Manor Lords: How to make ale

How to get ale in Manor Lords is a multi-step process that takes a lot of time, so it’s handy that you don’t actually need ale for your first year or so. Taverns run on ale, and a functioning tavern increases your villagers’ approval. That’s nice, but you also need plenty of ale to start upgrading burgage plots to level three and reach the highest settlement level.

Our Manor Lords ale guide explains how to make ale and what some alternative methods of getting ale are if your land fertility is low.

Manor Lords: How to get ale

Ale comes from processed barley, so you’ll need barley – of course – and a malthouse to process it. The malthouse is unlocked from the beginning, and you only need a few basic construction materials to build it.

There’s currently no building that turns malted barley into ale, so you’ll need a different approach. Build a brewery add-on to a level two burgage plot – more than one, ideally. That family will remain at home during workdays and turn barley into ale, so don't go overboard and turn all your plots into breweries or you'll lose workers. With ale metaphorically in hand, staff your tavern with at least one family, and you’ll be in business.

You don’t need to sell ale at the tavern if you’re just trying to upgrade burgage plots. The increase in approval plays a helpful role in offsetting disgruntlement over taxes, though, and it makes attracting new residents easier.

Manor Lords: How to get barley

The cheapest way to get barley is to grow it. Barley is one of the crops available to you right from the start, though it takes many months before your crops are ready for harvest. Farms and fields are comparatively cheap to build and run, so we recommend building and planting as soon as you can.

We also recommend avoiding the tempting mistake of planting giant fields. They take ages to sow, which just delays the final harvest.

If you run out of barley or don’t want to wait while it grows, you can import ale using a trading post. The downside of that method is that it has a pretty high cost barrier to start with. You need to establish a trading route and pay high prices to import your ale. Use it as a last resort.

It's a last resort, even if your region has low barley fertility. I started one run in a county with almost no wheat fertility, but the final harvest was still decent - and cheaper than importing the stuff from elsewhere.

For more Manor Lords help, check out our beginner's guide, how to raise your settlement level, and recommendations for what to build first in the strategy game.