "Ration Beer/Cider/Wine/Drink of some kind" - something fermented, something that would be a morale boost to drink, but importantly something that would reinforce the body as much as possible. I get that alcohol is inherently a poison and there are limits to what that reinforcement can be, but assume the morale boost of something with a little alcohol is likely to happen anyway.

I run a channel that does a lot of firearm educational content and videos on mutual aid concepts as well as DIY projects. I recently did an episode on simple hooch, and I’m planning a larger overall “DIY wine” episode after a lot more work and research.

Someone from my channel’s discord asked about calorie-dense survival beer, and that got me fascinated with the idea of brewing as a survival craft. So I am curious if anyone in here has any experience with either consuming it or making it, and if so can you share those experiences below? What do you change in the brew process? Are there any specific resources you think I should look at for more information? What unique ingredients would you recommend for a brew trying to be as calorie and nutrient dense as it can?

EDIT: OK, little bit of useful education, in most contexts "survival" does not mean apocalypse nowadays it means something useful for trips in the woods. Long-form rucking and long distance camping, especially hunting trips, often will be supported by things that use that wording. "Survival food" in that case is not intended for an apocalypse as much as intended to be dense, easy to pack, and provide enough support for while you are out in the woods. A "survival knife" isn't something that can only be used once there's been a nuclear apocalypse it's a knife with additional tools for the woods added to it to reduce the amount of space needed in your sustainment pack. A "survival straw" is just a straw with a built in filter so you can drink from a river (or, more importantly, gather a small bag of now-filtered water to use instead of bringing the water with you with all the weight that that would add to your pack.) I'm not talking about apocalypses!