Musings on the fermentation of Berries

[Red Knight]

There have been documented cases of animals getting "drunk" after consuming fermented fruit. (I seem to remember reading somewhere that some animals will even go out of their way to find fermented fruit so they can get drunk, but I don't remember where.) So for a story I'm writing, I am planning on having the main characters get drunk on fermented Berries on at least one occasion. So that got me wondering what Berries would be more likely to ferment without intervention and how the effects of these Berries would change when they ferment. (Just to clarify, I am specifically refering to ethanol fermentation; there are other kinds of fermentation, but ethanol fermentation is the kind that makes the stuff that makes you drunk.)

The grape-based Grepa Berry seems a fairly obvious candidate for fermentation, given that most wine is made from grapes. Leppa Berries are also a pretty decent candidate, since from what I found, apples are one of the more common fermented fruits consumed by non-human animals.

Pecha or Lum Berries are interesting options; since they cure poison, one has to wonder how that would impact the drunkenness of whoever consumes a fermented Berry. After all, ethanol (alcohol) is, strictly speaking, a toxin. Would the fermentation cancel out the healing effect? Would the healing effect still be present to a degree, thus causing the consumer to recover from their drunkenness more quickly? If so, how much more quickly? Would it be nearly instantaneous, much like how they work normally? Or would it be some kind of "best of both worlds" scenario where it still makes you drunk, but you recover faster, have a gentler hangover, and put less stress on your liver? I don't know how realistic that one is, but then again, we're talking about fruit that magically purges your system of toxins. Would they ferment at all, given their status-curing properties? I did find that both peaches and plums can be used to make wine, so they clearly can ferment, and I can't think of anything about Pecha or Lum that would specifically inhibit the fermentation process other than the status-curing properties.

For similar reasons, I wonder how fermented HP-restoring berries like Sitrus, Oran, and Figy Berries would work. HP-restoring effects wouldn't counteract the effects of ethanol directly like Pecha or Lum's status-curing effect, but they would probably do something to fortify the consumer's body against its effects. So how does that work? Does it the consumer feel more sober than they actually are? That doesn't seem quite right. Maybe it helps the body metabolize the alcohol faster? That's overlapping a bit with status-curing. And for that matter, how would the PP-restoring effect of Leppa Berries interact with alcohol, if at all?

And going back to Grepa Berries, since it and similar Berries increase friendship and lower EV's, how would that interact with fermentation? Maybe the friendship aspect means that they would be more likely than other fermented Berries to induce a good trip, so to speak, and the EV lowering aspect means that it ends up being more toxic over time in some respect?

 

[Red Knight]

Another thing I realized: what about Poison and Steel type Pokémon? They are ordinarily immune to the Poison status condition; how would alcohol affect them? Would they feel nothing? A mild euphoria with minimal lasting effects? Would they become properly inebriated, but more slowly and with a quicker recovery? Would they not have any particular immunity to alcohol at all? I find this last option unlikely; "Poison" encompasses a wide variety of toxic substances in Pokémon, from corrosive chemicals to neurotoxins to proteases (protein-degrading enzymes) to even possibly zoonotic disease (a possible explanation for nearly every Pokémon being able to learn Toxic prior to Gen 8); alcohol almost certainly falls under the umbrella of "Poison" in some capacity.

 

[MelodicCharm]

i think it’s really just gotta be a case-by-case thing. like perrserker is a pure steel type but ultimately it’s a cat with metal in it’s body, i don’t really see a reason why it shouldn’t be able to metabolize alchohol and feel the effects.

the klink line on the other hand seems entirely inorganic, so i don’t really think they would be able to be effected by alchohol. i think it just depends on the specific pokemon and how strongly based on metals their specific physiology and biochemistry are.

poison types are a lot more complicated i think. it’s less about where they fall on a scale and more about what the poison type represents for them. i don’t see too much reason why a pokemon whose poison type mainly represents venom to be alcohol resistant, since wielding venom doesn’t necessarily guarantee immunity, unless all poison types in the pokemon world have just developed some defence mechanisms to deal with all other poison types. you could make an argument for something like Grafaiai being resistant to alchohol since it may absorb toxic compounds from berries or something but idk, it’s 100% clear what the nature of its toxic saliva is.

i think the only poison pokemon that can conclusively be said to have alcohol resistance are ones specified to feed off toxins/chemicals, or if any are specified to have like toxic flesh or something. but i don’t necessarily think disease or venom-based poison mons would automatically be resistant.