All language subtitles for A.History.of.the.World.in.Six.Glasses.S01E02.720p.WEB.h264-BAE_track3_[eng]

And in

The history of the world
in six classes continues

With my dancing and singing
partner, jim belushi,

And the bear trap mind of kevin
nealon is with us as well.

We are here today
to discuss and sample spirits.

When you say spirits,
is that like, spiritual, like.

Namaste.

I must say I am.

I thought.

I thought what they meant was.

Was spirits.
Was that to be drank too much?

Next day

You promised the spirits that
you would never drink again.

I promise you, spirits

And. Well, this is liquor.

I mean, let's just
call one of those, right?

I mean,
one of the called spirits.

Well, that goes way back.

There's evidence
that the process of distillation

That is boiling something
and collecting the alcohol vapor

That rises from it
goes back to china in 800 b.C.

And a few hundred years later,
ancient greek sailors

Used the process to make
drinking water from seawater.

But it was much, much later.

Now, about a thousand years
later,

Actually in the eighth century
a.D.,

That a persian alchemist,
abu musab jabir, perfected

The process of distilling
alcohol

From, well,
from almost anything.

His work inspired
another alchemist, mohammad,

Even sari arazi.

Let's just call him
al rasi. Okay.

And about 100 years after jabir
al razi distilled some wine

And called the result alcohol,

Which of course
became the english word alcohol,

Which became a firewater, booze,
homebrew and hooch.

But whatever you call it,

It was al rozi
who named it first.

And that's a direct line
between that eighth century

Muslim alchemist and this.

But we're getting ahead

Of the story.

Distillation is a process
that allows you

To concentrate alcohol.

So it allows you
to make something

That's
stronger than beer or wine.

But making spirits
is a lot more involved

And complicated than beer
and wine.

Beer is just grain soup
that sits around

And wine is just old
grape juice, but for spirits.

Well, for that
you need to know some chemistry.

Distillation is a separation

Of liquids
based on their boiling points.

So what's really useful
information for any distillery

Is that alcohol boils
at 172 degrees fahrenheit,

Whereas water boils
at 212 degrees fahrenheit.

So if you he's to in between
those two boiling points,

The alcohol vapor will rise
off the swan neck down the line

Arm and will be condensed
in a condenser.

And the contraption they used
looks exactly the same today.

A potbellied,
still a cone bent at an angle.

Mohammed even zaria
rousey could walk into the jack

Daniels distillery right now
and get to work.

Science fiction writer
arthur c clarke once said that

Any sufficiently advanced
technology

Is indistinguishable from magic.

And for a lot of people
back in the day,

Making vapor rise from a
still was pretty advanced.

It really did seem like magic.

And so the vapor

That rose was called the spirits
of whatever was boiling

From the very start.

Spirits, firewater, booze,

Homebrew, hooch, whatever had
a kind of a dark connotation.

But I'm getting ahead
of the story again.

It's like beer and wine.

Before them, spirits started out
as a kind of medicine.

They were making health drinks.

And I think we've all told ourse

This is a process that was

Really refined
in the arab world,

And people are originally
using it to distill wine

To make medicine
and to do chemistry.

Back then, they didn't
think of them as social drinks.

Spirits to the arab scholars
in 1970 was medicine.

They were making
medical elixirs.

You see so much of these fluids
we were discussing started off

Started by trying to attempt
to make medicine.

Even cannabis now is considered
a medicine and also becomes

A recreational beer
was considered

Medicinal, wine was considered

Medicinal, and spirits
were considered medicinal.

In the islamic world, drinking
alcohol was forbidden.

So the next big move for spirits
was to get somewhere

Where people like to drink,
like, say, europe.

And for that
we thank the crusades,

Which started
in the 11th century

And lasted for 200 years,
leading to a lot of bloodshed

And misery and some bad feelings
that still exist today.

But they also introduced
european crusaders

To the islamic process
of making spirits,

Which they brought home

And introduced
to a thirsty continent.

But of course, even then
they kept telling themselves,

Oh, this, oh, this is just for
medicinal purposes.

What you start to see
is philosophers and scientists

And scholars in europe

Start to take an interest
in this around 1200 1300.

And so knowledge of distillation
starts to spread in europe

Right back at the start.

Whiskey or muscovy
was used for medicinal purposes.

In fact,

The first records of whiskey
was from a monk over in fife

Who was asked to produce
this liquid for the king.

It's always the monks, isn't it?

In the middle ages,
they brewed the beer

And made the wine
and distilled the liquor.

Nice little racket
they had going.

No, we have evidence that they
were making fortified wines,

They were making
distilled spirits,

And very much
they were making this

For their medicinal,
uplifting qualities.

Then people start to realize
how great this is to drink.

And so then you get a far wider
production of spirits

Happening in europe.

But even as medicine,
spirits were kind of dangerous.

There's a story of charles,

A nasty king

In France in the 1300s,
who came down with something

No one knows what.

And the doctors at the time
wrapped him

In bandages,
soaked in brandy to cure him.

