It’s odd to see a dwarf in Middle-Earth without a drink in his hand.

Luckily, the devs behind The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria have introduced a drinking mechanic in the game that makes brewing and drinking a fun activity.

In this survival guide, we’ll show what drinking does to your character in Return to Moria and why you might want to start brewing.

Check out the video below to see where you can get your hands on a drink already made for you and waiting!

Where To Find Drinks in Return to Moria

Now, before you start a drunken raucous, you’re going to need to find the beverages in question.

There are two ways to get drinks in Return to Moria: You can brew it yourself or you can find abandoned taverns.

To brew your own beer, you’re going to need to progress in the game.

Head deeper into the mines and pick up resources as you go.

When you make a copper ingot, you’ll unlock the brewing station.

You can also look for abandoned taverns throughout the mines.

In my own playthrough, I found a building with orange doors that had a barrel etched on them.

After breaking down the door, I discovered a few kegs with some Evening Ale left in them.

You can find these taverns, too, if the randomly generated mines favor you.

Case in point, my other playthrough had no taverns.

You may need to delve deeper to get your hands on these precious kegs.

Why You Should Drink in Return to Moria

Buffs are one of the best ways to get an edge in Return to Moria, and it just so happens that drinking provides you with a buff.

One of the fun things about drinking is that you don’t always know what buff you’re going to receive.

After drinking, which you’ll need to hold left-click to activate, your dwarf will sing a rowdy drinking song.

Once they chug it with surprising speed, you’ll notice a new status effect appears called High Spirits.

You might also receive a secondary, quick, buff like Determined which boosts your energy for a short time.

The High Spirits status effect requires you to go to sleep.

When you wake, you’ll have a random, positive, status effect that lasts for some time.

In my playthroughs, I’ve received the Orc Hunter buff which allows me to do more damage to orc enemies.

That would make hunting down orcs with that status active a lot easier.

Since the effect is random, you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen.

You might want to plan your activities accordingly!

Watch Out for These Bugs When Drinking!

During my playthroughs, I encountered a few bugs that you may need to watch out for to avoid the same consequences I faced.

The first is that after I took a drink out of the keg, and then switched to my axe, the drink disappeared.

It does not go in your inventory, and it doesn’t drop to the floor.

It just disappears.

So, you basically lose a mug of that alcohol type.

If you have a mug in your hand, then do not switch to any other tool before drinking it.

Secondly, I had the High Spirits status effect disappear after repairing a statue and receiving the Hero Spirit instead.

This hasn’t happened all the time, however, so I would suggest leaving your drinking until right before you go to sleep to ensure nothing messes with your High Spirits status.