Good Job, Brain! - 151: Cheers!

Episode Date: April 29, 2015

Watch out because we're burping up facts and trivia about booze and beers! After 150 episodes, we're revisiting our topic from episode one! Find out why the next time you drink wine, you should really make a toast to Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde creator, Robert Louis Stevenson. Learn about the strange types of mead, or honey wine, and Colin's got his beer/thinking cap on with a quiz about brewskies. Alcoholic plants, and yes, alcoholic animals. Specifically, a real bear who enjoyed beer way too much. ALSO: the "fastest" train, PRESENTS!, featured listener websites Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast. Hello, great grinning group who graze on grits and griddle cakes. This is good job, brain, your weekly quiz show and offbeat trivia podcast. Today's show is episode 151, and I am your humble host, Karen. and we are your dancing dreamers doing daring deeds and dispensing delectable data. I'm Colin. I'm Dana. And I'm Chris.

And that was a listener submitted one. That's good. Because you can tell that's positive. It was positive. Rachel from Minnesota. Thank you. Outsourcing everything now. So I do this probably once a month.

I go check our good job brain mailbox, our P.O. box. And when I do it once a month, that means usually I get a big. So don't send us food. No. Babies. Perishables, rather. No babies in the mail. If you're about to complete the order for the Omaha Steaks, we really appreciate it.

It's going to sit there. Or email Karen immediately. Right. Please, yes. Yeah. Once we did get the grapes. The grapes were, but then I, but they, they sent it to like my work address. And then your coworkers ate them.

Yeah. So we didn't get them. Were they good? Yeah, I did. What? I was thinking, like, I don't remember grapes. That was the great grape scandal. We just heard about how they taste it.

The cotton candy grapes. Oh, Chris, if it makes you feel any better, Chris, they were reportedly delicious. So in our mailbox, we got Nicole Winget, who was the listener who wrote in and inspired our military episode. She sent us some cool geocaching pack tags. And then we received these leather mustache keychain fobs. Fobbs, and they're personalized. It says GJB and then the mustache and then, well, Karen, for me. Well, yeah, mine says Chris for me, I assume for me.

Very cool. I'm going to guess, Collins. Mine says Caleb. It's close enough. I don't want to rock the boat. And there's a letter from T.J., who is the maker. He actually made these leather keychain fobs, and he has a small hobby shop, and he makes a lot of, like, cool steampunk and leather pieces.

He included his Etsy shop link, and he's like, oh, you know, this is purely an FYI. I'm not looking for publicity. But you know what, TJ? These are so cool. We're going to give you publicity. Uh, his Etsy store is owl versus octopus. Yes.

So it's Etsy.com slash shop slash owl v.s octopus, uh, custom made straight razors and steampunk leatherware. Maybe he'll make you. a good job brain mustache keychain if you ask nicely personalized with your name on it right thank you guys so much thank you nicole thank you tj for these awesome gifts thanks guys really flattered that you guys send us stuff so we do pub trivia um sort of yeah i know kind of fundamental to the yeah to the whole experience so we were at pub trivia and they asked us a question now to be fair they may have they may have asked this in a way that i'm misremembering but i'm pretty sure they

Fast us in what country we find the world's fastest train. And I said, oh, Japan, because I had recently seen a video of them busting a speed record on this Maglev Shinkansen train in Japan. And Regina, my wife, also on our team, said, no, it's China. And Colin also said China. I did also think it was in China. Yes. However, I was like, no, I've definitely seen this video, and I was like, I really want to put Japan. So we put Japan.

And the answer, as they gave it to us, was China. And I felt properly chastised. And I thought to my, I mean, you know, we kind of moved on. I think we won anyway. So I completely forgot about it. And then recently, I saw a news story that a Maglev train in Japan, that's magnetic levitation, that's how it goes so fast because there's no contact, set a world speed record of 590 kilometers per hour. That's fast.

Yes. The previous world record holder in December 2003 was this same train operator, basically, at 581 kilometers per hour. And I was like, wait, a gosh darn second. And I do some more reading. And I'm like, it is in Japan. The fastest train is in Japan. Now, apparently the fastest consumer train. train line that's in operation between two points, passenger train that you can buy a ticket

and ride on is in China. But the... When you say the world's fastest train... When you say the world's fastest train, it's to be the world's fastest train. Right. It doesn't matter if it's a research or a test or a prototype. It doesn't matter if I can't drive it. It's the world's fastest...

Harding $2 trillion. Right. But it runs on a test track in Japan that is basically built solely for the purpose of testing these crazy, crazy train. It's so funny that you, you actually texted all of this two months. I sent a text message in all caps. Yeah, basically saying, I was right. Just FYI, I was right.

I like, didn't even know what you were talking about. I was like, okay, cool, Chris. I don't think Karen and Dana were there. Bader Mainoff, and I'm like, the fact that you're talking about this. And I got an email from a list. a 13-year-old listener, Nathaniel, and he says, Hi, guys, I've been listening to the podcast for about a year and listen to every episode you guys have made.

As a 13-year-old, it is difficult to find people with whom I can nerd out about trivia. And he goes, as such, I consider your podcast a godsend. However, I also love trains. And aside from some time in your transportation episode, they rarely get the time they deserve. To remedy this, I have written a quiz all about trains. So this question, this similar question that you just talked about in Pub Trivia, is one of the questions.

The way that he worded it. And, okay, just to give Nathaniel credit, he cited everything. Oh, nice. He cited all the facts, yes. So his question was, although it is widely known that the French TGV has set this record for highest conventional rail speed, At 357 miles per hour, fewer people know the answer to the following question. What was the highest speed ever allowed on a high-speed rail train in regular scheduled service and by what country's railroad?