They clearly had no idea
what they were doing.

Unlike doctors today

Who always know
what they are doing

Anyway, the king was wrapped up
in brandy soaked sheets.

Some idiot knocked over a candle
and whoosh!

The king was instantly
a human torch barbecued charles.

But since his nickname
was charles

The bad,
maybe it wasn't an accident.

So even from the start, aqua,

The water of life
could cause a lot of trouble.

In fact, gravity is how whiskey
got its name in gaelic.

You're sugar shubha,

Which, if you say it fast
enough, sounds like whiskey.

The first written evidence
we have

Is from the 14th century,

And it's from a document
called the red book of sorcery.

Now, that's the first record
of whiskey making in ireland,

But it probably existed
before that.

So distillation started.

Well, it depends on which legend
you want to believe

With the chinese or the greeks.

But then some arab alchemists
invented an efficient process,

And they started making alcohol
for perfumes and medicines.

And then the crusaders
brought back this new medicine.

But it wasn't long before
the rest of europe ask itself,

What if we just put
the whole medicine thing

On the back burner and focus
on the party opportunity here?

Beer producers
would distill beer

And make something
a little like our whiskey.

Wine producers would do the same
with their product wine.

That's what brandy is from the
french brandywine or burnt wine.

If you go into a bar
now and you order a rémy martin

Or a courvoisier
like a rap star, you're

Drinking the identical drink
they invented 1000 years ago

Made exactly the same way.

Once people
started distilling things,

They wanted to distill
what was close at hand.

In France,

In western europe,
they were distilling

Beer and wine into whiskey
and brandy.

Eventually, the process spread,

And that's
how we got the basic bar.

We're all familiar
with gin from grain, alcohol

Flavored with plants and
botanicals, rum from molasses

And the caribbean tequila
from the new world agave.

And in eastern europe,

They were distilling

Other things like cereal, grains
and yes, potatoes.

And that gave the world
another great spirit vodka,

Which just happens
to be my favorite spirit,

And also a pretty fun side gig.

So enough with the history
for now.

Let's have a drink.

Maybe the most famous cocktail
of them all, the martini.

Now, as you know,
I am the manufacturer

Of one of the finest vodkas
on the market.

This one?

That's right. Crystal vodka.

That was designed by john
alexander, the great texas born

New york artist
and one of my best friends.

And it's got the nice grin
and it's patterned

After one of the crystal
heads of legend,

The 13 crystal heads
that were given to the aztec,

The mayan and the navajo
from star children in legend.

They were like a crystal ball
and want to show me how to make

A vodka martini because
I learned learn to do it.

That means anybody can do it.

All right,
come back behind the bar.

I will. Bartender

All right, gentlemen.

All right.

We're going to make three
martinis today.

We're going to make a gibson
that's

Defined by the pearl onions
in the glass.

We're going to make a dirty
martini that's defined by

The olives in the glass.

And we're going to do a one
with a twist.

So first of all, ice down your
your glasses.

And we make the product
in newfoundland, ontario, canada

And newfoundland.

Water was never touched
by the erie plume of pollution.

Okay,
so throw your ice out back.

Ice goes.

All right.

Fill a shaker with with ice.

Yeah. Fill the shaker.

Nice. Yeah. Okay. Yeah,
very good.

All right, guys.

Yeah. Will do. Let's see.
One and a half.

One and a half ounces.

That's just three of us.

This is one ounce right here.
One ounce? Yeah.

Very good.

You want to grab the girl
by her cheek?

She's grab her by the face.
Grab him by the face.

Name is joy. Name is johnny.
She don't care.

He don't care once
and it's the only bottle

He can throw up in the air
like a basketball.

Have fun and do it again.
The same thing.

That's right.

That's
kevin's little. Half, half, half

To half.

Yeah. Okay.
And now you're out of here.

Okay, good. I lost track.
How many is that?

I said I counted. Beautiful.
All right, very good.

Now you want to shake that
up? Shake, shake, shake.

Okay, that's good. Yeah.

Swirling around like that.

Now, remember
this is my martini.

This is how I like them.

But everyone has their own
special preference.

That's why you should always tip
your bartender and tip him.

Well, he's got to deal with
a lot of picky martini drinkers,

Including the most famous, picky

Martini drinker of all time
bond.

James bond.

You need him.

Driver martini.

Shaken, not stirred.

Keep it shaken.

The pearl onions
for the gibson first

And where they come from gibson
who he I think it

Well it's not bar in chicago

I have actually no idea
why they call it a gibson.

But when you're talking to
someone from chicago,

Just say whatever it is

Was invented in chicago
and they all believe it.

Oh, nice bottles.

Okay, so there's that.

Okay, very good.

And then there's three olives
here for your olive oil.

One thing I like the olive show.

Nice olive show there.

And if it's going to be a dirty
one, let me out a little dirty.

See what the jews
settle with it.

But just the right hand
and then the twist.

There we go.

So it's your choice.

