Cooking Skyrim: Alcohol

    When looking at alcoholic beverages, TES: Skyrim seems at first to provide a fair variety of options.  It has mead, wine, ale, and a number of fantasy liquors.  However, the basic ingredients are quite limited, and not much in-universe information is given about the different drinks (flavor, etc.) to help distinguish them.

    Since the only cereal grown in the province of Skyrim appears to be Wheat, we can assume that the ales are a kind of wheat beer, rather than the more common barley beers.  Because they are labeled "ale" rather than "beer," we can also assume that these beverages are made with gruit, rather than hops.  While it isn't terribly difficult to find wheat beer for sale, it is much harder to find ale or "gruit beer," and nearly impossible to find a beverage that is both.  I certainly don't intend to brew my own ale or beer, but I might cook with some, or offer samples to friends.  So what to do?

    For those planning to serve Skyrim beverages, my suggestion is to find a Belgian witbier, such as a lambic—which, unfortunately, is very much a "hops-forward" beer.  Those with the time and money to shop around might instead try one of several spruce tip-flavored ales made by small local breweries.  It looks like both Samuel Adams and Dogfish Head have made gruit-style products in the past, but they don't seem to be available as of writing (May 2025); check your local supplier, though, and feel free to look on places like eBay.

    The only type of ale I remember being singled out is Argonian Ale, which presumably is made by (or for?) the Argonians of Black Marsh.  What exactly that means is unclear, but one NPC seems to think it is "the good stuff," so it may be a high-quality variety of ale.  Given the Argonians' in-universe resistance to poison, we can at least assume their ale is stronger than the common stuff found in Skyrim.  I'd offer tasters a strong ale, like "barley wine," as an approximation.

    There is also Mazte (misspelled "Matze" in the game), from the Dragonborn add-on, which is a kind of ale from Morrowind.  The dark elves living on the island of Solstheim are known to trade in it, though it is virtually non-existent on mainland Skyrim.  It is made from Saltrice, which as far as I can tell is salt-rice, i.e. a salt-tolerant strain of rice.  Most rice is fairly sensitive to salinity levels, but apparently there are some varieties (such as pokkali rice) which can tolerate it.  However, only with the Rare Curios Creation is any saltrice available to the player in non-alcoholic form, and only then as an exotic ingredient imported from far away in small amounts.  We won't be making rice pudding any time soon, is what I'm saying.  Still, rice beer is available to buy in the game, so a rice-based baijiu might be an appropriate stand-in.

    Skyrim's wine is almost certainly all made from Jazbay Grapes, a staple in the eastern volcanic regions of the province.  There are Red and Green Apples, raising the possibility of cider-making; but I don't recall ever seeing any cider in the game.  Jazbay grapes look to be inspired by Concord grapes, which are often made into sweet-tasting kosher or sacramental wines.  I would visit or call local wine shops (or wineries, if you have them) and ask about Concord grape wine.  If that doesn't yield results, you could serve any sweet red wine, especially one with a dark or musty flavor.

    There are several types of wine in the game, including: Alto Wine (formerly so rare as to be restricted by law); Argonian Bloodwine (flavored with bergamot and foxglove!); Shein (made from "comberries"); and Spiced Wine (no spices specified).  Comberries are a bitter red berry from Morrowind, and the dark elves apparently prefer the wine both bitter and sour.  Like saltrice and mazte, the drink and its source plant are both vanishingly rare on mainland Skyrim.  I'm not sure what kind of wine would best represent shein—maybe a sauvignon blanc?—but it should be tart or "crisp," and dry rather than sweet.

    Mead is probably the third-most common type of alcoholic beverage in Skyrim.  Traditional mead is made of honey, water, and yeast; most commerical "meads" on the market are fruit-based wines with honey added to them.  For most people, a honeyed wine is more economical than tracking down one of the few breweries that produces traditional mead, and for cosplayers or party-goers, that's what I recommend.  Skyrim also features mead with juniper berries, which would be a kind of melomel (mead with fruit).

    Brandy, or distilled wine, is found in Skyrim, albeit rarely.  The type mentioned is Colovian Brandy, which is apparently a fine brew manufactured in the Imperial south.  I don't usually think of brandy as being Italian, but I guess I can imagine a pomace brandy.  There is also Flin, a Cyrodilic whiskey, and Sujamma, a strong liquor of unknown provenance, both of which are popular in Morrowind and Solstheim but practically unknown on mainland Skyrim.

    Non-cereal alcoholic beverages might exist; for example, there are plenty of Potatoes in Skyrim, so potato-based vodka or beer would be perfectly reasonable.  Likewise, the milk produced by Goats and Cows could be used to make kumis or kefir.  Some sort of rum based on Moon Sugar is also a plausible option, and an NPC mentions rum from Hammerfell.  I'm not aware of any in the game, however.

    Beer, cider, rum, and gin have all been present in other The Elder Scrolls games; since I'm only dealing with Skyrim here, I can't comment on their ingredients or flavors.