The Thinking Drinkers Podcast

In this week’s podcast, we chat to radio and TV presenter Adrian Chiles about his new book "The Good Drinker - How I Learned to Love Drinking Less" which is very much in tune with the Thinking Drinkers' mantra "Drink Less Drink Better" .

Amusing, insightful and compelling yet never preachy, Adrian's book explores both the benefits and difficulties of drinking in moderation after years of seriously committed consumption.

Adrian didn’t think he had a drinking problem, until he realised he was regularly putting away 100 units of alcohol a week.

When specialists told him something had to change, he had a choice to make - stop drinking completely or cut right down.

He chose the latter and embarked on a fascinating quest to find the good drinker within...

Adrian Chiles is a writer, television and radio presenter and world-weary West Bromwich Albion fan.

He has been a presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live since the day it started in 1994 and his TV presenter work includes Working Lunch, Match of the Day 2 and The Apprentice: You're Fired.

He recently released a documentary called "Drinkers Like Me", in which he explored his relationship with alcohol and decided to cut down.

You can buy the book here:

Buy yourself or someone else annual membership (and a signed copy of our award-winning Thinking Drinkers Almanac Book) for just £120 here. It's what Jesus would have wanted. 

• 3 x 60ml pouches containing 3 x world class spirits delivered direct through your door every month.
• Exclusive access to the TD online magazine
• A signed copy of Thinking Drinkers Almanac (named Drinks Book of the Year 2021 by The Sunday Times)
• Monthly Online Tastings with The Thinking Drinkers & Guests

Check out dates and tickets for our "Thinking Drinkers Pub Quiz" show, featuring lots of laughs and FIVE free drinks for evewry audience member, here: 

• Nottingham 
• London Leicester Square
• Harpenden
• Northallerton
• Alnwick
• Pendle
• Oldham
• Brighton
• Bedford
• Reading 
• Didcot
• Stroud
• Leicester
• Corby

Manhattan
60ml (2 fl oz) Elijah Craig Kentucky Straight Bourbon
25ml (¾ fl oz) sweet vermouth | 3 dashes of Angostura bitters
Ice | Cherry, to garnish
• Pour the bourbon, vermouth and bitters into a mixing glass. Add
ice, stir gently for 10–15 seconds, then strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with a cherry.

Get yourself a can of Carlsberg Special Brew here

Buy yourself or someone else annual membership (and a signed copy of our award-winning Thinking Drinkers Almanac Book) for just £120 here

• 3 x 60ml pouches containing 3 x world class spirits delivered direct through your door every month.
• Exclusive access to the TD online magazine
• A signed copy of Thinking Drinkers Almanac (named Drinks Book of the Year 2021 by The Sunday Times)
• Monthly Online Tastings with The Thinking Drinkers & Guests

Check out dates and tickets for the shows below here: 

• Nottingham 
• London Leicester Square
• Harpenden
• Northallerton
• Alnwick
• Pendle
• Oldham
• Brighton
• Bedford
• Reading 
• Didcot
• Stroud
• Leicester
• Corby

This week's podcast features phallic-shaped outcrops and death-defying, rum guzzling, swashbuckling salty seamen.

Marvel as we expertly tip-toe around some sensitive issues of the past whilst simultaneously decanting drinks knowledge into you generous ears.

As promised, here's the picture of Cock Rock (now known as Rooster Rock) and here's where you can buy some Jagermeister - a much misunderstood digestif made with 56 different herbs, roots, fruits and spices.

Given Blackbeard became a pirate at the tender age of 12, we're going for some El Dorado 12 year-old in a Rum Old Fashioned.

Rum Old Fashioned - 12YO

60ml El Dorado 12YO - buy it here

3x Dashes Aromatic Bitters

Barspoon of Demerara Sugar

Orange Twist

Method: Put the sugar, bitters and water in a tumbler/old fashioned glass. 
Stir until the sugar dissolves. 
Add a couple of ice cubes and stir in the rum. Add a couple more and stir some more.
Garnish with the orange twist

Get some Pilsner Urquell here
Drink some neat Gin whilst gawping at Gin Lane & Beer Street here 

Subscribe to the Thinking Drinkers Spirits Subscription Club here and check out dates and tickets for the shows below here: 

• Wycombe
• Farnham
• Worcester
• Bristol
• Wolverhampton
• London Leicester Square
• Harpenden
• Northallerton
• Alnwick
• Pendle
• Oldham
• Brighton
• Bedford
• Reading 
• Didcot
• Stroud
• Leicester
• Corby

This week, the Thinking Drinkers hail Harry Houdini's almost fatal attempt to escape from an urn full of fermenting Tetley's Beer, light a firework under several myths surrounding Guy Fawkes and big-up the famous Northampton massif with Three Hills brewery.

And as promised, here's our super duper mulled cider recipe. How do you like them apples?

Mulled cider 

Ingredients 

1½ litres of dry cider 

100ml Calvados 

400ml apple juice 

80g dark brown sugar 

2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half 

4 whole cloves 

zest 1 orange, pared into strips 

1 tbsp allspice berries 

Add cider, Calvados, apple juice and sugar to a saucepan, gently heat, then add the orange zest and spices, simmer on a low heat for 20 mins. 

