PODCAST · history
Back Bar
by Heritage Radio Network
Back Bar is a rollicking deep dive into the events, phenomenon, relationships and human foibles that shaped the world’s most iconic drinks. Hosted by food and beverage writer Greg Benson and featuring guest appearances from industry luminaries like Derek Brown, Robert Simonson and Sother Teague, Back Bar’s vaudevillian approach to storytelling is a refreshing cocktail of history and humor.Logo by Alicia Qian
Episodes
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Microbrew Killed the Macrobrew Star
Without a lot of fanfare in the early 1980s a fledgling cable channel called MTV launched in New Jersey. No one knew it at the time but it was the start of something big, a sea change in American society that would break the big traditional values of the 50s and 60s down into specialized, bite...
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Jack Who?
Women have been making cider and brandy for centuries - so where are they in the history books? A look at who gets written into and out of history through the lens of one of the most enduring apple brandy cocktails of all time, the Jack Rose. In ancient times making alcohol was seen as a mystic...
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Satellite Bar - The Old Fashioned
A look inside the Old Fashioned episode with David Wondrich, author of "Imbibe" and Dale DeGroff, author of "The Craft of the Cocktail." Go behind the scenes of Back Bar and discover what these two guests from our last episode have to say about bartending in London, getting your start in New York...
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An Old Fashioned Type of Drink
The story of the very first cocktail - where it came from, the strong opinions it breeds and what the way we drink it says about us. The word “cocktail” was first defined in print in 1806 with a simple recipe - strong spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters. Since then the specs have…
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Bitter Sweet
An Italian favorite and the curious intersection of bitter times with bitter flavors. The Negroni doesn’t have a rise and fall and rise again story. It pops up here and there, peculiarly always in the wake of tragedy. Why do we gravitate towards this sharp, botanical beverage in times of…
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Moscow, Inc.
Capitalism made the Moscow Mule - birthed it, shaped it and groomed it into the superstar it is today. But it also left behind a mystery that took 75 years to solve. What is the Moscow Mule without the copper mug? That’s a question many people over the years have wrestled with. It’s almost as...
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The Old Men and the Sea
One man invented it. Another one named it. And over the years their clashing personalities shaped the Hemingway Daiquiri. When Ernest Hemingway arrived in Cuba he was nearing the end of his days as a young man. When one day he stumbled into La Florida in Havana he met a man who would become his...
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Exactly Approximately 3.2%
A poorly designed law that works and an expertly designed drink that sucks. When Prohibition was repealed in 1933 American drinkers had a lot of catching up to do. Tastes had changed and big brewers took note, cutting costs and striking ingredients until Americans were left with a low ABV bubbly...
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A Good Fight
A countdown to WWI and a bright, bubbly festive drink named after a killing machine. As the great old powers of Europe marched toward war the conflict seemed inevitable. But was it? Was there a way these men could have resolved their differences? Joining us on this journey is the French 75, a...
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Greensward
Manhattan: an island, a drink and a park for the people. As New York City grew it needed a place. A place for people to walk, to play, to promenade, to relax. A place with green. Meanwhile there was more and more money pouring into bars and the gentlemen barkeepers of the gilded age were...
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One Hundred Percent Virtue
A midseason spirit-free episode of Back Bar about questionable morality and the golden age of Hollywood. 1930s cinema was obsessed with purity and in young Shirley Temple, a blonde, curly-haired eight-year-old they found exactly the avatar of innocence they were looking for. Meanwhile soda...
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Whenever You Need Somebody
Internet memes may have invaded our brains but they brought back the Aviation too. It was the early 2000s and cocktail bars were taking off along with a crazy little idea called the internet. People from all over the world were making funny gifs, pictures and sayings while in the east village…
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Bottomless
The Bloody Mary and the curiously counter-culture history of brunch. Brunch was born over a hundred years ago and since then it’s been a lot of things to a lot of people: a reason to relax, a time for over-indulgence, an excuse to get laid. So what’s happened to it in the last couple decades and...
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One Sour, Two Sweet
Rum, Sugar, Lime, Water. The daiquiri seems simple, right? Europeans came to the Caribbean and rum followed. Shortly after that we get the “holy trinity” of tropical drinks - rum, sugar and lime. It’s such a simple concept but like the history of the Caribbean itself it gets much, much more...
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Noble Experiments
The story of American prohibition: temperance, scapegoating, hypocrisy and their unlikely love child the Margarita. It’s 1920 and alcohol is now constitutionally illegal in the United States. This week we look at the dark forces that got us there, what happened when Americans couldn’t drink and…
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And What We Desire to Be
The Martini, the 1960s and how hand-in-hand they went wrong together. This week on Back Bar we explore the age of fancy cars, white picket fences, and Mad Men. It was the 1960s and America was changing, becoming more suburban, more wealthy and more of the same - at least on the surface. Over top…
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Legends
The story of the Sazerac, how it changed, adapted, evolved and kept pace with the rest of the cocktail world in the pilot episode of Back Bar. On the pilot episode of Back Bar host Greg Benson delves into the history of the Sazerac, a cocktail that’s changed over the years to become something...
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Coming Soon, From HRN: A Refreshing Cocktail of History and Humor
Back Bar is a rollicking deep dive into the events, phenomenon, relationships and human foibles that shaped the world’s most iconic drinks. Hosted by food and beverage writer Greg Benson and featuring guest appearances from industry luminaries like Derek Brown, Robert Simonson and Sother Teague,...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Back Bar is a rollicking deep dive into the events, phenomenon, relationships and human foibles that shaped the world’s most iconic drinks. Hosted by food and beverage writer Greg Benson and featuring guest appearances from industry luminaries like Derek Brown, Robert Simonson and Sother Teague, Back Bar’s vaudevillian approach to storytelling is a refreshing cocktail of history and humor.Logo by Alicia Qian
HOSTED BY
Heritage Radio Network
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Back Bar have?
Back Bar currently has 18 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Back Bar about?
Back Bar is a rollicking deep dive into the events, phenomenon, relationships and human foibles that shaped the world’s most iconic drinks. Hosted by food and beverage writer Greg Benson and featuring guest appearances from industry luminaries like Derek Brown, Robert Simonson and Sother Teague,...
How often does Back Bar release new episodes?
Back Bar has 18 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Back Bar?
You can listen to Back Bar on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Back Bar?
Back Bar is created and hosted by Heritage Radio Network.
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