DOSE
The taste was acrid and bitter. As the foul concoction slid down his throat. The burn that followed was only bearable due to the fact that his entire throat went numb before it began burning. The taste was something like a dark red wine. If that red wine had been aged in a spittoon used by cedar trees and mixed with dirt and motor oil. The only thing to save the foul fluid in the glass was the half a cup of pure maple syrup the bartender had poured into the glass with the shot of liquor that was, somehow, overpowering both the taste and texture of the syrup.
"What was this again?" said our protagonist as he did his very best to show his deep appreciation for the drink by nearly passing out.
"Well that be tannin wine."
"TANNING wine??"
"Eh close enough." 1: Said the bartender as he took the glass and, before our protagonist could reply, terribly... horribly... started pouring another glass of tannin wine. He sat it down in front of our protagonist who had always thought himself the kind of person who would never shy away from a challenge!
(He wasn't.)
He only flinched a little when he picked up the glass. Bringing it shakily to his lips as he eyed the bartender, sizing him up.
To help you in better visualizing the man that stood before our protagonist, dear reader, it is easiest to picture a mummy. That has only been PARTIALLY mummified starting from the mouth and radiating out. Wrinkled and tanned skin stretching out from dried lips. Hair absent from a leathery skalp and an angry look on his face as the bartender sizee him back through nearly mummified eyes.
Somehow, this glass of tannin wine was worse than the first. He'd managed to entirely block out his previous experience with the first glass. Which is to be expected when drinking something that tastes like a tree urinated in a glass of absinthe. His composure broke immediately and our protagonist, hacking and coughing, gladly accepted the glass of water from the laughing bartender.
"Haha, you're a good sport lad. Not many your age can even swallow a double dose! Props for getting it down boy!"
"wheeze a double dose?? weak cough"
"Of course lad! I start every morning with a double, or if the wind feels off that day, a triple! Tannin wine will cure any ailment! I've been having at least a glass a day for something like 85 years! Not so much as a sniffle or achy toe in all that time!"
"... How old are you?"
"Hahahaha!... Never ask me that."
Fun Fact! Tannin wine is used medicinally, recreationally, and practically! The leather produced with the popular recreational drink are often said to ward off spirts both evil and good! As well as prevent chafing and rashes!
This is funny because "Tannins" are a type of chemical that is traditionally used to tan leather. That are also, conveniently, able to be produced from tree bark.↩