Press Release: The Thinking Drinkers: Pub Crawl

Bound and Gagged presents

The Thinking Drinkers: Pub Crawl

UK NATIONAL TOUR

FROM OCTOBER 2018 TO MARCH 2019

FIVE FREE DRINKS

Following a hugely successful UK tour and Edinburgh Festival run with their last hilarious show, The Thinking Drinkers are embarking on a bar-hop through history as part of their new show Pub Crawl – a unique 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, Thinking Drinker.

Beginning with the cerebral wine-sipping symposium of Ancient Greece via Wild West saloons, Victorian gin palaces and all the way through to the classic Great British pub, The Thinking Drinkers travel 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, Thinking Drinker.

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 Drinks Retailer 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 has 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?

Ben McFarland

Ben McFarland is the author of World’s Best Beers: 1000 Unmissable Brews from Portland to Prague and Boutique Beer: 500 of the World’s Finest Craft Brews. He is the triple-crowned winner of British Beer Writer of the Year – the first time as the youngest ever recipient.

Tom Sandham

Tom Sandham is former editor of leading industry spirits and cocktail magazine CLASS and lectures on spirits for the Wine & Spirits Education Trust. He launched the Top 50 Bars of the World and House Tonic magazine for the Soho House Group, and is also the author of the award-winning World’s Best Cocktails.

Get Social

Website: www.thinkingdrinkers.com

Twitter: @thinkingdrinks

What the press have said about The Thinking Drinkers:

“A liquid journey that is as thirst-inducing as it is thirst-quenching, as entertaining as it is informative, and as appealing for teetotallers as it is alcohol connoisseurs.”                                                                         ★★★★ Broadway Baby

“An entertaining and educational hour of fun.”                                ★★★★ The Edinburgh Reporter

“Hugely funny and genuinely fascinating …they illuminated, educated and intoxicated the crowd”                                                                                                  ★★★★ Edinburgh Evening News

“A show about booze, featuring free booze. What’s not to like?”                        ★★★★ ThreeWeeks

“An erudite, liquor-loving duo”                                                                                                 Metro

“Pioneers of alcohol based comedy”                                                                          Sunday Times

“There’s no more discerning way to fall off the wagon”                                                        Time Out

“For serious and not so serious devotees of legal recreational consumables, this show’s your bible”        Dan Aykroyd

“With two brilliantly funny guys with a love of liquor, an evening with The Thinking Drinkers went down smooth and left you without any nasty hangovers”                 ★★★★★ Brighton Argus

“An intoxicating success… as interesting as it is hilarious”                         ★★★★ Sunday Express

“This unique Fringe experience is one to be savoured”                                  ★★★★ The Upcoming