Oh, okay. So there's a hint, said the speed of the railroad has been lowered and the record is now jointly held by the E5 and the E6 Shinkansen and the German ICE3 and the French TGV POS. I think POS made something different in French. And the answer is China's rail network from 2008 to 2011 had the highest allowed speed on some of the routes at 350 kilometers per hour. So the way that he worded it gave you enough information, it is commuter, it is scheduled service. It's not just a test track. Right, right, right, right. There's a huge difference between how fast can we get this thing to go.

and how fast will we allow a commuter service train to go? So there's some train clarification. Thanks, Nathaniel. Yeah, thanks, Nathaniel. Thank you for writing a question that is unambiguous. Yeah, a good trivia question. A good trivia question is interesting and unambiguous. Yes.

And has enough context that you can maybe reason it out. And without further ado, speaking of trivia, let's jump into our first general trivia segment, Pop quiz. Hot shot. Here, what I do for this segment is I usually, I grab a random trivial pursuit card. Yeah. And return of our good friends, Barnyard Buzzers. Yeah.

The other buzzers shorted out. They started to go, yeah. They're like, I think you can hear it in some of our past episodes. It's like, ding. Yeah. But they're old reliable. Yeah. Barnyard buzzers.

All right. Here we go. Oh, this is. Genus 4 edition. Blue Wedge for people and places. What continent has the most nations with fewer than one telephone per 200 people? Dana.

Africa? Correct. It is Africa. Pink Wedge for Arts and Entertainment. What question did Groucho most often ask on You Bet Your Life, so even sure losers could win 50 bucks? What era is this?

This was 50s, I'm pretty sure. What question would he ask, so even sure losers could win 50 bucks? Chris. Is the Pope Catholic? I don't know. It's kind of similar in that. Yeah, yeah, something silly. There's a bear poop in the woods.

The question is, who's buried in Grant? Oh, okay. Yeah, but it's a trick question. Have we done this? Have we ever talked about this in the show? I think so. How that trick question works? I think we did it a long time ago.

Nobody. Nobody's buried in Grant's tomb. Because it's a tomb. A tomb is above ground. Yeah. Grant and his wife are in tomb. Yeah. Yep.

Oh, no, it's not a grave. Grave is underground. Yeah. Right. Well, then they all shouldn't have one 50 bucks then. Let's get that money back. I want Nathaniel to try that one on the school yard. Yeah.

The school yard. If anybody, if anybody is like, oh, interesting, be their friend. Yeah. Okay, yellow edge for history What Alfred Lord Tennyson poem describes the bloody battle of Bala clava? Oh, that's... That's the charge of the Light Brigade. Yes.

Yes. Obviously. Brown Wedge for science and nature. What class of animal did dinosaurs belong to? What? Class. A, Chris? Birds?

No. What class of animal, I mean... Are they reptile? Reptiles? I don't know what level of specificity class is. Okay, reptile. But that's changing, right? Isn't that evolving?

Yeah, that's true. Well, we don't know when... Dinosaurs are close to birds. Not to... I always thought they were reptiles. They're close to birds. They say they're close to birds. Yeah.

Yeah. Actually, if I may go off on a tangent, did you hear that we got... Did you hear that we got Brontosaurus back? Yeah. Oh! Because Brontosaurus was... They're saying it wasn't a real dinosaur.

They were saying it wasn't a real dinosaur. They were saying it wasn't. to a real dinosaur, yeah, but now they're saying, nope, J.K., it was a real dinosaur. So, you can we can finally talk about bronchosaurus. All right. Maybe we'll get Pluto back. Yeah, yeah, you never know.

And, uh, triceratops. I think tricetops. Yeah, Trisotops got kicked out. Oh, yeah. Greenwich for sports and leisure. What bottled water was first owned by the British, then the French, and finally the Swiss. Oh, oh.

Dana. Is it, uh, there are two that I'm thinking of. Which? Avion. Yeah. Incorrect. Oh. Oh.

You have a guess? Wait, it's not Evian. That was my, that was what I was going to guess. It's not Perillae. It is Perrier. It's all by the Swiss now? Yeah. You're so shocked.

How dare they? I thought I was supporting France by drinking Paria. You know how like Swiss have like the watch, swatch. Uh-huh. They should call a swatter. Swearie. I just think of Avion backwards, naive. Right.

Oh, it is. My dad loves that. My dad, you know. It's a good. All right. Last question, wild card. What does C-SPAN stand for? And for our non-American listeners, C-SPAN is the channel that plays government stuff.

I think it's like congressional session public access, something like that. Network? Oh, Network is right. Oh, yeah. Well, I assume the end is network.

Is it a public access network? Nope. No. Public is right. Public. Public. I mean, their mission is to show, like, government inaction. Yeah, yeah, right.

All right, we're not going to. What is it? What is it? What is it? Cable satellite. Public Affairs Network. Oh. Interesting.

Okay. Good job, Brains. Oh, this is a, yeah, back to, back to genus. Yeah. All facts were true. at the time of the printing of that card. Just to head off any... Not guarantee.

Yeah. So today's episode number 151, and of course when deciding what theme we're going to... What topic we're going to talk about. I was like, oh, ha-ha, 151, like the alcohol. And so we just went with the alcohol. Yeah, there we go. That's how it works. That's our second one.

First episode. First episode was alcohol. Yep. And now we're back. Yeah. 150 episodes later. On episode 151, it's alcohol again. I don't know what was the last time you guys listened to the first episode.

No, I don't want to go back and listen to it because I'm scared of what I will find there. No, the content of it was strong. We just weren't as polished, you know? Yeah. We didn't have a plan. Yeah. Right. I think maybe we just weren't that comfortable.

Yeah. But, like, it was funny. I know. We did talk the sherry animal was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We talked about, yeah, the crazy seagull. line of, but now we're back. Well, let's, you know what, let's do it again, this time with feeling.

