The Thinking Drinkers Podcast

Bonjour la classe! This week, the discerning drinking duo sip sparkling wines and Gallic giggle juice with the effervescent and legendary Marcel Lucont, a French comedian, poet, philosopher, raconteur, flaneur, inexhaustible lover and renowned wine expert. 

Amid erudite talk of women, Wetherspoons and where the British are going wrong, we host “The Battle of The Bubbles”, pitching the classic Taittinger Brut Reserve Champagne from La France against a “Blanc de Blancs” from Jenkyn Place in Hampshire. 

Will the English lion triumph over the strutting French cock? Well, you’ll just to have an ‘ecoute’ and find out. 

Jenkyn Place Blanc de Blancs, £38, is available from the Jenkyn Place shop direct while you can get Taittinger Brut Reserve NV for just £28.50 at Waitrose. 

You can check out all Marcel Lucont’s tour dates, lockdown shows, bawdy chanson CDs, books, bookmarks and even his very own bespoke perfume “Insouciance” at marcellucont.com.  

Next week, the boys will be back on the beers and spirits. Ben will be getting down to some Monky business with Tynt Meadow, the only Trappist Beer in Britain – made by friars at the Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire. Buy it from Beerwulf here for just £3.95 – all profits go to good deeds. So the more you drink, the better the world becomes. 

Tom, meanwhile, will be setting off to Skye to taste Talisker Storm, a non-age statement single malt whisky from one of Scotland’s finest distilleries, dating back to 1830. It’s currently on offer at Whisky Exchange for just £32.95.

Originally in the calendar for June, the official Negroni Week got shifted to September due to this flippin’ virus. But since none of us can get to a bar, Ben & Tom decided to give it a dose of love regardless. In this week’s extra pod then, learn more about the quality cocktail, its Italian provenance, dubious origins, and how to mix one. Then drink them all week. And again in September. Drink less, drink better though.

For a Negroni you’ll need...

Gin: Ben and Tom mention a strong punchy gin like Plymouth Navy Strength as mentioned in the Devon Pod, £39.75 at The Whisky Exchange

Or try Millers Westbourne Strength. Available for £34.95 at the The Whisky Exchange

Cocchi Vermouth di Torino is £19.95 at The Whisky Exchange

And the essential Campari, £17.25 at The Whisky Exchange

The chaps discuss Mexican wrestling and pollinating bats out of clocktowers while sipping the delicious Ocho tequila; and head to Californian college party town Chico to honour Ken Grossman, the brewer who changed the face of craft beer with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is available for £1.80 in supermarkets including Waitrose. 

Ocho Blanco Tequila is available from Whisky Exchange in 50cl bottles for £22.45.

Next week: Ben & Tom are joined by special guest, the Frenchman Marcel Lucont, a flâneur, raconteur and bon-viveur, expert in charming women and insulting the stupid, and wine connoisseur. Together they will be comparing English with French wines in the form of:

Jenkyn Place Blanc de Blancs, £38, from the Jenkyn Place shop direct.

And Taittinger Brut Reserve NV, £28.50 at Waitrose. 

Ben & Tom enjoy some socially distant Hygge-ing while sipping on Danish craft beer To Øl Gose To Hollywood, and cock-tales cover some ‘Manhattan’s in Manhattan’ as they clumsily mix this classic whiskey aperitif using Woodford Reserve and Chazalettes Rosso vermouth.

To learn more about Chazalettes and the Clairin rum Tom mentions, subscribe to the Telegraph online for the spirits column.

“Gose To Hollywood” from the To Øl brewery in Denmark; £3.50 from Marks & Spencers (in store). Or £3.12 from www.eebria.com

Manhattan cocktail ingredients and tools all available at The Whisky Exchange

Woodford Kentucky Straight Bourbon, £32.95 

Chazalettes Rosso della Regina Vermouth, £22.75 

Angostura bitters £11.25 

Maraschino cherries £8.95 

Tools –cocktail glass, or coupe; mixing glass; a bar spoon; strainer; jigger; plenty of ice.