And now for the twist.

When you put it in.

Well, you could.

I guess I didn't, but
I thought it was pre twisted.

Those are all twisted.

Twisted there. Yeah.

There you go.

We're going to do what's called
a wave of vermouth.

So waves of vermouth
bottle over the glasses.

Don't put
any. Yeah, wave it, wave it.

And that's
as much white brim with this.

I might want a little more.
Not using much.

Are you going to just.

Just wave it like that? Yeah,
I too much to do too much.

That's fine.

That's fine. All right. Well,
there was a hint. There was.

There was the

The hint that there might
have been vermouth put in it,

But there was no vermouth
actually put in it.

Why don't you just do
straight globules? Straight?

No. No way that way.
But with the ramones, right?

What's it's a psychic tonic
kind of thing. All right.

Or from your shaker, wave it
right to the top of the glass.

Look at that satin cork.
That is it.

Hey, come on, come on,
come on, canada.

Look at that.

Gentlemen.

Thank you for your patience
and tolerance.

And here we go.

Thank you for watching me. Wow.

Are you kidding me?
That was really sweet.

And it was something else.
Oh, really?

That's the corn on sweet
joy of our martini with you, mr.

Aykroyd. Thank you very much.

You did that well.

Jim, were you on snl?

All right, fairly

Now that we've all had

A drink, let's move
ahead with the story I told you.

You could basically distill
anything to make spirits.

If you grow
wheat, you can make whiskey,

Grapes, brandy, potatoes, vodka.

But what if you're in a place
that doesn't have those things?

What if you're in a tropical
place that grows, say,

Sugar cane?

Well, as european
explorers sailed south and west,

They took the technology
they learned

From the arabs of the east

And their own
entrepreneurial, thirsty ways.

And discovered another thing
you can distill into spirits

In the colonies
in the new world.

Some enterprising sugar

Planter discovered
that if you take molasses,

Which is the byproduct
of refining sugar,

You could distill that and make
a really awful tasting liquor.

One so terrible
they called it kill devil.

But eventually,
of course, they perfected it

And they called it
rum, bullion or rum for short.

When rum enters
the picture around 1650,

Well,
there's no nice way to put this.

Bad things happened.

Rum has its origins

Almost from those first moments
in barbados.

Sugar growing history
as a byproduct of sugar

And the sugar industry from does
not enjoy

A favorable reputation
from the very beginning,

From his use as currency
to trade the produce of sugar.

It's also being used to trade
for commodities that are needed

In the island on plantations.

One of the things
about distilled drinks

Is that not
everyone has access to them

Because you need the technology
of distillation.

And this was widespread

In europe at the beginning
of the colonial period.

And so one of the things
that could be used

To purchase slaves
from slave traders on the west

Coast of africa

Was very, very strong drink
because it was something

They didn't
have access to themselves.

And so we start to see brandy
and then later rum being used

Literally as a currency
with which to buy slaves.

Spirits were always
more complicated than beer,

Wine and a lot more morally
compromised.

Spirits were inextricably
tied up in some very bad stuff,

A lot worse than just sending
a king up in smoke.

Spirits fueled the european
conquests of the new world,

And they especially fueled
the slave trade.

And that then becomes
a sort of self-fulfilling system

Because those slaves are taken
to sugar plantations

In the west indies.

They make sugar
that's sent to europe,

But the leftover molasses can
then be used to make rum.

And that rum is then used
as currency to buy more slaves.

And so the whole system
goes round and round.

And what's called
the triangular trade.

They call this
the triangular trade,

Because it went from west africa

To the caribbean to new England

And back to England
where the rum was sold.

I mean, it doesn't really
look like a triangle, does it?

It's more like a rhombus.

But either way,
it was a very bad thing.

The amount of labor

That was required
and the kind of control

That you had to have over
the population,

Your laboring population,

Really meant that you had to
look to source markets in africa

For enslaved people

Who were caught up
in the slave trade

Or the transatlantic
slave trade.

And from that moment, slave
labor really takes over

From any kind of free labor
for the next few centuries.

I think the biggest
impact that spirits have had on

The modern

World was their crucial role
in the slave trade,

Which obviously

Led to millions of deaths,
move millions of people

From one part of the world
to another,

And also that people in europe
could enjoy sugar

And also drink rum.

I told you
the history of spirits

Is not always a happy one.

Spirits are just a little
more serious than other drinks,

But it's good to know
the history,

Even the bad parts of the drinks
we enjoy today.

And the story of spirits
is just getting started.

There's a lot coming up

Like revolution, politics
and tax revolts.

Spirits are the troublemakers
of the drinking world.

In addition to being a currency

And a central part of the slave
trade,

Rum was the fuel of the british
navy.

Long after 1807,
when the british

Parliament outlawed
the slave trade,

Rum remained
what british sailors drank

As they sailed around the world,
stealing things

And claiming things
and building an empire.

But I'm ready for another drink.

I'm going to make the dark
and stormy.

Oh, yes.