Alcohol part two. Woo! Alcohol, my permanent accessory. Alcohol, a party time necessity. Alcohol, alternative to feel like yourself. Oh, alcohol I still bring to your life. I will start us off here. If you guys know one thing about me, it's that my name is Colin.

Yeah, that's true. Once you start getting into, like, numbers two through five, you know, somewhere on there will be Colin likes beer. Oh, Star Wars as well, yeah. You know, I could live with that. If the only takeaways were Star Wars and beer, yeah, there are worse things to be affiliated with it. That's a nice Saturday afternoon. And then the last two are like sports and cats. Oh, yeah, L.A. Lakers.

Yeah. And cats. And Star Wars and beer. And Colin. And his name is Colin. So that's five. All right. So if you guys ever need a replacement, that that's the resume, I guess.

I know, yeah. I've put together a quiz about beer for our alcohol episode. Now, I've tried to, you know, keep in mind because I like beer maybe more than the rest of you. I've tried to make this a little more accessible for the general, the general, the general, the general audience, not to say there won't be some tricky things in here. So get your beer caps on. These will be questions about history, names. Yeah, your foam dome.

Get on your foam dome. Okay. We'll start off with what I hope is a fairly easy one. Get your barnyard buzzers ready. Here we go. It's been so long. It feels weird in the hand. Reunited.

So good. Among the popular types of beer on the market today are many styles of IPA. What does IPA stand for? No idea. Chris. India pale ale. India pale ale. And Chris, do you know, does anyone take a stab?

Why is it India? Why do India in India pale ale? This is a good beer trivia one. Do not know. Isn't that where they grow it? It's not where they grow it on the beer trees of India. No. Is the India describing the color?

The India is describing where it was being shipped. two from being brewed in Britain. It was at the time when there was a large British presence in India, in particular the East India company, and they were shipping copious amounts of pale ale. So pale ale, it was and is a style of beer. And it happened to be particularly popular out in the field, the crispness of it, they say, because it's awfully hot out in India in many parts. So how is it different than a normal pale ale? Well, so here's where it's kind of the truth and the myths about IPA come in. So a very common story about IPA is the reason it's so hoppy, and it is a hoppy beer compared to other beers, is that it needed to be hoppy to survive the long trip without refrigeration from Britain all the way out into stations in India.

That is true to some extent. The fact that it being hoppy did make it survive the trip a little bit better, but the pale ale was already a hoppy type beer. It happened to just be popular there, and the name started to get attached to it. It did get a little bit hopier as they were shipping it out there, but it is also true that at the same time, they were sending other types of beer all around the world as well. At Pale Ale, just in particular, it happens to, it matures nicely. So, like, it was a good beer to choose for a long trip. So it was nice and tasty by the time I got there.

The fourth largest city in the Czech Republic lends its name to this type. of golden-hued beer. Oh, Chris. Pilsner. Yes. Wow. Chris, dropping the beer knowledge. He does know a lot about beer.

Apparently. Named after Pilsen in what is now the Czech Republic. Yes. Been brewed there since the 1840s. It's their claim to fame. Pilsner Urkel, if you've ever had a Pilsner, Urkel. That's sort of the original. Like, that company, the name came later,

but that concern is sort of the oldest ongoing Pilsner Brewer, yeah, and they're quite proud of it. And I like a Pilsner. It's nice and light, good summer beer. True or false, a brown beer bottle will keep beer fresher than a clear beer bottle. Karen. True. It is true. But because light, right?

Light specifically UV radiation. It's the UV that if you get too much. UV in your beer, it triggers a chemical reaction which causes what we call skunkiness. Like, if you have a beer, like a skunky flavor, the number one overwhelming cause of that is UV triggering a reaction in the beer. And in fact, the compound that you taste, it's not the same, but it is actually very, very close to actual skunk spray. Yeah. It's not just called that as coincidence. Yeah. So the darker the glass, the less UV gets through, and the better the beer taste. So you might ask, well, why doesn't every beer come in a brown bottle then? Yes. Because marketing.

Oh, right? I would say branding. Branding. When it becomes skunky? Like Corona would become skunkies. The beers that become the skunkiest are in the clear bottles. And, you know, I enjoy Corona. I'm not slamming them, but Corona does have a reputation for being a skunky beer. But like, that's if you leave your beer out in the You really don't, it really does not take a lot of UV. Really? It does not take a lot. It can be, you know, otherwise fresh as far as the distributor and the, you know, wherever

you're buying it are concerned. Green bottles are not nearly as effective as brown as well. Even green bottles will let in enough UV. Again, another beer kind of known for their skunkies is Heiniken, which the trademark green bottle, yeah. All right. We'll stick with the beer delivery systems here. In 1958, the Hawaii Brewing Company.

pioneered what breakthrough in beer delivery Chris the pole tab or pop top Nope not the pole tab not the pop top What your list? 1958 I will say you're in the right

ballpark but but Chris is it the can it is the first aluminum the first aluminum beer can yeah there had been beer in steel cans before that and bottles so the Hawaii Brewing Company. They wanted to do something special to mark Hawaii's impending statehood in 1959. And they also, being so far out there, needed a way to save on some materials.

And they, you know, like, aluminum was a lot cheaper to get over there than steel, because it's lighter. So they came out, you know, with the first all-aluminum can for Primo beer to celebrate, and it was, by all accounts, a disaster. Oh, yeah, I was to see a hit. They had a special lining for the can that I guess it didn't It didn't coat the inside of the cans well enough, so they had like over 20,000 cases of spoiled beer. And so now, and also keep in mind that like in the 50s, like when you get a can of beer, there's no pole tab, there's no pop top. You're opening it with like a church key, you know, like you've got to punch a hole and then punch a little airhole and then pour it out that way. Like you're an can of a motor oil or something.

