It's equally feasible that he had merely been drinking cider and black (possibly mixed with Pernod).......... Mind you, it's not a very "butch" drink I guess. Still, "butch" isn't something I would call beating ten bells out of another human being for no readily-justifiable reason other than "You're in the Wrong tribe and I'm in the Right one!". No - not "butch" but "butchery"........ /j