Chapter 152

Foam Foam Foam Foam

Brewer’s Reputation: 4,646.

Dream Cutter Stone Shard Quest: 13,300/15,000 shards.

Experiencing a new Foam Cascade skill made me want to revisit each one of mine:

Crumble Cloud Level 503

Sticky Meringue Level 401

Silk Meringue Level 400

Wesley’s Dollop O’Fluff Level 400

Mellow Marshmallow Level 432

Pearl Bubbles Level 420

Static Light Level 682

Cream Shaved Ice Level 400

Greater Classic Level 466

Whipped White Level 400

Downy Dew Level 124

I was possessed with the desire to sit and brew the same beer over and over, but with different Foam Cascade skills each time. I chose the spring billy goat beer recipe which involved bottom fermenting yeast. It also required more use from my Brewer’s Chill which brought it up to level 1618.

I began after brewing and taking a sip of a Drunk Defiant attribute beer.

The malt of the spring billy goat beer was dark, icy, and sweet like birch sap. The malt was so chilled that it was buttery. The hops offered a woody tone, with aromas like freshly planed cedar shingles beaten with rain. Because I used ethereal yeast for the beer, I was overcome with a nostalgic feeling in place of experiencing taste. However accurate the nostalgia was, I didn’t know. It was as though I unlocked the memory of exploring an old attic in my family’s house in Lunstad when I was less than 10 years old. The window was stained from age and too much sunlight. There was a tweed couch there. I’d accidentally broken a corner of a window pane when I tried to solve the stuffiness of the space. But with the sudden ventilation, a breeze cleaned the air and I read a picture book on that couch.

Throughout my brewing session, I drank that nostalgia and it varied everytime.

The first Foam Cascade skill I used was Pearl Bubbles. The foam looked like miniature Sheltering Bubble suds—thousands of them. Their surfaces held a sheen like spilled oil on wet sidewalks: streaks of turmeric yellow, dusk pinks, metallic blues, venomous greens. Bubbles popped when I took sips. Those that didn’t pop bounced around my mouth. Pearl Bubbles rose 1 level.

I repeated the recipe but used Downy Dew. Going from one Foam Cascade sub skill to a different sub skill in the same recipe, back to back, gave me a lesson in how the skills affected the flavor of the beer. I was surprised to find that the beer tasted different. Whereas Pearl Bubbles brought out some of the resinous notes of the hops, Downy Dew subdued the fruity esters and made the malt come forward. Downy Dew was a wet foam. It was soft, like squishable foam droplets. They didn’t pop like Pearl Bubbles. They simply melted into vapors that were as humid as morning mist. Downy Dew rose 1 level.

Crumble Cloud was one of my favorites. I could only describe it as baking beer foam into something akin to shortbread. It was the most crumbly thing I’d ever had. When it crumbled, it melted immediately. If clouds could be made into pastry, then this sub skill offered a gateway to that recipe. If my teeth could grasp its thickness, I’m sure it would be as chewy as freshly baked sugar cookies. Crumble Cloud rose 1 level.

Greater Classic allowed the flavors of the beer to shine all on its own. The foam hushed as it formed a tall head that persevered. After sip, it looked like I’d taken a tiny shovel to the edge of the foam. Greater Classic rose 1 level.

Mellow Marshmallow brought out the malty sweetness of the beer. I was surprised to find that It overshadowed the hops. The foam was like I’d spooned a plop of whipped marshmallow onto the beer. Though soft, it was probably the thickest foam. It melted like hesitant cotton candy. For the briefest of moments, I was able to perform a single chew per sip. By far another one of my favorite Foam Cascade sub skills, however much disservice it did to that particular recipe. Mellow Marshmallow rose 1 level.

Cream Shaved ice, on the other hand, paired beautifully with the spring billy goat beer. The foam was like a stack of ice crystals. Within each ice crystal was trapped a filament of creamed beer foam. It brought out peach and pear esters of the malt. I suspected it was the best pairing for the recipe. I couldn’t see how the rest of my sub skills could beat it. As if Dellia Lucerne herself was telling me I was right, my quality tier rose to 86/100 Lesser Honorable. Cream Shaved Ice rose 2 levels.

Sticky Meringue didn’t compare, but it was close. And it was perhaps the tallest tower of beer foam. The top curled like a wizard’s hat. The foam was silky smooth and I could bite into it. I tasted wood and hops and bread made from dark adjunct grains. In turn, more of the bready flavors were brought out of the malt, and the nostalgic visions came on stronger. Sticky Meringue rose 1 level.

Whipped White was a softer version of Sticky Meringue. It was perhaps the strongest of all foams. The bubbles were the smallest. The taste was the most transparent. It didn’t embellish the flavors of the beer, nor subdue them. It simply added a texture that hissed when it was touched. Whipped White rose 1 level.

Silk Meringue was firmer, like something that could be scooped with a spoon. Which is exactly what I did. I consumed the first few sips of the beer like an ice cream float. The foam was sweeter than the previous and it melted into ribbons of sweet syrup. Silk Meringue rose 1 level.

After a sip of mana ale, I then brewed a recipe of the spring billy goat beer with Wesley’s Dollop O’Fluff foam. By far the most intriguing of all the sub skills. It looked like stacked filaments of pure white fluff. When I moved my filled silver boot around, filaments flew away like feathers. When I dunked my face in the foam, it felt like I sank my face into a pillow made of condensed clouds. Wesley’s Dollop O’Fluff rose 1 level.

The last skill I used was Static Light. It was the loudest of all foams. It sounded almost like the crashing of a sea against a coast. It was quick to dissipate. It threw off millions of small sparks of light and tingled the tongue. It made the strangest pairing with the beer. It made the whole thing taste saltier. I made a mental note to try it with a gush ale recipe next time. Static Light rose 1 level.

I then reached quality tier 90/100 Lesser Honorable. Foam Cascade then broke into silver rank at 1002. With it came 5 new sub skills:

Erupting Streams Level 01

Black Greater Classic Level 01

Sleeping Fox Familiar (Legendary) Level 01

Warm Nougat Level 01

Grains Like Sand Level 01