And so part of the problem with their cans in the way they were designed, if you could actually punch through the side of a can and get it. get beer all over yourself. It was a disaster. People still do in college today. Yes, if you're not careful. The next year, the Coors Brewing Company successfully introduced the permanent. The first successful. Yes.

They were so close. I know. That's why I haven't heard of Primo beer. It is funny, though, the pull tab and then the push tab. And then, so I learned about the push tab, which was literally, it was a flap you would push in with your finger into the can. Right. And then proceed to cut yourself.

That's slicing. Yeah. My beer tastes like pennies. Yeah, beer drinker's finger. Beer drinker's finger, right. I've got nine more before it's a problem. I like a good hefevaitzen. Wait to say that a poison.

Hefa vitzen. German? German. Two words. Are you wearing your leader hoses? You do it better than I do. Heffa and Weizzen. What does either of those words mean?

And I'll give you two points for both. Chris. So, Vison is white. Weisson is often aligned with the white beer, but in this case, Vizzen, W-E-I-Z-E-N. No, is it wheat? It is wheat. Yes, wheat. And a wheat beer is a Weizzen or a hefa-Vizzen.

Don't you call like a crime boss, like an L-Hephefe? Not related. Not related. Yes, you do. That's Spanish. This is German. The cow is a heifer. It's like a cow wheat.

Hefe means yeast. And the yeast is what makes a hefe vicin cloudy. Oh. It's the unfiltered, it's the unfiltered yeast particles in there. So a hefficin is an unfiltered wheat beer. Yes. Yeast wheat. Yeast wheat.

Yeast wheat. There's also crystal vizzen, which you can probably guess what crystal vizzen is. Yes, filtered. That's cool. Clear. Who has real crystals? I cut up my tongue It's a fancy beer

Last one Here we go Founded in 1829 This is America's oldest Brewery Still in operation Chris Yingling

It is Yingling Well done Yes the DG Yingling and Sun Very popular in the eastern part of the country in particular, based in Pennsylvania. Yeah, yeah, old is continually operating brewery. And recently, this is very controversial,

the Brewers Association, which tracks beer sales for craft beers and microbreweries. They recently revised their rules about what counts as a craft brewery. And with the changing of the rules, now Yingling is now technically their number one craft brewer in the country. Congratulations. Yeah, congratulations to Yingling. They toppled the Boston Brewing Company makers of Samuel Adams. Wait, that counts as craft?

Yes, yes. Technically. Yeah, yeah. The traditional definition of a craft beer was small, independent, and traditional, like, meaning traditional brewing style. So they relaxed the rules on size, and they relaxed the rules on traditional brewing style. So, oh, yeah, because, yeah, yeah. Right. It doesn't mean you have to be beer in there.

Hershey's chocolate milk is number one now, for some reason. It's a little loose if you ask me. They are independent. All right. Well, well, well done. I now want a beer, although I wanted one when the quiz started too. So it probably has nothing to do with it. Good job.

Thank you. So I am not a big alcohol. I'm not a big beer person. I'm not a big wine person, mostly because I might. For beer, I wish it was soda. For wine, I wish it was grape juice. Like, you know, I'm just not... But the thing is...

Wine coolers are your jam? I like wine cooler. Yeah, I like... Zima? More of a Zima girl. I like alcohol that tastes like soda. Yeah. Or juice.

Right. Or even not have the alcohol part. Just give me juice. But I love the culture of alcohol and the tradition and the history. And I mentioned this in our first episode that I was playing. a video game, Elder Scrolls Five Skyrim, where you, it's kind of

Nordic and setting, you can go to like meateries. And mead is a fermented drink using honey. And so you can like go to these beehive meeteries and stuff in the game. And I was like, oh my God, this sounds so cool. I want to make mead

where whatever this honey fermentation beer kind of thing is. And I got really into Mead brewing. It makes me think of like Robin Hood or like medieval times where people drink me at the tavern. That kind

of stuff is so cool to me. The fun part about getting into mead culture is all the variants and the names. And here I have a, I'm going to do a half quiz, half discussion. I have these really cool old Englishy Norse or Welsh

words to describe different types of meat. And so mead, the The M-E root is like M-L and French. It's honey-related. Ah. But the different variants, if it's, for example, if it's an apple mead, so with honey and apple juice, it is called a sizer.

Not a sider, but sizer, C-Y-S-E-R. And so all these variants is honey plus some other ingredient equals this other name. Oh, okay. Okay. All right. So if Sizer is blend of honey and apple juice fermented together, what is a peary? It's a pear. Pair, yes, pear and honey.

A pyment, P-Y-M-E-N-T, sounds very old-timing. It does. Pymant is honey and grapes. So it's like a wine plus honey. So what do you think oxymell is? Mel being the honey base. O-M-M-O-C-I. O-C-C-I. O-X-M-E-M-A. O-M-A. Bubbles.

Yeah. Doesn't like the oxy is like acid, I think, right? The roots. So something acidic, like lemon? Historical Mead recipe, and Oxymel is blending honey with wine vinegar. Oh. Whoa. So, coming from, so really is vinegar, honey, acid, honey.

And that's a drink in itself. This is one of my favorite words. A mellow mel. Melon. Melon. It is just honey and fruit. Any kind of fruit. A braggit.

Braggit, also known as bracket. Braggot and bracket. You'll probably like this, Colin, because it is honey and malt. Oh. I would try that. With or without hops. So really, it's beer brewing with honey in the use of fermentation. Very, very cool.

And a black mead. Black me. Okay Don't overthink Something like roasted maybe like Blackberry Black currants Blackberries

Yep Yep Very specific Black currants is black mead An acerglin Which I've made before Aserglin or acerglin Aserglin is a mead made with honey

And maple syrup Oh that does not go Two sugar sources And also a lot of these sugar sources The juice It really depends on the fruit Because after fermentation they might taste completely different.

