Returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the 8th successive year, the Thinking Drinkers are embarking on a bar-hop through history as part of their new show Pub Crawl – an interactive imbibing experience during which every single audience member tastes five fabulous drinks. For free!
“Whether its Neolithic Man crouching down around a fire with a bowl of fermented grain, Greek philosophers gathering together to unearth the essence of our existence through the prism of a wine cup or the Founding Fathers creating America, drinking establishments have been the keystone of global culture since civilisation began.” – Ben McFarland.
Beginning with the cerebral wine-sipping symposiums of Ancient Greece via Wild West saloons, Victorian gin palaces and all the way through to the classic Great British pub, the Thinking Drinkers wander through the world’s most wonderful watering holes while furnishing their audience with several samples of seriously delicious drinks.
As educational as it is entertaining, the Thinking Drinkers Pub Crawl is a riotous and intoxicating exploration of history’s greatest drinking establishments – an especially pertinent celebration given the fact that 18 pubs are closing every week.
“Without pubs or bars, we wouldn’t have had DNA, Democracy or Dickens yet, shamefully, we are letting them disappear never to be seen again. Amid a depressing digital dystopia , we’re losing our beloved locals thanks to characterless chain coffee shops, crippling taxation and, worst of all, pesky neo-Prohibitionists. It’s time for us all to put down our phones, pick up a pint – and maybe a packet of tasty nuts – and breathe life back into the struggling British boozer before it’s too late.” – Tom Sandham.
The Thinking Drinkers are award-winning drinks writers and comedy performers Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham. They are drinks columnists for the Sunday Telegraph and The Spectator and write about enlightened imbibing for an array of international publications including the National Geographic, Esquire, Shortlist, The Times, The Guardian, Time Out London, Conde Nast Traveller, Imbibe Magazine, The Independent and Off Licence News.
Authorities on all aspects of alcohol, the Thinking Drinkers have appeared on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch and regularly appear on radio and television espousing their “Drink Less. Drink Better” mantra.
Having met in their 20s whilst working on a leading pub magazine, Ben and Tom left for America where they co-wrote the award-winning Good Beer Guide West Coast USA. Since then, the dynamic duo have written and performed seven critically acclaimed sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, transferred to the Soho Theatre, London’s West End, Madrid and toured the UK extensively including performances at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Taste of London and the Great Yorkshire Fringe.
One of their previous Edinburgh shows, The Thinking Drinkers Guide to the Legends of Liquor, subsequently inspired their award-winning book The Thinking Drinkers: An Enlightened Imbibers Guide to Alcohol while “Thinking Drinkers: History of Alcohol”, their last show, went on a successful sell-out nationwide tour in 2018
They have also been instrumental in launching both Hobo Beer and Hobo Cyder and are creative consultants for an array of alcohol-based endeavours.
Did we mention five free drinks?
