The Curious Bartender Podcast

Edward Slingerland is a distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, whose research spans early Chinese thought, cognitive science, and evolutionary psychology. He is, among other works, the author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. Our conversation starts by traging the origins of his thinking on alcohol to his earlier work on wu wei, the ancient Chinese concept of effortless action, and explore how downregulating the prefrontal cortex, whether through drinking, flow states, or long-distance running, unlocks the lateral thinking and spontaneity that the self-conscious mind tends to suppress. We get into the Ballmer Peak, the Google whisky room, and our own experiences of writing and creating under the influence, before turning to the central argument: that alcohol is not an evolutionary mistake but a genuine cultural technology, one that has been helping humans solve the problems of creativity and large-scale cooperation for at least 13,000 years. We dig into what the archaeological record reveals, from Gobekli Tepe to the Epic of Gilgamesh, making the case that the desire for intoxication may have preceded and even driven the development of agriculture and civilisation itself. We explore the hidden social intelligence embedded in drinking rituals, the way toasting customs, rounds at the pub, and the unspoken etiquette of sharing a bottle all serve to pace and regulate consumption within a group, before examining the two conditions that make alcohol most dangerous: distillation and isolation. We compare northern and southern European drinking cultures, look at what Italy's historically low alcoholism rates can teach us, and ask what cultures that abstain entirely reveal about alcohol's social role. Along the way we taste through two whiskies, discuss whether a pill that replicated alcohol's effects would ever replace the real thing, and hear Ed's thoughts on his next book, which turns his evolutionary lens on foraging, food, and our need to reconnect with the natural world.00:00:00 Introduction00:00:06 From Wu Wei to Whisky: How This Book Came About00:03:56 Flow State, Wu Wei and the Prefrontal Cortex00:10:45 Why Does a Poison Persist in Every Culture?00:11:07 Alcohol and Religion: Costly Behaviours, Hidden Benefits00:14:18 The Brain Hijack Theory and Why It Falls Short00:27:02 Humans as the Creative and Communal Animal00:29:20 Creativity, Lateral Thinking and the Maturing PFC00:33:05 The Ballmer Peak and Google's Whisky Room00:35:22 Writing Drunk: Personal Experiences with Alcohol and Creativity00:37:34 The Negroni That Wrote the Book Proposal00:52:59 The Pub as Social Infrastructure00:57:01 Whisky Tasting: Kilchoman00:58:30 Toasting Rituals and the Hidden Etiquette of Drinking Together01:01:28 The Twin Dangers: Distillation and Isolation01:05:15 Getting Drunk: The Bonding Functions Beyond 0.0801:09:35 Those Who Puke Together Stay Together01:10:07 Archaeology: The Beer Before Bread Hypothesis01:16:32 The Epic of Gilgamesh: Beer Makes You Human01:19:31 Hard Numbers vs the Intangible Benefits of Alcohol01:21:23 Northern vs Southern Drinking Cultures01:24:16 Italy as a Natural Experiment01:28:00 Cultures That Don't Drink: Islam and Mormonism01:29:34 Whisky Tasting: Highland Park 1401:49:00 Ed's Next Book: Foraging and Reconnecting with Nature01:51:24 Alcohol as Culture, Place and Technology01:53:19 Would We Still Drink if a Pill Could Replace It?📷 Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tristanstephenson/📚 I've written quite a few books on spirits and cocktails - https://www.thecuriousbartender.com/

Mathieu Sabbagh spent fifteen years navigating the corporate corridors of Pernod Ricard, working on the relaunches of absinthe and Suze, before packing it in, driving around France looking for something real, and ending up buying a mobile still in Beaune. He's now the sole travelling distiller in Burgundy, running Alambic Bourguignon and his own label Sab's — and in this episode we pull apart how that happened and why it matters. We talk about the slow industrial death of France's once-thriving network of mobile distilleries, the customs regulations that govern when a still is allowed to run, and the three-pot preheating system that means someone has to be up at 4am during distilling season. Mat explains the difference between Marc de Bourgogne and Fin de Bourgogne, why Burgundy's grapes (Pinot noir and Chardonnay harvested at full maturity) make a fundamentally different spirit to cognac or Armagnac, and how he sources wine barrels from some of the most sought-after producers on earth because, quite simply, they're next door. We taste through an extraordinary range: four gins (including a navy strength, a barrel-aged expression and one infused with Pinot pomace), aged Marc and Fin finished in Islay whisky and mezcal casks, and three unaged fruit eaux-de-vie from apricot, mirabelle and pear. The conversation keeps circling back to the same idea: a great spirit is just great ingredients honestly handled.Find Mathieu and the full Sab's range at alambic-bourguignon.com.