Subscribe to the Thinking Drinkers Spirits Subscription Club here and check out dates and tickets for the shows below here: 

• Wycombe
• Farnham
• Worcester
• Bristol
• Isle of Wight
• Wolverhampton
• London Leicester Square
• Harpenden
• Northallerton
• Alnwick
• Pendle
• Oldham
• Brighton
• Bedford
• Reading 
• Didcot
• Stroud
• Leicester
• Corby

Date: October 30th
Event: 1974 Rumble In The Jungle - George Foreman v Muhammed Ali
Drink:  The Uppercut
50ml Triple Sec
25ml Cachaça
15ml Lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
15ml Pink Grapefruit Juice (freshly squeezed)
Dash of Angostura Aromatic Bitters

Method: Shake all the ingredients with ice and strain into a coupe glass

Or, given Ali was born in Louisville, reach of some quality Kentucky Straight Bourbon in the shape of Elijah Craig Small Batch.

Enjoy while watching....
Highlights of the Rumble In The Jungle fight in 1974 here
Trailer for When We Were Kings here and the trailer for Soul Power here

Date: 2nd November
Event: Marie Antoinette's Birthday
Drink: Bollinger Champagne

And here's a picture of a Greek nipple bowl. You're welcome.

Subscribe to the Thinking Drinkers Spirits Subscription Club here and check out dates and tickets for the shows below here: 

• Wycombe
• Farnham
• Worcester
• Bristol
• Isle of Wight
• Wolverhampton
• London Leicester Square
• Harpenden
• Northallerton
• Alnwick
• Pendle
• Oldham
• Brighton
• Bedford
• Reading 
• Didcot
• Stroud
• Leicester
• Corby

This week, we shall ostly be drinking rum and red wine mixed with coca-cola. Here's why.

Event: Death of Lord Admiral Nelson
Agggghhh landlubbers. On October 21st, 1805, Lord Nelson was shot by a Frenchman during the Battle of Trafalgar during a battle which the Brits won 22-0 (in terms of ships).

Drink: Nelson's Blood
To commemorate the one-eyed, partially-deaf, philandering, publicity-seeking, sea-sick seaman, we're drinking Nelson's Blood II using Pusser's Navy Rum.

Nelson’s Blood No.2
45ml Pusser's Navy Rum
45ml Cranberry Juice
22.5ml Lime Juice
22.5 ml Orange juice
12.5 ml Sugar syrup
Two dashes of Angostura Bitters
Strain into ice-filled glass after shaking all the ingredients in a shaker packed with ice. Garnish with a lime wedge to prevent scurvy.

Event: Thomas Edison invents a commercially practical incandescent light at his industrial research lab in New Jersey.

Drink: A “Calimocho”, a blend of equal parts cola and cheap red wine.

America’s finest inventor gave us the gramophone, the movie camera and the first commercially practical long-lasting light bulb. 

He drank something called Vin Mariani, a ‘medicinal’ mix of cheap red wine and coca leaves, believed be the pre-cursor to Coca-Cola.

We're mixing the two in equal parts.

But you can buy a version of Vin Mariani (without the nose candy) here.

To find out more about our Spirits Subscription Club and tour dates - click here 

Evel Knievel & Wild Turkey

Enjoy a Wild Turkey 101 whilst watching Evel Knievel (mostly) fail to land death-defying jumps.

Wembley 1975:  And the report from The Guardian here

CNN Obituary footage here

Matthew McConaughey's Eulogy at Knievel's funeral here

And here's the.....

Kung Fu and the Grasshopper

How to make: SHAKE all ingredients with ice and fine strain into chilled glass. 

25ml Crème de menthe 

25ml Crème de Cacao 

25 ml Single cream

Pour ingredients into shaker full of ice, shake and strain into a coupe

Also, here's a link for Mortlach 25 year-old and RinQuinQuin 

The first episode of our new podcast series recommends drinks to enjoy from October 7th to October 13th.

Listen to Lenny Bruce At Carnegie Hall

Here's Ursula Andres and her shells in Dr.No

C*cks**king Cowboy
15ml Butterscotch Schnapps
30ml Baileys Irish Cream
Layer the two ingredients in a shot glass by pouring Baileys off the back of a bar spoon so it floats on top of the schnapps

Vodka Martini
60ml Vodka
3tsp Dry Vermouth
Ice cubes.
Olive or lemon zest

Method: Stir the ingredients in a glass with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with an olive or a lemon twist.

For more on The Thinking Drinkers and dates for their "Pub Quiz" shows - click here

For the C**kSuck*ng Cowboy you can buy Baileys Irish Cream here and Bols Butterscotch here

For the Vodka Martini - go for Belvedere Smogory Forest Single Estate Rye here and Cocchi Extra Dry vermouth here

he full range of Diplomatico rums can be bought from The Whisky Exchange here: 

Luxury chocolate supporting a great cause can be found at Harry Specters here  

Waitrose chocs can be purchased here: 

 
And you can the lovely wine packs from Bibwine here

And you can watch the pod here