So I made a grapefruit of mead before. And I love the taste of grapefruit, but after fermentation, that bitterness from the rind and the oils really come out. So it's like the IPA of meat is what you're saying. It was very bad. Oh, so I modified the recipe next time to include, instead of grapefruit, I use Pamelo or Pamelo, which is a milder grapefruit, and I made sure I had no rinds, and I used that juice. and that had the nice grapefruit flavor.

So there's a lot of mad scientist going on when you're into homebrew. Okay, this one is interesting. I've never, ever had this or want to try this. What do you think of capsicumel? Oh, it's got to be spicy, yeah. Yes, meat flavored with peppers. They can be mild peppers. I'm curious.

I would try that. I would try that. I wonder if you, after fermentation, like, would it still be spicy? I don't know. I mean, spicy things generally just get spicier over time, right? I don't know. Another big kind of a sector of meat is the methaglin. And methaglin sounds very fancy.

And methaglin is basically meat plus herbs or spices. So a ginger mead would count as a methaglin. I've used tea for tannins before, nutmeg creander or like just leaves and stuff like that. And it comes from the Welsh word, meaning healing So they used to drink a lot I mean I guess this was Like I feel better now

Yeah And one last one this is fun What do you think a rhodomel is Rodeomel is rose Rose water Rose Rodeamel is made from honey Rose hips or rose petals

Or rose or any part of rose Is a rhodomel So yeah these are great Great names I want to share with you guys reading these books and recipes are just so fun because they're all derived from like a really, really old recipe and mass down and

you can have room like me who would try out different recipes sometimes they fail but sometimes you know they taste good so there you go some cool meed words so we actually serendipitously we just got back from

Napa we were in wine country you and your wife something yeah not us not yeah Which we could, though, if you guys really wanted. I wasn't invited with it. Did you guys all go? My family and I just got back from Napa. And, you know, I mean, it being wine country, I did, in fact, encounter something up there and learn.

I learned something. We were at a place, I don't even know how you described it. It's sort of a resort spa type thing called Meadowwood. Meadowwood is in St. Helena, California. Walked around in downtown St. Helena. And downtown St. Helena is very small. And we got to the end of it pretty fast. And right as you get to the end of what is clearly like the two blocks stretch of where the things are,

there's a little sign that says St. Helena Public Library and Robert Louis Stevenson Museum pointing us sort of down the road. We don't really know. Is this walking distance or is this we're going to drive on the highway to get there? So we turn around and as it turns out, it's right, you know, it's right kind of off the, the beaten path there, the public library, and a little outbuilding next to it, the Robert Lewis Stevenson Museum. He, of course, being the author of Treasure Island and Dr. Jackal and Mr. Hyde, and clearly we had to go.

So we walk over there. There's the library, which was not open, but the museum, which was very much open, there was nobody in there except for the nice lady running the museum who welcomed us with open arms. And she very quickly impressed upon us as soon as we got in there. This is the largest and truly definitive Robert Lewis-Stevenson Museum. Are there other ones? You know, if there are, they're not as good as this one.

This one has, all I have to say is this. They have Robert Louis Stevenson's baby hair in this museum. His baby curl that was preserved by his parents and in a little, yeah, a lock of his baby hair. Wow. That is how thorough they are at the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum in Napa. Is he from there? Why is it there? Oh, let me tell you all about it.

Because the first thing that they tell you in the museum that Robert Lewis Stevenson, who was Scottish, he was born in Scotland. He died in Samoa, actually. They had moved to Samoa. The first thing they do is establish the connection. Why are you here? Why is it here? The connection between Robert Lewis Stevenson and Napa Wine Country. And it is a very interesting story.

It is connected. There's a connection. So before they even get into his life, they first tell you why it's him. Oh, good. Yes. So all this takes place while Robert Louis Stevenson is in his 20s, penniless and not in any way famous. Okay. Still not really sure what he's going to do with his life. It is 1876-ish.

The place is Paris. Robert Louis Stevenson is bumming around Paris. He meets a woman. Her name is Fannie Vandigrift Osborne. Oh. She is American, and she is super cool. She is 10 years older than him. She has two kids, and she's married.

So, of course, the two of them fall madly in love. She's, like, separated. Her husband is back in San Francisco, California at this point. Oh, okay. She's left him with the kids because they're not, you know, things aren't going so well, but they're not divorced. And she isn't sure what to do. Either. Mm.

So she moves. She goes back to San Francisco. Robert Louis Stevenson follows her a few months later to San Francisco. And eventually they get their respective things work out. And she does divorce her husband and gets married to Robert Louis Stevenson. They go on a honeymoon and they decide to go to Napa. They go up from San Francisco up into Wine Country. Now, at this point, it's not really wine country.

It's not anything in the hills. They're taking, they're not going to the big city on their honeymoon. They're going up into the sticks. Nature. Yeah, nature. The fresh mountain air. And they actually did start out by staying at a hotel, but it was too much money. Because remember, they have no money. They were in the area that is known kind of now as Silverado.

This is a tangent. Do you know why the area known as Silverado? Because there's the Silverado Trail in Napa where a lot of the wineries are. Do you know why that area is called Silverado? Silver. Or why any area that is called Silverado is called Silverado? Because there's silver in it. Because there's silver in it.

But what's the, what's the auto? Colorado. Or is it like desperado? Silver, I mean, it's silver colored if it's like a corruption. Oh, man, it is, no, it's nothing that, it is nothing that elegant. It is actually ridiculous, and I love this. El Dorado, Spanish for the golden one. If there was ever a gold mine somewhere, they might name that town El Dorado, because

of the gold mines. And so in, so Americans, El Dorado is the, you know, the place where the gold is. They learned that Spanish word. They learned that Spanish word. And then they misapplied it. They did not learn those words word for silver. Right.