Franz-Arthur MacElhone is the fourth-generation custodian of Harry's New York Bar, the legendary Paris institution founded in 1911 when its original Manhattan fittings were shipped across the Atlantic. His great-grandfather Harry MacElhone — a young Scotsman who arrived in Paris via Ciro's in London — bought the bar in 1923, put his name above the door, and set about building one of the most consequential addresses in cocktail history. Franz now runs the bar day to day, oversees its social media, has opened a second Harry's Bar, and has recently revived the International Bar Flies — Harry's original membership society.In this episode, recorded inside the bar itself, we work through the cocktails that made Harry's a cornerstone of the canon: the Bloody Mary (anchored by a 1967 Newsweek interview as the key documentary evidence), the Sidecar, the White Lady in both its original and better-known gin form, and the French 75 — originally made with Calvados, named after a piece of WWI artillery, and still the bar's best-seller. We also dig into Harry MacElhone as a personality: a WWI Royal Flying Corps pilot, a gifted self-promoter who distributed crying towels and earplugs during the 1929 financial crash, and — as Franz argues — someone who invented marketing before marketing was even really a word. Franz reflects on what it means to be born into that legacy: the daily responsibility of keeping 115-year-old American mahogany in good repair, serving 600 cocktails a day, and running through thousands of bottles of Cognac a year, while living by the philosophy he has coined to capture the whole thing: traditionally inventive.
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Kami Newton is a flavour expert, sensory analyst, and founder of Sensory Advantage, whose career took him from wine shelves at Oddbins to leading tasting panels at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society — and eventually to one of the most fascinating corners of the drinks world: the gap between chemistry and perception.
This is one of the most illuminating conversations about flavour we've ever had on the show. Kami unpacks why the drinks industry has become extraordinarily good at talking about technical production while almost entirely ignoring how chemistry becomes experience — and why that matters enormously for how people engage with spirits. We explore flavour as a cross-modal, non-conscious construct involving all of the senses; why tasting notes are snapshots of a movie that's constantly changing; how genetics, mood, environment and even your microbiome shape what you taste; and why the real difference between a novice and an expert taster is fundamentally about language, not sensitivity.
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Padraig Fox has spent 21 years at Guinness, starting out as a tour guide at the Storehouse in Dublin and working his way through sales, quality, and trade before landing the title of Global Brand Ambassador.In this episode, Padraig takes us deep into the world of Guinness: what's behind the brand's remarkable recent surge in popularity, the surprisingly exacting science of pouring the perfect pint, and why the two-part pour is a hill Padraig is prepared to die on. We get into the history: Arthur Guinness's audacious 9,000-year lease on a rundown Dublin brewery in 1759, the switch from ale to Porter recorded on a single turned-over page of a recipe book, and the Welshman who quietly invented draught Guinness in a London lab. We also explore how a brand that refused to advertise for 150 years eventually gave the world the toucan, the surfer ad, and the Guinness Book of Records. And what it actually means to pour the same beer consistently from Dublin to Astana.

Get 15% off the world's best drinking vessels at Denver & Liely using the discount code CURIOUS15 at checkout - https://denverandliely.comGet 15% off my favourite coffee liqueur at Algebradrinks.com with code CURIOUS1500:00 Why is Guinness Having a Moment? Taste, Look, Quality03:50 Arthur Guinness’ 9000 Year Lease, Bringing Porter to Dublin, The Difference Between Stout & Porter07:30 The Size of the Guinness Today09:05 Guinness Variants: Guinness Original, Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, Draught Guinness, Innovation Products, Foreign Markets11:42 Ingredients for Guinness: Roasted Barley, Malt, Hops, Yeast14:35 Why Is Guinness Creamy? Introducing Nitrogen Gas, What Nitrogen Does to Flavour17:00 Why Is Guinness Poured in Two Parts?18:30 Where is Guinness Brewed?19:40 What Temperature Should Guinness Be Served At? Guinness Extra Cold21:50 What is the Correct Mix of Gas for Guinness?23:30 The Secret to A Great Tasting Pint of Guinness: Line Hygiene 27:00 The Correct Glass for Guinness31:35 The Cult of Guinness, Discernment & Taste Acquisition35:20 Best Guinness in Dublin37:30 Why Is the Irish Bar Exported? Difference to British Pub, Balancing Irishness42:00 Guinness Advertising: The Surfer, the Toucan, Evolution Ad47:45 Association with Rugby & Other Sports49:45 Guinness Goes Viral51:02 Guinness 0.0 - Production, Scale53:20 Guinness Book of Records55:20 Is the Trend for Guinness Sustainable?56:20 The Opengate Brewery: Innovation, Nitrogen Foreign Extra Stout, Barrel Aged Guinness59:00 Being the Guinness Brand Ambassador1:00:00 The Guinness Storehouse Experience1:01:40 Is Guinness a Craft Beer?📷 Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tristanstephenson/📚 I've written quite a few books on spirits and cocktails - https://www.thecuriousbartender.com/