Is there any truth to the notion that the Inuit produced seagull wine? If so, in what context was this consumed and could it be considered a variation on Kiviak?

by Gargatua13013
The_Alaskan

There is no truth to that notion, as far as I'm aware. I mean, you can't even get alcohol by fermenting birds or poultry. When was the last time you heard of someone making whiskey with a fermented chicken? Someone on /r/askscience can tell you more, but you need fermented carbohydrates to make alcohol.

Now, there's some evidence of pre-contact alcoholic drinks in Alaska, but it's pretty limited. My copy of Two Voyages to Russian America by Gavriil Davydov (get the Limestone Press version if you're interested), mentions the production of fermented berry juice by some inhabitants of Kodiak Island.

You really have to take that with a grain of salt, however, since Davydov visited Kodiak in the first decade of the 19th century, about 50 years since the first white voyage to Kodiak and about 160 years since the first recorded European visit to Alaska.