“Let’s face it, alcohol has done far more good than bad”

Alcohol apologists The Thinking Drinkers look in at the Comedy Box on November 24, bringing their unique mix of erudition, humour and, er, free booze.

Enjoy five free drinks as these award-winning professional drink experts definitively prove that alcohol has influenced everything that has ever happened. The Thinking Drinkers’ brand new show History of Alcohol is an intoxicating, hilarious time-travelling journey through our drink-drenched past, pouring the entire history of human civilisation into a shot glass.

Here are the Drinkers (a.k.a. Tom Sandham, pictured left above, and Ben McFarland, right) to tell us more.

Booze has influenced absolutely everything that has ever happened since the beginning of time” – for better or worse, do you think?
Unless treated with respect, alcohol can flip from soulmate to psychopath in a few small sips but, let’s face it, alcohol has done far more good than it has bad. Fermenting fruit coaxed the first monkeys down from the trees; it was used by early civilisations to communicate with the gods, it has inspired art and music; it’s oiled the wheels of industry and invention; it’s been an aphrodisiac, a powerful weapon on both the battlefield and in politics – all the Allied leaders were enthusiastic imbibers while the likes of Mussolini and Hitler didn’t drink.
But more important than all that, beers, wines and spirits taste nice and make life more enjoyable – as long as you follow our motto “Drink Less, Drink Better.”

Pic: Steve Ullathorne

What’s your mission with The Thinking Drinkers? What message(s) are you hoping to spread? Or do you just want to ply us with (a little) alcohol and make us laugh?
As our motto suggests, our mission is to broaden people’s booze horizons and improve their elbow-bending lives through knowledge and flavour. The more people know about the people, places, past and processes that shape each drink, the less likely they are to drink it in a daft manner. Alcohol is a fascinating topic shaped by a wealth of wonderful stories and characters and we want to tell people all about them – and if we can make them laugh along the way, that is brilliant.

Are different drinks suited to different occasions / moods / times of day / times of year? Or is it simply up to each of us to find what we like most?
Drinks can dictate moods more through behavioural expectation than the ingredients within. Tequila is a prime example – we associate it with hedonistic nights out as that’s how we have traditionally drunk it in this country, after ten pints of crap lager. But in Mexico, they sip aged tequilas as we would a cognac or a single malt whisky, and don’t end up going home with a traffic cone on their head. The show works hard to debunk a lot of the daft myths that surround alcohol.

What are your own favourite tipples and (if you can put this into words) why?
Naming your favourite drink is a bit like choosing your favourite child – which is easy for us as we both prefer our younger sons. Not really. Neither of us are monogamous in our drinking and we’re both alcohol-loving omnivores. That said, Ben is more of the beer expert and loves the American craft beers that we wrote about back in 2007 in our first book Good Beer Guide West Coast USA, while Tom, the spirits expert, seldom turns down a decent gin martini – especially if it contains Adnams Copper House Gin.

Do we Brits (still) have a bit of a problem with drink? Or are we drinking less, but more discerningly?
We consume a lot less alcohol per head than a lot of other European countries and we are drinking a lot less than we used to – consumption has dropped every year since 2004 and one in four 18 to 24-year-olds don’t drink anything at all (preferring to Snapchat each other in Starbucks rather than getting pissed in the pub). We are slowly developing a healthier relationship with alcohol, and this comes with knowledge and the idea that being overly intoxicated just makes you look a bit daft.

So we should relax a little in our attitudes to drink…?
We have the lowest recommended weekly alcohol intake in Europe, and alcohol is often held responsible for society’s ills. But the vast majority of people who enjoy a drink do so without harming themselves or others. What’s more, those who are squaring up alcohol in the cross-hairs of society’s gun may do well to remember that the first people to make alcohol on a commercial scale were Benedictine monks and, as everyone knows, there’s nothing nicer or more sensible than a monk. It’s their job. And they’ve got a direct line to the Big Man and if it’s alright with him then, well, it should be alright with everyone else.
So go on, come to a show and have a drink. Hell, why not have five. For free. Five free drinks to sip responsibly. If you drink in moderation, there’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed about. Afford drink the due respect and, rest assured, drink will respect you back.

There are quite a lot of legends and sayings around drink (e.g. ‘Beer then wine, that’s fine. Wine then beer, oh dear’). Any that you find especially truthful/instructive?
“For art to exist, for any sort of aesthetic activity to exist, a certain physiological precondition is indispensable: intoxication”
Frederick Nietzsche said that. And he’s a proper clever clogs.

The Thinking Drinkers visit The Comedy Box at the Hen & Chicken, Bristol on Fri, Nov 24. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.thecomedybox.co.uk

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