I'm Frances Lamb, and this is The Splendid Table from APM, the show for curious cooks and eaters.

Hey, it's Francis.

Way back before the pandemic, we did a show we called The Culture of Drinking.

And it was, you know, about some of the ways people get together around the ritual of a good drink.

And now, you know, with vaccines rolling out, it feels like maybe we can kind of see a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe we

can go out to a bar again one day soon. But in the meantime, I hope you enjoy listening to

this episode.

Hey, let's go grab a drink.

You know, some of the best nights of my life have started with that phrase.

My best, I mean, some of the most meaningful, some of the most bonding, the funniest, the wildest, you name it.

Now, I don't drink alcohol.

I never have, really, because my body can't take it.

But I've always loved going to the bar, talking to strangers or talking to friends I've had

a hundred drinks with before.

And so this week, we are looking at the culture of drinking.

We're not talking about cocktail recipes or what wines the order now.

You know, we're talking about some of the ways people get together over a drink.

And later in the show, we've got talk about that special moment in time that is last call

in a bar.

We've got an explanation of what wine writers are actually trying to do when they describe

wines, the deeper side of mezcal, and what it means to love drinking and be sober curious at the same time.

First, we're going to head to Seattle for a little story about a truth serum.

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