Drinkers with Writing Problems

Scott Thomas Anderson
  • 4.9 (36)
  • BOOKS
  • BIMONTHLY SERIES

Travel to places where drinking culture and creative legacies collide. This series reveals how the histories of beer, wine and spirits are linked to the work of trail-blazing writers. Roving on both sides of the Atlantic, a veteran journalist follows in the footsteps of a few famous scribblers – meeting cutting-edge bartenders, brewers, distillers, winemakers, novelists and booksellers along the way.

See All

  1. EPISODE 6

    Boomtowns of the American West

    Season 2 opens with a return to the California Gold Rush and Nevada Silver Strike, exploring how these discoveries in the 19th century lured every kind of drifter and dreamer to America's lawless edge of the world. Through the dusty violence and ominous mineshaft darkness, three writers emerged to capture a brazen, boom-and-bust spirit of the age. Their own drink-soaked stories – some inspiring, some funny, some tragic – have now seeped into the bones of bars, saloons and hotels that remain from northern California to western Nevada; and into a force we call the Literature of the West.

    1h 56m

  2. EPISODE 7

    England's Lake District

    Come along on a hike and pub crawl through the most spell-binding landscape in Britain's northwest: Writers have been gravitating to the Lake District for generations, their imaginations enthralled by its serene and stunning views, their senses on guard for the blustery, foreboding power of its skies. The district's dynamism fostered one of Literature's greatest partnerships; but the restless, drink-loving half of that duo eventually started veering through darker doorways of the human mind.

    42 min

  3. EPISODE 8

    Soldiers, spies and misfits of Gibraltar

    Have a drink with the only troop of wild monkeys in Europe. The Royal Crown colony of Gibraltar remains one of the Old World's enigmas – a cauldron of cultures and empires simmering together under the low-lit flame of History itself. Gibraltar is also a port where weary sailors, restless soldiers and drifters engaged in espionage have found themselves stranded over time. Episode 9 explores how the contours of this colony intersected with the lives of three drink-loving writers, as well as how the legacy of cider, sherry, spying and warfare connects with their stories that were penned about a high rock over the sea.

    1h 10m

  4. EPISODE 9

    Writing the Mob and endings in Las Vegas

    It's a city that doesn't flinch - or forgive. Las Vegas found its halcyon days at the end of skimming rackets and growing criminal ambition, but the writers who tried to make sense of its story faced a wavering desert mirage of America's secrets. That reflection remains strong in the city's cocktail bars and craft distilleries, while its smokier rooms are haunted by memories of creative outcasts on a collision course with their own demons.

    1h 32m
See All Season 2 (4)

4.9
out of 5
36 Ratings

About

Travel to places where drinking culture and creative legacies collide. This series reveals how the histories of beer, wine and spirits are linked to the work of trail-blazing writers. Roving on both sides of the Atlantic, a veteran journalist follows in the footsteps of a few famous scribblers – meeting cutting-edge bartenders, brewers, distillers, winemakers, novelists and booksellers along the way.

Information