Many empires have have risen
and fallen on this little fluid

Right here.

All right. And then we take
some ginger beer.

Why don't ginger beer?

Is there beer in ginger
beer? No, no, no.

It's just they call it
ginger beer.

Yeah.

There we go.

A little twist of lime
or a little sprig of lime,

And they're like
little squish of orange two.

Or you want to count
if you want.

Go ahead.

Put it in
there just for color. Right.

What was that? What is it?

It's orange
drinks or grapefruit?

Is this grapefruit? Right?

And we said, this is grapefruit.

Oh, it's grapefruit.

There is a difference.

There you have, gentlemen.

The dark and stormy

Reminds me of a peeler
that used to work up there.

And that's banana

Peeler, by the way, is the

Old school
way of saying stripper,

The old burlesque houses.

She worked till she was 75.

Oh. Oh,
she was too beautiful, right?

Right up
until she walked out the door

And said, I can't do it anymore.

You know what I call that?

A quitter.

Now, there's an old story
that journalists would call

Too good to check.

It involves winston churchill,
who in 1913 was

The first lord of the admiralty
of the royal navy.

And the story goes
that he was arguing with

Some of his admirals about some
reforms he wanted to implement.

And one of the admirals
shouted out him

That he was disgracing
the traditions of the royal navy

And what traditions of these

Churchill
was said to have thundered back

Rum, sodomy on the lash.

Now, apparently
the admiral leapt

Across the table to take a swing
at the future prime minister.

Well, you can take that story
with a grain of salt,

But one thing is undeniably
true.

Churchill
was right about the rum.

Once europeans
started heading around the world

In their ships to explore
and conquer lands and start

Nicking things, basically,

They wanted to be able
to take alcohol with them

And they were willing to take

As much as possible
in the smallest possible space,

And they didn't want it to go
off and spoil.

Beer is okay, but, you know,
beer takes up a lot of space.

Even better than that.
It's spirits.

You can carry it
around in a little flask.

You can
you can always have some.

It's the perfect drink

For people who are living life
under difficult conditions.

So you can see why spirits
become incredibly important

For fact. 16.

No, no.

Dead man's
just your whole island.

All aboard. From rome.

Rum was the fuel of the british
empire.

Sailors in the royal navy
had their pot of rum every day,

But they didn't get it.

And that's
when you had a mutiny.

It seems like in the past,

Everybody was drunk
all the time. I don't get it.

It's hard to believe. Anyone
get anything done.

But they did.

They conquered the world.

All on rum.

Planters
are creating this commodity

And selling it on to the british
navy to make sure that people

Can be one poppy
and to have access to a ration.

That is considered
very important at the time.

For health reasons.

There's a kind of medicinal

Component to rum in that
if you mix it with lime juice

And possibly even whatever
water stores that you have,

It is a good carrier for scurvy,
prevention.

Lime.

Well, any citrus

Fruit is the best way
to prevent scurvy,

Which was really
a disgusting disease

That could take out
an entire ship

And put it this way,
in the french navy, the sailors

Got brandy, which they drank
plain in the royal navy.

Sailors got rum,

Which they dressed up with sugar
and lime juice.

As a result, the sun never set
on the british empire

And the french
were always in second place.

And because it's part of naval
culture in the british empire

Was so large and so influential
in world politics

By the end of the 19th century,
it is really one

Of the more important beverages

That it is keeping
the whole of empire together.

They called it grog,

But it was pretty much

What we call a dakari,
I think, or a gimlet.

It was in many ways
the beginning of the cocktail.

If you look at rum,

You can approach it
as a process.

So that starts, of course,
at the point of molasses.

So your quality of molasses
is important.

You can look at the amount of

Time during the fermentation
where flavors are building.

So the longer.

You ferment your wash.

Generally speaking,

You're
going to get more complexity

And then the speed
at which you're distilling.

And then ultimately,
I mean, that distilled it

Then goes into a cask.

So you're cask type
probably has the largest impact.

The history of spirits
is wrapped up in the history

Of a lot of unsavory
things like smuggling, piracy,

Bootlegging, tax evasion,
actually tax evasion.

You can get behind.

But in the colonial period, rum

Was the leading spirit
distilled in the united states.

Well, we weren't
the united states yet.

We were still the colonies
of great britain.

And that started
coming under pressure

In 1764 with the sugar act,

Which started making molasses
and sugar more expensive.

When we think of
the american revolution,

We often think about the boston
tea party.

But the roots of american
independence

Were in the rum trade

And a tax levied on something
americans loved by a distant,

Unresponsive, out of touch,
an elitist government

Out of touch government.

I'm so glad
we solved that problem.

The british wanted the molasses
of their caribbean islands

To be consumed
by the american colonists,

So they put a tax on there.

So the americans had to only use
british produced molasses.

But the thing is,
they were drinking

So much more rum, they solved

Smuggling, became routine,
and they ended up, you know,

Drinking
all the french molasses.

Anyway,
americans are resourceful.