Where the silver mine is. Yes, exactly. Instead of calling it Argentina. Yeah. They called it Silverado. El Dorado, Silverado. Argentina is named after silver. Yeah.

Oh, Argent. Right. Oh, my God. Right. Right. But they didn't know that. So if El Dorado is where the gold mine is, Copperado, Nicolato, Aluminumato, that's exactly what it is. So that is where, that is what Silverado is, it is just not quite getting the concept. But there's silver there.

It's fanglish. There is, or there was. I mean, it was, you know, people were going out to California and trying to, you know, thinking, you know, there's gold in them our hills. It's the 1800s. They're mining, you know. And anyway, people had gone out to that area, Silverado and mining silver. And then the silver dried up, or maybe there wasn't any, and they all left. And that is when Robert Louis Stevenson and his new wife come in and realized that, wait, there's this abandoned silver mine area here, and there's a whole abandoned house that is dilapidated and run down.

Will squat. We'll squat in the house. So they slept on hay and they scavenged what they could as far as, you know, building fires and, you know, moving stuff in the house. An abandoned house in a silver mining camp. And we have all the details of what they did because Robert Louis Stevenson wrote it all down in his travel memoir called The Silverado Squatters. What is really interesting about the book, The Silverado Squatters, besides everything I've already mentioned, is that he actually, they spent two months on their honeymoon, basically, doing this. And they actually spent a great deal of time learning about Napa wine, which at the, at the that point, he describes as being a very experimental enterprise.

Like, Americans didn't want to drink American wine. They want to drink fancy. Yeah, have fancy. So they were actually, apparently they were exporting a lot of the Napa wine at that point to other countries. And of course, nobody would ever say, you know, in polite society, that they thought that American wines were as good as French wines. Right.

Right. But Robert Lewis Stevenson really liked the Napa wines that he was drinking. And famously, in this book, he described the wine business. and he actually, he compared it to mining. Wine was like mining. So this is what he said. The beginning of vine planting is like the beginning of mining for the precious metals. The wine grower also, quote unquote, prospects.

One corner of land after another is tried with one kind of grape after another. This is a failure, that's better, a third best. Those loads and pockets of earth, more precious than the precious ores, that yield inimitable fragrance and soft fire, those virtuous bonanzas, where the soil has sublimated under sun and stars to something finer, and the wine is bottled poetry. These still lie undiscovered,

but there they bide their hour awaiting their Columbus. The smack of Californian earth shall linger on the palate of your grandson. Wow! Oh, he nailed it. Right, right? He nailed it. He was pretty up on the, the prospects, as it were, for the future of Napa Wine. Well, because California Wine didn't become a pop culture thing until, like, the 1970s and Titties.

He was a very early believer. Wow. Yeah, but it made that very bold prediction that, like, this is going to be the good stuff once they figure out, you know, how to do it and what kind of grapes and, yeah. Who knew he was a wino? I know. I think he was on to something there. I think it's going to catch on. And if you go to Napa, there is a gigantic sign that says,

Welcome to the Napa Valley. And there's a part of that sign has in big bold letters, the wine is bottled poetry. Robert Lewis-Stevenson. Yes. And then he never went back. Oh, really? It never went back.

No, it was just this very brief, two months in Napa. And then they never went back. In this shack, and then that was it. They went very many other places, and as I said, he was in Samoa, the end of his life, yeah. I love the star, the sun and stars part. Oh, it was such good writing. Yeah, he's some kind of writer. Right, right, right.

He's going to go places. Yeah, yeah. All right, let's take a quick break, a word from our sponsor. No frills, delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. shop online and get $15 in PC optimum points on your first five orders. Shop now at

no-frails.ca. Steve Cubine and Nan McNamara's podcast from Beneath the Hollywood Sign. Mary Astor has been keeping a diary. Mary writes everything down. And so this torrid affair with George S. Kaufman is chronicled on a daily basis. In great detail.

And Ipe pulls out a box and gives McAllister a ring saying, here's something to remember me, This article caused Daryl Zanick to hit the roof. Actress Ruth Roman followed that up with playing a foil to Betty Davis in Beyond the Forest. I mean, if you can stand toe to toe with her, boy. And she does because she plays the daughter of the man that Betty Davis kills out in the hunting trip. And it's directed by King Vidor, so he's no slouch.

How do you go wrong with that? Speaking of the Oscars, talking about what I call Beginners Luck, It's all about the actors and actresses who won an Oscar on their very first film. Get your fix of old Hollywood from Stephen Ann on the podcast from Beneath the Hollywood Sign. You're listening to Good Job Brain. Smooth puzzles. Smart trivia. Good job. And we're back. You're listening to Good Job Brain.

And this week we are talking about alcohol. So I think in our weird plant or plants are so weird episode, Colin talked about a book by Amy Stewart, Wicked Plants. So she is a fabulous, fabulous writer and researcher. She has a book called The Drunken Botanist. and it is full of interesting little tidbits about how plants relate to alcohol and drinks and drink configurations and the history of alcohol. She's such a good writer, so it's interesting, even though it could have been very dry. So I got the book, and I read it, and I made a quiz for you guys.

It's wholly based on the research of Amy Stewart in the Drunken Buttons. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah, because she talked about some A-Hole plants in that other book. Kudzu. The Cogon grass No, Cogon grass Yeah

Makes you bleed These questions I think they're probably pretty goodable Like you might know It's a dick in a quiz I can't tell what you know or don't know What is the oldest domesticated living organism And this is related to alcohol

Domesticated? Yeah Is it wheat, right? No Oh It's yeast It's yeast Yeah

Everywhere So, agave, which is ingredient in tequila, is related to what veggie? What vegetable is in the same botanical order. I'll guess cucumber. No. Vegetable. Celery. No.

