The Alchemist's Bar
The story of what's in the glass.
Narrative stories about the history, culture, and science behind what people drink. Each episode takes a single drink, ingredient, moment, or practice and follows it to where it breaks open into something larger — a trade economy, a political movement, a chemical accident, a grief.
Hosted by Shawn Spitaleri.
Listen to the Trailer
"One of the best narrative podcasts to show up in podcast feeds in a while."
Season 1
Every episode is a story of proof in both senses: the evidence that something happened, and the measure of what's in the glass.
Season 1 is complete and available in full. Season 2 returns fall 2026.
The First Industrial Drink
Transmutation of waste into value — and who pays the cost.
Gin Lane
The same substance, two utterly different transformations depending on the vessel and the context.
8,000 Years in Clay
The earth as vessel. Time as the active ingredient.
The Thinking Drink
A chemical shift in the body that changed the shape of institutions.
Before Distillation
Distillation as a colonial technology imposed on an existing fermentation culture.
What Three Dashes Do
Catalytic transformation. Small quantities, disproportionate effect.
What Temperance Actually Wanted
Balance as the third principle. The shadow acknowledged, not eliminated.
The Invisible Ingredient
The prima materia. Before anything is transformed, there is water.
The Champagne Myth
The unintended reaction that becomes the product.
The Ice Trade
Environment as transformation agent. What becomes possible when you change the temperature of the system.
Bonus Content
Six shorter episodes running during the hiatus. Each one focuses on a single unusual ingredient — tracing its history, chemistry, and human connection.
The Editorial Lens
The cocktail podcast space is saturated with technique and recipe content. Narrative storytelling in this space is virtually nonexistent. Distillate occupies that gap — following each drink to where it breaks open into trade economies, political movements, chemical accidents, and human grief.
Nothing mystical without a material foundation underneath it.