If we want something,
we figure out how to get it.

And as the settlers moved west,
they discovered

They didn't need molasses
to make rum to get hammered.

They could use wheat and corn

To make whiskey
and get just as hammered.

American ingenuity
always finds a way.

As our ancestors were moving
into what is now

Kentucky, the west,
they were so far removed from

The molasses and sugar trade
and what was available.

Corn they had seize
the migration or evolution

Weakening wrong,
certainly in the interior,

In favor of whiskey.

So when you have potatoes,
you make vodka,

When you have wine,
you make brandy,

When you have wheat,
you make regular whiskey.

But when you have corn,

You can make the finest whiskey
on earth.

Bourbon whiskey.

Okay, let's pause the history

For a minute
to sort something out.

There are three
major traditional whiskey

Making areas scotland, ireland
and the american south.

And picking the best is often
the same as picking a fight.

We've
got three whiskeys here today.

We've been pretty disciplined

About
holding back on the accents.

But I've got to say,
that's a scotch.

Whiskey, guys.

I mean, I know that
I'll after I.

Look, it's beautiful.

It is old, old malt,
single malt scotch whiskey.

There you go.
So that's and that's a nice one.

Then you have
the little redbreast,

The irish single
single pot still.

And that's 12 years old.

Wait a minute,
wait a minute, wait a minute.

This whiskey has an eon, and
this whiskey does not have it.

Right, right, right.

So the irish spell it with an e
and dogfish.

Got. It's not only that
they made a mistake.

Someone made a mistake.
Not a but that's.

That's the bourbon right here.

So they don't call it whiskey,
bourbon has no why?

The history of bourbon in
kentucky

Is about the foundations
of the 15th state.

Early settlers
were arriving in the 1770s,

And we know
from the early census

That these individuals
were almost entirely scotch,

Scotch, irish,
english and welsh.

They were from the old country.

And what is the old country?

A beer and whiskey
making culture.

So these individuals

Knew what to do
when they had excess grain.

And you can imagine everybody's
grown corn.

What do you do with it?

You turn it into whiskey.

Officially, for whiskey to be

Called bourbon whiskey, it needs
two basic characteristics.

It needs to be made

From more than 50% corn, and
it needs to be made in kentucky.

But like a lot of things
when it comes to whiskey,

These rules are often
overlooked.

If you ask people which whiskey
they prefer,

Bourbon, scotch
or irish whiskey,

The answers will almost always

Be the whiskey
they made in your home country.

People like the stuff
that's made close to home.

I feel like that bourbon

Has a better little kick to it,
you know?

It's nice and smooth.

Just irish whiskey. So good.

I think so.

Sorry. Guys.

Whiskey is so much better.

I prefer bourbon.

Just the amount of choice
in scotland in whiskey.

Yeah. Give me all the whiskey.

Just give it.

People try to rank everything
these days.

That is true.

I mean, everybody remember
when everybody was ranking?

Like,
which snl cast was the best?

Ours was a
little bit better than the rest,

But I mean, that's widely
agreed.

What what about
the original cards?

You can't tell me they weren't
the best, most original cast.

There is no original cast.

Oh, it's one cast.

Yeah,
I was in the original cast.

You know, it was a hoax, and I.

Because I wasn't there

Anyway, we're going to see here
how we like it.

I've been drinking.

Which one would you like to try
and how would you like to.

I would like to try
the scottish one without e.

Okay.

Like that,
without anything in it.

And we'll put an ice
in that one. Right. Thanks.

And then we'll put some water.

Oh he's very good and good
and I'm going to just go get an.

Eyedropper for that.

Oh heavy.

And add water
and a little ice cube.

Nice.

That's nice and good.

Let's try. These are the needs.

And when you

When you

See this, a scotch
don't like wine

Where you roll it around on
the glass.

You just kind of just,
just pour it

And then just get the aroma
like this

Lifted up your nose and smell it

Because swirling just excites
the alcohol molecules

And then you get a
a nose of pure alcohol.

So and then with the ice,
which is the way I prefer,

It seems to pop the sent out
a little bit with the ice

And opens it up a little bit.

And with water it's nice.

That's the way my my grandfather
morris

Smooth his smooth
it was action water.

Very good pure,
pure to the great nations.

But these beverages come from.

One of the major differences
between scottish whiskey

And irish whiskey
is the distillation.

Just about all whiskeys
and scotland, apart from,

I think two distilleries
distilled two times in ireland,

They tend to be distilled
three times,

Which gets you a stronger
alcohol.

Typically
irish whiskey is going to be

Marshmallows, malted
and on malted barley,

Scottish whiskey
will be 100% malted barley

And they have to all be matured
in an oak cask.

So that could be oak
from america or oak from Spain,

But it has to be oak.

And then bourbon for an example
that has to be made

With 51% american corn or maize.

It is distilled once
and it has to be matured

For a minimum of two years
in an oak barrel.

And they can only use that oak

Barrel once,
which is very beneficial for us

Because we buy a lot of barrels
from america.