Artichoke? Oh, you're very close. Asparagus. Oh, it is. Really? Yeah. It's in the Aspergalis family. Oh, okay.

Yucca is also on there. It's not a cactus. Can you make, does that mean you can make asparagus tequila? Ugh. That's good job, brain. P-O-Box. I don't think you can. Like, she goes into, like, how tequila's made and you do all this, yeah.

You could, asparagus meed. You could make it. Gears are turning. That's the good trick. So, key limes, the limes used in lots of alcohol. alcoholic drinks. Do they have more or less sugar than lemons? More less sugar than lemons. Yeah. I'll say less, because that makes it an interesting trivia a bit.

They have half as much sugar as lemons. But they're tinier. Well, by wing. ounce for ounce. Yeah. Limes are actually yellow. That's not fair. They're tiny. Even though they seem sweeter, they have less sugar. Well, that's because they're always in pies. Yeah, it's true. That's true.

Yeah. What conifers berry must be in a spirit in order to call it gin. Oh. Turn. What conifer's berry is from the juniper bush. Juniper berries from the juniper bush. So the word vermouth, it's derived from a early version of a German and French word for this herb. And this herb is also affiliated with absinth or is a strong component in absent. It's from wormwood.

Wormwood, yes. Verm is like green. Oh, verm. Yeah, verm. Like vermicelli. Oh, worm. Worm. Yeah.

Wormwood. So the worm and wormwood is. Yeah. Mouth. Virmouth. It's wood. It's like, the German one was actually like, you could read it. And it was like, oh, I could see how that could go to Vermuth or Wormwood.

And people thought it could kill intestinal worms. They thought Wormwood would kill intestinal worms. Yeah. So that's how they were living then, right? Okay. But no. Maybe. I don't know.

Nobody said yes or no, but that's what they believe. It always seems like whatever, like, medical problem you have, somebody will invent a story about how a certain type of alcohol is good for it. Yeah. Well, gin and tonic. That one's true. That's true. Yeah. Those did cure malaria.

Yeah. And it wasn't the alcohol. It was the tonic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's not ruin it, though. Okay.

So the worm at the bottle, at the bottom of a tequila bottle or mescal bottle, do you know the Spanish word? for the worm at the bottom. Oh, I've heard this before back in college. I don't know. It's a gusano. Yes. A gusano. A gusano? What does it mean? Worm? Yeah. Is it actually a worm? The things at the bottom are they usually worms? I don't think it is. No. No. It's like a larvae. Yes. It's like a moth. It's like a moth. It's like a moth. It's in there for decoration at this point? It's in there for decoration. Although. if it's in there, you're probably getting some of the moth or larva in every drink that you have. You don't have.

And they actually, they, so they discourage putting it in there because they think it cheapens the brand. And you don't need it. It doesn't do anything. Yeah. It just tells you this is real agave maybe. Yeah.

I know that one because I don't like, because I'm scared of moth. That is true. Yeah. So I stay away from it. And then it's like their baby is at the bottom of your drink. No, no. It gets dark really quick.

Yeah. Okay. Last, is there an E in the word whiskey? It depends. It depends. All right. What's the... So generally, generally, American whiskeys, bourbon whiskeys, have the E. Yes. And generally, like, a Scotch whiskey does not. Yes, exactly. An Irish whiskey also has the E. Yeah. There is, I mean, there's, like, makers mark, bourbon. They spell it without the E.

And that's American. There are exceptions. But, yeah, that's the general rule. It's not a rule. There's no list of rules. Oh, so there is no... It's just sort of how it shook out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So the OED says the American spellings with the E and the British, except for Irish. Yeah.

Or Irish is not British. I'm sorry. I have some Irish friends, and they would not enjoy that. I guess Europe and Japan and most of the rest of the world is no E. Yeah. I didn't know that. And if you're at a bar where you need to write down your orders. Yeah, yeah.

Maybe it's time to rethink where you're drinking. Yeah, but I just never noticed that there was sometimes an E and sometimes not until today. I just thought people spelled it wrong. I really thought people spelled it wrong. I spelled with an E, and I was like, oh, people just don't know how to spell. It's like color and theater. Yeah, color. Yeah.

Leave Warritt. Yeah. Good job, you guys. Really ticking off the British in this episode. Great job all right. Nice. From the terrifying power of tornadoes to sizzling summer temperatures, ACUweather Daily brings you the top trending weather-related story of the day every day of the week.

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Listen and subscribe to AccuWeather Daily, wherever you get your podcasts. That's AccuWether Daily, wherever you get your podcasts. All right, last call, Colin. You got one last segment for us. In the spirit of good job brain, spirit of good job brain. I've got some great drunk animal trivia for you. We haven't done an animal segment a long time. I thought I was going overboard with some of the nightmare animals, so I kind of restrained myself.

Oh, no, I did talk about dead frogs. Yeah, yeah. Okay. But drunk animals. Drunk animals. I would like to start off by reading you an excerpt from an Associated Press story. This is from August 2004 filed to Baker Lake, Washington. Bear drinks 36 cans of favorite beer.

What is his favorite? When state fish and wildlife agents recently found a black bear passed out on the lawn of Baker Lake Resort, there were some clues scattered nearby. dozens of empty cans of rainier beer So the bear got into a cooler You can fulfill in that blank basically Oh, it's not a marketing stunt No, not a marketing stunt

They got a beer drunk So the bear got into a cooler But he was choosy Quote He drank the rainier And wouldn't drink the bush beer No, well, I mean Yeah, obviously

He's a Washington bear Sergeant Bill Hink said The bear did try one can of bush but ignored the rest It was an informed decision He didn't like that bush And consumed as near as we can tell About 36 cans of rainier

They tried to chase him down But the animal climbed a tree To sleep it off for four hours Agents finally heard it the bear away But it returned the next morning Presumably looking for more rainier beer The humaneer beer Well, yeah.