In next week’s show the tastings will include:

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale available at Tesco for £1.80 (or 4 for £6) 

And Ocho Blanco Tequila, £22.45 (50cl bottle), at The Whisky Exchange

Less messy than sacrificing a goat and easier to listen to than Heavy Metal played backwards, episode five of the pod brings you satanic worship from Belgium courtesy of Duvel, some Dutch herbal remedies with the low-calorie Ketel One Botanical Spirit from Schiedam and some unintentional yet repeated references to the war. 

Ben’s ill-received article on the Pint Glass from the Guardian is here.

The Ketel One Botanical range, 30%abv and 70cl, is available from The Whiskey Exchange for £23.95.

Classic Duvel, 8.5%abv and 33cl, is available from all major supermarkets, including Sainsbury's, for around £2.

Duvel Triple Hop Citra, 9.5%abv and 33cl, is available from Tesco at £2.50. 

Duvel Tulip Glass is available from Beer Ritz.

In next week’s pod, we will be tasting “Gose To Hollywood” from the To Øl brewery in Denmark, which is available at £3.50 from Marks & Spencers (in store) or £3.12 from Eebria.

And mixing a Manhattan cocktail, all ingredients and tools are available at The Whiskey Exchange...

Woodford Kentucky Straight Bourbon, £32.95 

Chazalettes Rosso della Regina Vermouth, £22.75 

Angostura bitters £11.25 

Maraschino cherries £8.95 

Tools –cocktail glass, or coupe; mixing glass; a bar spoon; strainer; jigger; plenty of ice. 

Miss World, Mace attacks, Morphine and Microbreweries all feature in Episode 3 of “Around The World in 80 Drinks” as Tom and Ben hit the Lagunitas Brewery in Northern California before visiting Venezuela for turtle tales, fearless reporting from the Favelas and some delicious Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva Rum. 

You can buy Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva Rum from The Whiskey Exchange

You can buy Lagunitas Brewing Company’s “Daytime Session IPA” and iconic “IPA” from ASDA

Next episode, we will be hitting Holland to taste all three of the Ketel One Botanicals before drinking the devilishly drinkable Duvel from Belgium – which is also available from ASDA, Waitrose, Sainsbury's and various online beer retailers. 

Please do send any questions, pictures or generous offers of sponsorship to [email protected] or [email protected] – and follow us on Twitter @thinkingdrinks; Instagram @thinkingdrinkers and Facebook @thinkingdrinkers.  

For those who asked who created our theme tune, it’s written and performed by Barnaby Green – available on Twitter and Instagram @barneymusician

“So You Want to Start A Brewery” by Tony Magee is available here   

Please tell all your friend about the pod and please do leave a nice review if you can. It really helps.   

In a bid to transport you from the confines of your isolation across the world, this week Ben and Tom visit, er, Devon. This beautiful county is home to some excellent beverages, so listen along as the chaps invite you to enjoy an unconventional tasting approach to the classic and proper Plymouth gin, a spirit dating back to 1793 no less. Before tucking into some lovely lager as they ignore a potential dystopia by drinking cutting-edge craft beer from the excellent Utopian Brewing.

Tom bought his Plymouth Gin from The Whisky Exchange, while Ben’s beers were ordered direct from the brewery at utopianbrewing.com. 

Next week the Thinking Drinkers will be venturing further afield as Tom recommends the Venezuelan Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva rum and Ben heads to Northern California for some Lagunitas Daytime Session IPA.

Order both these drinks online:
Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva available here 

Lagunitas Daytime Session IPA available here 

In this first episode, Ben and Tom selflessly try some tenuously topical Covid-19 linked drinks, so you don’t have to. We consume one of our 5 a day by stuffing a lime into Mexico’s best-selling lagers, mix in a bit of Mexican brewing history and visit China – the birthplace of booze and home to Baijiu, an acutely artisan spirit sometimes drunk out of skulls. 

Tom bought his Baijiu from the The Whisky Exchange while Corona and (the far superior) Negra Modelo are available online at Beers of Europe.

Next week, we’re going to take listeners to Devon and back by tasting Plymouth Gin (a proper legendary gin from the UK’s oldest continuously working distillery) and a small-batch British Unfiltered Lager from the excellent Utopian Brewery.

You can order both of these drinks online:
Plymouth Gin
British Unfiltered Lager