But you know how this goes.

The minute
people like something,

The government steps in
to tax it.

In america, though,
sometimes the people fight back.

The very first tax imposed
upon the american public

By the united states
government is the whiskey tax.

And it was on that
drop of whiskey

Falling out of that condensation
coil.

The minute that drop came out,
taxes were due

And that was trouble.

Nobody had any money.

And that led to the first armed
rebellion

In the history of our country,
the whiskey rebellion.

In 1791.

The whiskey boys were people

Who objected
to the federal government's

Attempt to tax
the production of whiskey.

And this was happening
in the 1790s.

After the revolutionary war.

America had a big debt.

Alexander hamilton
had the brilliant idea

That you could raise money

By taxing
the production of whiskey

Because there were a lot of
people making a lot of whiskey.

So this is the first tax protest
since independence.

This was a very,
very unpopular move.

They sent in the militia
to try and raise the money

And the militia arrived.

And of course, the members

Of the militia
wanted to drink something,

So they ended up buying
a whole load of whiskey.

And this ironically,
meant that the people who didn't

Want to pay the tax
then had the money to pay it.

Ultimately,
the plan of taxing whiskey,

This this excise duty
was something

That alexander hamilton
gave up on.

The broader significance of this
is that it was a contest

Between the federal government
and state governments

About who really made the law,
who really ran the country,

And ultimately the
federal government prevailed.

But of course, the question
of who really runs the country,

The states or the feds is
a fundamentally american issue

That we've been debating
since our founding.

It's in the 10th amendment,
actually,

Any powers
that are not specifically given

To the federal government
nor withheld from the states

Are reserved
to those respective states

For the people at large.

Seems pretty clear right.

But still, americans
argue about it.

Even today,

Andrew jackson,
the seventh president,

Was mostly on the state side.

But when it came to setting

Tariffs and taxes,
it was for the feds

All the way.
And we all know how abraham

Lincoln felt
about states rights.

But it's nice to know
that whiskey,

That classically american drink

Is central
to the american experiment.

Spirits,
though, have always been

Wrapped up in the politics
of taxation all over the world.

In England, for instance,
in the early 1700s,

That is at the same time
the american colonists

Were making rum
and using corn to make bourbon.

The british government imposed

Heavy taxes on imported spirits
like brandy.

But at the very same time,
the production of gin,

A clear grain alcohol flavored
with juniper and botanicals,

Was totally unregulated.

Gin had been around
for a long time.

It was a favorite of william
of orange, the dutch king,

Imported
by the english parliament

In 1688
during the glorious revolution.

But the combination of cheap,
unregulated spirits

Plus impossibly high prices
on every other kind of liquor

Led to the gin craze
when it suddenly seemed like

Everyone in England was drunk
on nasty rotgut bathtub gin.

Gin has a sort of special place

In british history
because of the gin craze

Which happened at the beginning
of the 1700s.

Essentially,
anyone was allowed to make gin.

There was no quality control,
there was no tax.

People could just make
as much of it as they like.

Gin became
known as mother's ruin,

And the government
tried to clamp down on it.

By 1700
gin drinking was an epidemic,

And along with it
came the bad stuff

People associate
with alcohol abuse

Like poverty,
child neglect, sickness, death,

Distilled spirits
could be pretty dangerous stuff,

But in moderation.

When consumed wisely and made
by dedicated craftspeople.

There's nothing wrong
with a drink every now and then,

Right?

The gin and tonic is a drink
that has a particular place

In british history because
the quinine in the tonic water

Mixed with the gin protected
people against malaria.

So it became very associated
with essentially colonial

Administrators in places
like india

Where
they were at risk of malaria.

This became

Their drink of choice,

Not just because
it's a great drink, but

Because they really could claim
it was medicinal.

Remember how british sailors
avoided getting scurvy

By putting lime juice in rum?

Well, that led directly
to the british empire.

But once you have an empire,

You need to send people
around the world to run it.

And one of the things

About the rest of the world
is that

They've got
some pretty nasty diseases.

And this is where
the english love of gin,

Especially the gin and tonic,
kept the british empire healthy.

Rum built the empire, gin
kept it going.

The british were successful
because they were drunks.

It's funny how they don't
teach that in school.

You know
what? Let's have another.

I thought it'd be great today
to go back to the beginning.

I'm going to make you guys
what is purported to be

Maybe the original cocktail.

It's called the sazerac.

It was invented by a pharmacist
in new orleans, louisiana,

And his name was antoine pisco.

He was a creole immigrant,
and he opened up an apothecary

And he created his special
brand of bitters.

Again,
we see the medicinal connection.

Sometimes I'll have bitters
in sort for an upset stomach.

So, I mean, it really does
have some medical benefits.

Well, they were coming to this

New orleans
pharmacist for a cure.

So he created this.

He mixed it with obscene
and then with the rye.

You see, it's
a pretty simple drink to make.

First we take the outside,

Which is and then needs flavored
liquor.