The humane trap they set to lure him in the next morning was donuts, honey, and two open cans of rainier beer. Did it work? It did work. Yes, it did. It did. They relocated him, presumably give him like a fan club membership or something. So this was the kind of story. Like, I wanted to find, like, greatest hits of drunk animals, you know?

And that's how I started down the path of research in this second. segment. And not just greatest hits, but I wanted to find some science behind it. Like, oh, what animals like beer? What, you know, like, why, you know, how much beer, how much beer does it take to get a bear drunk, you know? I mean, is it. Clearly, yeah. No more than 36. It turns out that by and large, most animals don't like alcohol. You know, if you're doing research on alcohol and, like, how it affects, you know, the human brain and human behavior, that it's really hard to do lab studies because they can't easily get lab animals to consume alcohol. Because it tastes bad to them.

Mice and rats in particular are really averse at the alcohol. And that's, you know, like our number one source of lab animals. Well, I mean, because like alcohol, I guess assumes that there's fermentation and something's spoiled or something goes bad. Right. They associate with that, like, with not poison, but like that is bad food. Well, you know, so like that was my first thought as well. So it turns out actually there are researchers who research.

animals in and around fruits that, and when fruits ferment, it is a good source of energy. So there are, there are some theories that, you know, maybe certain animals are, maybe we are wired to sort of sniff out the smell of fermentation because it is high in sugars and high in, you know, caloric input for the size. Maybe there's something there. But, so it's hard to study this in the lab. So I want to tell you guys about some interesting experiments going on with prairie voles. What are voles?

They're little rodents, you know, not unlike a mouse or a rat or something like that. But voles, prairie voles in particular, are great for experimenting because not only will they drink alcohol, they prefer it to water. And now here's where it gets even more interesting. They exhibit social aspects to their alcohol consumption. And so researchers are really excited because maybe there can be some insight into the social aspects of humans consuming alcohol, and particularly alcoholism, and maybe how does that take root, and how do we let social factors affect our alcohol consumption? So these, according to researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University, they'll drink alcohol if you give it to them. If you put a bowl in a cage with access to water and alcohol, okay, so one, you know, a little bottle of water, one spiked with alcohol, they'll drink from each about roughly amount.

They'll drink from each of them about half the time. Okay. Okay. If you put two sibling bowls in the same enclosure, each with access to water and alcohol, they'll each drink more alcohol than they would if they were by themselves. Oh, pure pressure. Social drinkers. It is social drinkers. Now, and it's not competition for resources.

They each have their own supply. And now, not only will they drink more from their presence of a sibling bowl, they will match each other drink for drink. Wow. Okay. Very polite, yeah. Yeah. So now, vols, you know, they're kind of like people where left to their own devices, some of them will drink until they're literally falling over and staggering around their little cage. Some will drink more in moderation.

But when you put the sibling voles together, they'll go from about 50-50 consumption of water, alcohol, to 80-20. Wow. Yeah, yeah, way more. And they'll find the level of their cage mate. So they somehow know how much the other vole is drinking. And this is what the scientists are trying to figure out is, one, why are they exhibiting this like drink for drink? I'll match you behavior. And two, how do they know?

How do they know? And they've controlled it, too. They've controlled it for other, like, it just happens with alcohol. So they'll put them in a cage with one bottle of water, one bottle of like saccharin flavored water. Apparently, vols love the taste of saccharine. And again, on their own, they'll drink more than that. Boles are weird. They sound like cool guys to hang out.

They won't match each other drink for drink with the saccharine water. They will only match each other and increase their consumption of alcohol spiked water. Only, wow. So they're still in the early phase of theorizing why this is. They don't even know how they're keeping track on each other. This is very high level. But one theory they're getting at is coming into these studies, they knew that voles are strong. monogamous. And, you know, most, most animals are not. So they're thinking is that the pathways that lead these animals to be strongly monogamous and the same rewards that they get are maybe tied to addiction. Now they've got to try to give prairie voles gambling problems.

It's just vice. It's just whatever vice it is. Yeah. They all want to seem like the cool bowl. Yeah. If that bowl jumped off a bridge, would you jump on a bridge? All right, so that was it. So that's why, unfortunately, there are not more stories about crazy drunken bears. I love the bears. I know, I know. Bears can do everything. Bears can do everything. They can eat Costco meatballs.

They can climb trees while drunk. They can, like, I know people who after 10 beers would not be able to differentiate a can of bush from a can of rainier. And this bear is 35 cans in still making the right choice. Yeah, still being judgy. Wow. All right. And that is our Alcohol show

Part 2, Part 2 Alcohol Show. Thanks to you guys for joining me and thanks to you guys, listeners, for listening in. Hope you learned a lot of stuff about drunk bears, about Robert, about the weird, I guess, prescient.

Presight. Forsy. Forsy. Forsyte of Robert Lewis Stevenson, some cool plant facts, and also stuff about mead. You can find us on. on iTunes, on Stitcher, on SoundCloud, and on our website, goodjobbrain.com.

Thanks to our sponsor, Squarespace, and we'll see you guys next week. Bye. If you like this podcast, can we recommend another one? It's called Big Picture Science. You can hear it wherever you get. your podcast and its name tells part of the story. The big picture questions and the most interesting research in science. Seth and I are the host. Seth is a scientist. I am Molly and I'm a science journalist and we talk to people smarter than us and we have fun along the way. The show is

called Big Picture Science and as Seth said, you can hear it wherever you get your podcast.