[Under usual circumstances, Ortus may have noticed that second look with the pained sensitivity of someone who very much prefers to not receive so much as a first look. Usual circumstances do not involve beer, or asking questions of a stranger who has the hollowed, gaunt look of a necromancer.]

It is?

[He peers at the glass, then glances at the stranger out of the corner of his eye. The man does seem to have survived his consumption of a drink that Ortus had always imagined to have a somewhat different odor than the effluvial one it possesses. He produces a hand with split knuckles from his sleeve and gingerly brings the glass to his lips.

Well. Ortus sets it back down with studious neutrality.]

I have been led to understand that beer is sometimes considered a reward for valor in battle, or the quenching of thirst incurred from labor. Would you describe this beer as 'typical' in its taste?