Which of these would be stronger, in your not-so-humble opinion?

Orc liquor because in my head orcs're these big, stout fellows that can drink straight from a sewer without suffering for it--it takes a lot of alcohol to get them even remotely drunk. They can outdrink a dwarf any day.

All of them... the reason being that each one is designed for a particular physiology and if you don't have that physiology it will have different effects on you... so each one is stronger to each race than their own variety.

I imagine Orcs are pretty much desensitized to anything, so their booze would have to be exceptionally strong to have any effect on them. They are also raging sado-masochists.

By this logic, the rank from strong to wussy would be:

Orc > Dwarf > Elf > Human > Halfling.

But according to Peter Jackson, it would likely be more:

Orc > Elf > Dwarf > Halfling > Human.

Possibly because all halflings do all day is drinking and smoking. And elves are robot.

Just my very humble opinion.

I'm voting for the Orcs. They're big, so it needs to be stronger to have an effect.

I'm thinking dwarves actually. I just picture them chilling in their meadhall, sitting around their long table bashing their barrel-like mugs against each others', and the puddles of spilled beers are literally ankle deep on the stone floor.

As for orcs I see them hunched around a campfire, each of them clutching a giant piece of drumstick of unknown origin, and just tearing into them without a word or even a cup of ale; because screw being merry and drunk, it's all about the meat.

In my fantasy world it would be Orcs, Dwarf, Human, Elf, Halfling.

Orcs for the many reasons stated above by people not quite so humble as I.

My elves are wild and eat anything, including fermented/ decaying things all the time. What they can drink would kill an orc.

Boxed elves, though, would probably rank between dwarves and humans.

bongalak said:

As for orcs I see them hunched around a campfire, each of them clutching a giant piece of drumstick of unknown origin, and just tearing into them without a word or even a cup of ale; because screw being merry and drunk, it's all about the meat.

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ROFL. PERFECT.

I answered orcs; I was thinking dwarves until I saw orcs were an option ("Psh, no contest," thought I). It's the big, brawny factor.

Originally I thought Dwarves or Orcs, but on second thought: Elves.

Elves seem like exactly the types that would have this incredibly intoxicating drink that only they can handle without instantly keeling over. They'd probably have a lot of fun challenging larger, more macho races to drinking contests.

It'd be interesting if orcs didn't metabolize alcohol as efficiently as other species, so couldn't handle it as well even though they're large and brawny. Maybe that's why they're stereotyped as being brutish and angry all the time?

I can totally picture orcs swilling beer that is far nastier than other people's though. The skunky smells-like-rat-pee kind.

In a local linear LRP game I used to play, elf and dwarf alcohol affected humans by giving them massive hallucinations or knocking them immediately unconscious or one of many random effects...

I would say halflings are higher on the scale of hardiness, though. They are actually quite tough and drink a lot more than humans. I think they are more on lines with the dwarves.

It depends on what these races are like in your setting, but I'd imagine orcs to have real spoon-cleaning, make-you-go-blind stuff, which they can make anywhere out of anything, because getting blind drunk is the only release they have from the unpleasantness of orc society.

Dwarves would have pretty strong stuff as well, but they'd approach it differently--it would be matured for hundreds of years in great casks stacked row upon row in forgotten halls of stone.

Dwarf liquor, because Dwarves are stereotypically some of the hardiest people out there. Not only physically, but also mentally as well. I imagine they'd need something super strong to get properly drunk.

areteus said:

All of them... the reason being that each one is designed for a particular physiology and if you don't have that physiology it will have different effects on you... so each one is stronger to each race than their own variety.

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^This

I'll vote for humans just because we're stupid enough to concoct the nastiest, most potent thing possible and see who can down it the fastest.

It really all depends on your setting...

Stereotype-wise, I voted orc, because honestly, for some reason I would think an "evil" race would have more potent booze. Don't ask me to make that make sense. That said, in my WIP orcs aren't evil, and are actually rather smart and un-orc-like, by most standards. But I digress...

I would say Orc > Dwarf > Elf > Halfling > Human. Last two perhaps interchangeable. Orcs have the nastiness to want super-potency, and dwarfs and elfs would have the age/experience and possibly magic to have the know-how to make super-old, super-strong liquor. Humans and halflings, by contrast, don't really have anything in their favor...humans have inventiveness, and halflings have passion for the subject matter. Neither really compare to magic or experience, hence their place at the bottom of my mental list.

Korak_Karnar said:

It really all depends on your setting...

Stereotype-wise, I voted orc, because honestly, for some reason I would think an "evil" race would have more potent booze. Don't ask me to make that make sense. That said, in my WIP orcs aren't evil, and are actually rather smart and un-orc-like, by most standards. But I digress...

I would say Orc > Dwarf > Elf > Halfling > Human. Last two perhaps interchangeable. Orcs have the nastiness to want super-potency, and dwarfs and elfs would have the age/experience and possibly magic to have the know-how to make super-old, super-strong liquor. Humans and halflings, by contrast, don't really have anything in their favor...humans have inventiveness, and halflings have passion for the subject matter. Neither really compare to magic or experience, hence their place at the bottom of my mental list.

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That actually makes pretty good sense to me...

Well, according to Peter Jackson, who must be right:

Orc liquor really, really sucks -- ask Dominic Monaghan.

Elves easily drink dwarves under the table. But dwarves are funnier.

Hobbits get drunk enough on less than a pint and a half of ale to betray their companion's secret identity.

Humans can pretty much handle their liquor -- you didn't see any Riders of Rohan falling off Edoras, did you?

I'm going w/ Dwarves, humans/halfings, elves, and orcs last

To my thinking: brewing and distilling, which both take time and patience, are not skills possessed by the orcs. Anything they drink is either traded for or taken by force.

I figure humans and halflings would be about on par with each other, but I don't actually have any halflings in my world.

Elves... would probably be very close to on par w/ humans. Probably even equal in some respects. Elves, as I like them most, are not concerned w/ the strength of their beverages. I do imagine their beverages being very skillfully crafted and having great flavor, but not necessarily being strong.

Dwarves I see as being the top brewers and distillers. Sure, it's probably from the tropes of the genre, but I see their toughnes causing them to value stronger drinks. Dwarves are usually considered expert craftsmen so I also think they'd not only want to make strong drinks, but exceptional ones as well.

Other: The strength is likely to be about the same as far as alcohol content because you can only distill it so far. What will be different are the flavors, particularly if they add something after distillation. Alternatively some yeasts can also make ethers and esthers which is the main reason that home distilling is a bad idea. You can produce something that is basically an anaesthetic. So maybe on that basis, since orcs are likely to think it funny if someone stops breathing from drinking their swill, I might accept orcs as the answer.

Before reading the replies of others, I chose Dwarf because I imagine Dwarves and Orcs might have similar passions for strong drink, but Dwarves would be more advanced at making them. I imagine Orcs as drinking something akin to fermented mare's milk, with Dwarves not only far advanced in making beers, but also wines and strong grain alcohols.

Human.