Drift off to the entire history of whiskey, from hidden Highland stills to the coal-fired distilleries of Japan, told in calm, slow narration over gentle rain sounds. This relaxing bedtime history episode is designed to help you unwind, quiet a busy mind, and fall asleep.

Tonight on Sleepless History, we follow the "water of life" across more than five centuries. We begin in the misty glens of the Scottish Highlands, where farmers hid copper stills in the heather and played a long game of hide and seek with the Crown's excisemen, until the Excise Act of 1823 brought whisky out of the shadows. We cross the Atlantic to western Pennsylvania, where Alexander Hamilton's whiskey tax sparked the Whiskey Rebellion and George Washington led nearly 13,000 militiamen over the mountains. We travel into Kentucky to uncover the origins of bourbon, the legend of the charred oak barrel, and Colonel E.H. Taylor's fight for the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897. We pass through the long dry years of Prohibition, when whiskey was sold legally by doctor's prescription at the pharmacy counter while smugglers ran Rum Row. And finally, we follow Masataka Taketsuru, a sake brewer's son who studied whisky in Scotland, married Rita Cowan, and became the father of Japanese whisky.

If you enjoyed our history of wine, coffee, or tea, this is the perfect companion episode. Perfect for insomnia, sleep anxiety, deep relaxation, or simply learning something new as you rest.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:03:15 Chapter 1: The Water of Life and the Gaugers of the Glens

00:26:27 Chapter 2: Rye, Rebellion, and the Hills of Western Pennsylvania

00:43:39 Chapter 3: Corn, Limestone, and the Colonel's Guarantee

01:01:00 Chapter 4: The Long Dry Years and the Pharmacist's Pint

01:19:03 Chapter 5: The Chemist from Takehara and the Road to Yoichi

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