Is that a canadian
pronunciation? Right.

And I knew. I knew.

What is this niece?

My niece. Is it something?
A niece?

Well, you'll see.

There's a little licorice
licorice there.

Now, that's not to drink.
I'm rinsing the glasses.

I said, is all right?

Yes, that's very liquid.
She right? Oh, I love.

And the idea is you
just the glasses with it.

You don't drink,

You just rinse and getting that
flavor like that and see.

All right.

And you pour it out like that.

Let's see.

This has legs in.
And so it really does.

It's not all
it's a very pleasant smelling.

It really is. Yeah. The liquid.

Do you guys like licorice?
I love licorice.

I got some over pocket right
now, like twizzlers.

I got three twizzlers
in my right pocket.

Haha, I like
twizzlers with pocket lint.

Okay, that was a dash of sugar.

There.
And then mr. Pistachios bitters.

And we're just going to
just keep a dash of yesterday,

All right? Okay.

And we all will add
a little ice.

All right, let's let's see here.

All right.

And a little bit of the
the cocktail.

I'm just going to russet here.
Oh, that's nice.

Yeah, that's going to russet.
And again, sugar.

You added sugar
I of the sugar. It's in there.

And a twist of lemon.

I mean the sugar and alcohol.

Anyways, now

There's sugar
and everything is sugar

And mcdonald's hamburgers
badly made.

But here it is.

The first cocktail ever
invented.

The sazerac.
Really? The sazerac? Yeah.

We learn something new
every day, right?

Every day we. Drink
something new every day.

In kentucky, they take their
bourbon very seriously.

It's part
of their gracious way of living.

And it was here in louisville
in an exclusive men's club.

One of the most famous whiskey
cocktails ever was invented

The old

Fashioned
way, you know, was invented

At the pendennis club
in louisville, kentucky.

And cocktail science,

I guess, really started

At the turn of the century,

The gay nineties,
the 1890 and early 1900s.

And now you go to places
like london, England.

There are bar chefs there

That compose cocktails
in a molecular fashion.

They're really
into the art of it,

And it starts
with a little sugar like that,

A little bit of sugar,
like sugar.

That's a dash of sugar.

That's
that's one of our destiny.

And then we muddle.

Looks like a model.

Model for model.

Model of model, model like this.

Let me give you some advice.

If you ever invite
a couple of old friends

Around for a few drinks
in a conversation,

Do not mix
your drinks in front of them.

They will critique
your every move.

I admit it.

I'm not an expert mixologist,

But there are a lot of them
out there

Putting their own spin
on the classic old fashioned.

We're
going to put a twist on this.

They said no fashion anyway.

We're going to pick our glass.

I was thinking I saw rocks.
Glass.

Now, ingredients
wise, we're only bitters thrown

Into angostura and orange.

We are also going to have

Just a small bit of pedro, notes
sherry.

So it's a sweet sherry
instead of sugar.

We are going to use
a chocolate, honey.

Okay.

All of this
is totally unorthodox.

I mean, right now,
I promise you that bourbon

Drinkers and kentucky purists
are yelling up the scream hall.

But if you listen closely,
you can hear the ambulances

Pulling up at the pendennis club
because half of their members

Heard the phrase chocolate honey
and had an aneurysm.

So a little jigger
for the whiskey.

We're going to go first.

I'm going to use
two ounces of whiskey.

That's irish
whiskey in an old fashioned.

This guy better never walk down
the streets of louisville.

We'll do a conservative
pour today,

But we'll go with this
conservative.

Yeah, and a little.
Little more like that.

Yeah, a little more. Yeah.

Let me give it up a little bit.

You didn't pay for that
bottle, did you?

So we're going to balance.

This is not a small
bit of sweetness,

Which I'm
going to do with our honey.

I'm going to do the exact same
with the pedro him, not sherry.

Sweet.

Not so simply
three dashes of angostura

And just two

Dashes of gangster orange.

Look at that. And well,
wait a minute.

We have bitters,
a dash of bitters here.

Are we going a taste of bourbon
at all?

Clear. Wow.

Here we go. That's.

That's a bunch of bitters.

Wow. Scoop of ice in a bar.

Soon. I only want to scroll

Down a break
a few things around yet.

How were you introduced
to spirits in your family?

Was it a big part of the
of albanian american culture?

In my family,
there was no alcohol.

We had one bottle of

Canadian club under the sink
for one uncle paul.

And we had alcohol
around the house too,

But it was just for parties.

My parents never overindulge.

I do remember having to fill
some of those bottles.

With water when they got back.

Oh, I'll tell you,

When I was in high school,
that one cc bottle, we used to

Put a little water in.

A little water
and a little water.

And my uncle paul inarritu,
he knew,

But I don't think he ever said
anything.

Well, I had an uncle andy
and uncle peter and and helen.

I had an uncle claude I had.

And you know, there was a
bottle for each one of them.

Yeah.

And my mother, she lived
till she was 99.

She was a month
shy ever ninth birthday.

