PILSWERKE BREW CAVE (“PILSWERK”)

• Address: Outside of the Town Wall of Morningstar
• Surroundings: A switch-back mule track climbs from Morningstar’s north gate to the abandoned survey adit where the brewery is cut into Atrana basalt. A small barley-terrace test plot and a weather shack (hydro sensor mast) sit outside the portal.

Hollowed in February 2627 by founder Gerhard Lentz, the cave brewery fused Old-Earth Reinheitsgebot rigour with mountain geology. Two hand-riveted copper kettles and eight stone-sleeved lagering tanks yielded Lebensfreude Lager — only 25 × 50 L kegs per quarter, all raffled by public lottery. Where Space Drinks Inc. drowned thirst with ubiquitous Space Beer, Lebensfreude became a bragging-rights pour. The plant ran until nationalisation in mid-2631; the Federal Allotment Agency stripped the equipment, leaving behind a chilled, echoing tunnel.

Construction Material: Tunnel walls are raw, self-sealing basalt; brew gear is cryo-tube copper and recycled alloy struts.

• Floors: Single sloped gallery (~55 m long) plus a cross-cut lagering vault and a cliff-edge tasting niche.
• Design Purpose: Exploit the stable 8 °C down-draft to lager without active cooling. Steam vents exit through drill holes, producing faint “beer-whistles” on windy days.
• Power Source: Minimal — one 3 kW QFB ran the mash paddles and lantern string; all cooling and CO₂ scrubbing are passive.

Main Tunnel (gentle decline, rail-tie floor)

• Mash Bench: Malt mill, mash tun (1 000 L), lauter-grant buckets.
• Copper Kettles “Faith & Patience”: Direct-fire burners repurposed from shuttle thrusters.
• Hop Back & Whirlpool Drum: Ironroot-hop dosing before chill.
• Admin Alcove: Roll-top desk, lottery ledger, wax stamp rack, spare keg badges.

Cross-Cut Lagering Vault

• Tank Row (Alpha–Theta): Eight vertical 3 000 L basalt-sleeved tanks; gravity-fed from kettle deck.
• Yeast Lab Nook: Stone workbench, microscope, clay yeast crocks.
• Grain Loft: Rope-hoist mezzanine storing 1-ton sacks of Atrana malt.

Cliff-Edge Tasting Ledge

• Cantilevered timber deck with three keg stands and a view across the Arla headwater gorge.
• Lottery Table: Six rough-hewn stools for quarterly winners; a Butler Bot once manned the tap.

Copper breath and steamed barley coat the chilled air; water drips rhythmic bass-notes into a floor trench. Lantern-glow flickers across basalt ribs, making the tank row resemble sentry giants. Outside, wind singing through the vent-pipes merges with distant glacier creaks—a monkish hush broken only by kettle hiss and badge presses.

Exohuman Staff

• Gerhard Lentz (Brewmaster): Formulates grist, controls decoction rests, keeps the yeast lineage pure.
• Cellarman (1): Cleans tanks, racks green beer, weighs keg fills.
• Grain Porter (1 – 2, seasonal): Packs Atrana-barley sacks up the rail-tie track.
• Lottery Clerk (1, part-time): Records tavern entries, draws winners, collects 250 K fees.

Automated Staff

• Butler Bot – Ledge Tap (1): Poured 0.25 L tasting half-pints, embossed keg badges. Unit seized 2631.
• Cleaning Bot (1): Nightly tank-spray and gallery sweep.

• Lottery Draw & Tasting: 2nd Saturday each quarter, 13:00-16:00.
• Grain Deliveries: Mon & Fri 07:00-09:00 (mule or cart).
• Brew Days: Decoction mash starts 05:00; boil by noon; knock-out by dusk.

• Steel Bar Gate: Locked after sunset; keys with Lentz & Clerk.
• Badge-Match Ledger: No keg leaves tunnel without matching wax badge & ledger line.
• Mountain Patrols: Guarding Troopers rarely climb this high—security relied on isolation.

Legal interactions:

• Deliver Malt or Glacier-Ice: Help Porters wrestle supplies up the slippery track.
• Courier Pick-Up: Collect lottery kegs as a New Kourou Courier Service employee under Clerk’s eye; sign wax-seal receipts.
• QFB Service Call: As a NKRS tech, swap the gallery’s single 3 kW QFB.
• Lottery Tasting: Present a valid badge, sample the brew, trade stories with elite publicans.

Illegal interactions:

• Tap a lagering tank at night to fill contraband casks.
• Forge additional keg badges to “create” phantom lottery winnings.
• Kidnap Lentz’s yeast crocks for a rival micro-brew ring.

• Keg-Snatch Ambush: Players escort the last pre-nationalisation kegs down the track—bandits want the liquid legend.
• Basalt Flood: Spring thaw ruptures an ice lens, water surges into the vault; rescue yeast, gear, and trapped workers before everything chills to ruin.

• Beta Age
• Free State of Settlers
• Morningstar
• Pilswerke Inc.
• Space Drinks Inc. – mass-market rival
• Mikulíć Inc.
• Federal Beverages Manufactory (Gamma Age)

Beverages of Pilswerke Inc.:

• Lebensfreude Lager