Gargle Blaster: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|''"Never drink any drink with a [[Umbrella Drink|paper umbrella]] in it, never drink any drink with a humorous name, and never drink any drink that changes colour when the last ingredient goes in."''

 

A drink so potent the whole room hushes when someone orders it. The bartender pales and asks, "Are you sure?", and then, after putting on a welding mask and asbestos gloves, takes the bottle out of a locked safe and pours it with tongs. When the stirring spoon is removed, [[Ate the Spoon|it's been melted away]], and the ice cubes jump out with a yelp when dropped into it. And that's just the beginning of the fun.

{{quote|"A lot of stories are told about scumble, and how it is made out on the damp marshes, according to ancient recipes passed down rather unsteadily from father to son. [[Noodle Implements|It's not true about the rats, or the snakes' heads, or the lead shot. The one about the dead sheep is a complete fabrication. We can lay to rest all the variants of the one about the trouser button]]. But the one about not letting it come into contact with metal is absolutely true..."}}

** As everyone knows, there's no danger of encountering watered-down scumble — because scumble reacts explosively when it contacts water.

*** Rendered very amusingly in the "Big Comic" edition where the view cuts to the horrified customers exclaiming "A ''pint''?!?" in hushed tones when Mort places his order.

** See the [[Real Life]] section below for the drink scumble is based on.

*** Also mentioned is the rotgut brewed by and flogged to soldiers, hangman (one drop and you're dead!)

** Trolls also have a drink called luglarr, or "Big Hammer", a variant of Troll beer made by adding certain metallic salts to the drink that manages to make it even ''more'' dangerous—very hard to do. The result is ''roughly'' the same as scumble, to the effect that anyone who can't simply be pushed over minutes after drinking some is considered almost preternaturally resistant to its effects, even by other trolls. To sum up: this stuff ''etches pavement'' (and remember, trolls are pretty much ''made of rock'').

** An early ''Discworld'' book mentions the mountain farmers making a strong real-life liquor called applejack by putting buckets of cider out in the winter and letting everything but the alcohol freeze.

** In the Tiffany Aching series, there is the often-referred-to "special sheep liniment", a type of moonshine whisky which all the sheep-farmers keep around for cold nights; it is said to put hair on your chest. It is often speculated by people who are unfamiliar with it what would happen if one were to actually give it to a sheep, with the implication usually coming back that they are not sure, but it probably wouldn't be good.

* Maple mead from [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Vorkosigan]]'' series is always discussed with trepidation by the main characters. The Dendarii mountain folk, who are backwards even for a backwards planet like Barrayar, don't mess around with their alcohol. In moderation, the drink doesn't have much kick. The first glass or two taste sickly sweet, the next few glasses taste pretty good... and then you wake up the next morning with a killer hangover.

* The [[Zero Punctuation|Yahtzee]] novel ''Fog Juice'' is named for the Gargle Blaster prepared by the protagonist to solve problems. It is said to be a recipe passed down through generations of university students, which can be summed up as every bottle in the kitchen plus a large mixing bowl. Its main advantage is that when you come round, whatever unfortunate situation you were in will definitely have resolved itself—however, you may have a few new problems, the least of which is working out where you are and how you got there. It also renders you completely immune to all other forms of alcohol in the future, even notoriously evil Pirate Grog. And {{spoiler|allows you to access the collective human unconsciousness with an avatar of your inner self. For the main character, this is a terrifying floating mass of tentacles which are themselves made of vomit. The female lead, in disgust, wonders pointedly what this says about him.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:This Is Your Index On Drugs]]

[[Category:Hard-Drinking Tropes]]

[[Category:Food Tropes]]