And the last week of her life,

She was drinking
gin martinis on her deathbed.

So we got an old fashioned.

Just a sip to try, right?

Oh, nice.

No, I get it. I get it.

Remember this guy?

He's still making that drink.

So it's pendennis club one

Nose piercing eyes, zero.

They have the old fashioned
airway.

When was your first taste of.

Of. Of beverage alcohol.

What I remember the most is

Stealing
a bottle of southern comfort.

Southern comfort

That me and my three buddies,
we went out in the field

And we just drank that bottle.

I never been more sick.

I have a positive
memory of hard liquor.

Chevy and I were doing a piece
at jimmy

Carter's inaugural celebration
in washington, d.C.

We were hired to do

Comedy there, and there was
a lot of celebrities there.

And we're in the room
with paul newman and ho

And sitting there,
paul newman, myself and chevy.

We each had a can of beer
and who walks in.

But john wayne.

Come on, little tom
tommy around there for you.

And he got hit

By the bottle of tequila
and he goes and he pours

Up, you know, a couple of shots
and each one of our beer

Died or
or rough it up for a bit.

You know how to cure beer
that blunt and, you know, taste

But by john wayne you know

And tell you
what else to stop staring at me

Well see that's the problem
with spirits.

It's a lot of alcohol
packed into a small glass,

So it's easy to have a bit too
much.

And you've
got to be careful about that,

Although I guess
we're not doing a great job

Of setting an example here.
But that's what happens.

Too much can lead to bad stuff,
as we've seen.

So in the 19th

Century, temperance movements
popped up in a lot of countries,

First in religious communities
and then into government.

You know, the government always
gets involved in this stuff.

We all know about prohibition.

The united states
from 1922, 1933,

But there was also prohibition
in canada from 1918

To 1920, in finland,
from 1919 to 1932.

And in norway, spirits were
prohibited from 1919 to 1926.

So about 900 years
after bringing the gift

Of distillation
from the middle east,

A lot of europeans
were trying to give it back.

Spirits have always been
a kind of

Tightrope, a balancing act
between light and dark.

The devil on one shoulder,
bringing the triangle trade

And gin lane

And the angel on the other,
raising a glass with friends,

Doing that thing with people
we care about called, hey,

Let's go get a drink.

And you know, there's

Always that guy at the bar
who orders shots for everyone.

But right now I am that guy,

One of my favorites, tequila,
the white tequila.

It is made
from the blue weber agave plant.

And that looks like
a big massive aloe plant,

Maybe four and a half feet high,

And probably
just about the same in diameter.

The harvesters take these spades
and they cut it down

In what looks like
a huge, huge pineapple.

And then they put
that under a cone, a wheel

With the mule that goes around
and crushes pena into the mash.

And that me will also moonlights
as a performer clubs and I.

But please tell me
this is the last drink, please.

With old friends
like yourselves,

I think you'll understand
if I wanted to

Close this particular segment
with a good old fashioned

Tequila shot.

Now, here's how we do it.

All right, well,
I'm here for the shot for you.

You know the ritual, right?

We've all seen clint eastwood
drink tequila.

Nobody drinks tequila
like clint.

That guy practically invented
drinking tequila.

There's the salt.
You take the salt, right?

And you do this.

I got a little on your hair
like that.

You guys put a little.

We're doing that song.

Yeah, I really do this, huh?

And there you go.

And there you go.

Okay,
I want to order here, like.

All right, shoot.

All right, line.

All right, so, flick,

Shoot, shock. Oh.

I like those three words,
but not in that order.

That's kind of where we go.

Oh, yeah, I'm ready. Yeah.

All right, let's do one more,
then. What the hell?

Yeah. Come on.

This is the laughs.

Are you serious?

Yay! What is your being with you
to put a clamp

On my motorcycle.

To our collaboration.

Here are these few days of joy
together.

Now, on three.

One, two, three.

Shoot.

Rock. Whoa.

Yeah. That's cool.

Oh, wow.

You literally.

Now, I know.

I told them
that was the last one,

But there's something
about distilled spirits

More than any other drink
that makes me sentimental.

All we've seen liquor
at its worst.

And yes, when it's abused,
it can be pretty rough stuff.

But when you get the guys
together for a couple of belts,

It's hard.

Not to get a little serious
after the third drink or so.

You want to toast
the ones you've lost.

So for the last drink,
hemingway, dockery

Rum and lime and grapefruit
concoction

Favored by that great american
writer ernest hemingway.

A perfect way
to remember some old friends.

Chris farley

Is the chris.

Chris alvin.

Js jesus is

The norm normally done
by all the great astronauts.

Johnny, johnny. Johnny.

John candy.

John, john belushi.

But what about earl ramus?

Oh, harold.

Harold. My writing partner.
Yeah.

Now, we could be here all day,

So we're going to be
in the eighth drink

And why are you an alcoholic?

So many people die.

Dan aykroyd.

I lost him early.

He died in 1989.

Or the career did anything like

That.