Distillate: The Hidden History of Cocktails, Spirits & Drink Culture

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Distillate: The Hidden History of Cocktails, Spirits & Drink Culture

Distillate is a narrative podcast about the history, science, culture, and human stakes behind what people drink. Not technique. Not recipes. The story — the people, the chemistry, the politics, the accidents, and the moments in history where what was in the glass reflected something larger about the world.Rum built an empire on the back of slavery and molasses waste. Gin brought 18th-century London to its knees before it became a symbol of craft and refinement. Coffee didn't just wake people up — it reorganized how they thought, and built the institutions of the Enlightenment in the process. The history of drinks is the history of transformation: of raw materials, of cultures, of human ambition and catastrophe.Distillate is hosted by Shawn Spitaleri and produced by The Alchemist's Bar — craft mixology through the lens of alchemy as proto-chemistry. The alchemy framework is the editorial lens here: transformation through material process, observed with precisio

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    Distillate - Trailer | The Hidden History of Cocktails, Spirits & Drink Culture

    The history, science, and human story behind what's in the glass — and what it reveals about the world that made it. Launching May 5, 2026.Distillate: The Hidden History of Cocktails, Spirits & Drink Culture is a production of The Alchemist's Bar, part of the Obscura Meridian family of projects. New episodes every Tuesday at 6:00 AM Central.Full show notes, research sources, and transcript at thealchemistsbar.com.Follow The Alchemist's Bar on Instagram @the_alchemists_bar. Subscribe to the Alchemist's Ledger — the monthly newsletter where the research that didn't fit in the episode lives — at thealchemistsbar.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

Distillate is a narrative podcast about the history, science, culture, and human stakes behind what people drink. Not technique. Not recipes. The story — the people, the chemistry, the politics, the accidents, and the moments in history where what was in the glass reflected something larger about the world.Rum built an empire on the back of slavery and molasses waste. Gin brought 18th-century London to its knees before it became a symbol of craft and refinement. Coffee didn't just wake people up — it reorganized how they thought, and built the institutions of the Enlightenment in the process. The history of drinks is the history of transformation: of raw materials, of cultures, of human ambition and catastrophe.Distillate is hosted by Shawn Spitaleri and produced by The Alchemist's Bar — craft mixology through the lens of alchemy as proto-chemistry. The alchemy framework is the editorial lens here: transformation through material process, observed with precisio

HOSTED BY

Shawn Spitaleri - Drinks History & Narrative Storytelling

Produced by Shawn Spitaleri

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