Podcast Summary:

“Anyway, I’ll Drink to That” is a Boozn Sam’s production, exploring the fun, quirky, and fascinating tales of drinks (Ranch Water in this episode) that define culture, history and the world. Every drink has a story to tell, and I’m going to tell it…as true as I can. Hosted by Sam, from Boozn Sam’s. Saddle up with a good cocktail and give me a few minutes of your time for a mystery surrounding a drink that changed the world.

Episode 34 Notes: Dancing and Drinking Hearts with the Devil

Before the devil went down to Georgia he was in London, and he found himself at the end of a nasty joke that led to an omen to ward off evil. An omen that found its way to North America and lives still in your glass today. So, drink up… can’t let the devil have his day.

This episode features ⁠Wiseacre Brewing Company⁠ and their ⁠Set Up Ranch Water

Transcript of Podcast:

*Note – This is the full episode and containers spoilers. You can always listen to the podcast above.

The Devil made his way to London to explore the delicacies of that culture and do what the devil does best – spread evil and collect souls like bottle caps to store in the dungeons of his fiery hell. Culture, even in today’s terms might be an overstatement for London. And back then, it definitely was the case. 

The city was, admittedly, bigger than the Devil expected. Sprawling red roofs, which he liked, stretched on this side of the River Thames and the other side too. A bridge even connected the two parts of the city. A few boats were working the shore line, casting nets into the water and hauling up fish. And, while it wasn’t a city boasting the millions of people it has today, it was a bustling place.   

The bars were brimming with people drinking warm mead and shitty beer that pales in comparison to beer made at great places like ⁠Wiseacre Brewing Company in Memphis, Tennessee today, for instance.  

And… there was nothing really to explore there beyond the usual vices of booze, sex and violence. The devil was coming for souls and finding nothing new under the sun. It was the year 969 AD. People didn’t live long enough for their vices to really wreak havoc on the world. 

Since the devil was in the place of fish and chips, before fish and chips were a thing, and because London was, quite frankly, a shit hole, he was angry. His anger was intensified by his hoof. He’d traveled a long way to get here, and it had damaged one of his hooves. He was in quite a bit of pain.

“You, sir.” He said to one of the men he passed. “Nearest way to a blacksmith?”

The man huffed. “You’re in luck. I’m one.” He stepped back and looked the devil over. Then pointed. “Your hoof?”

The devil raised it, along with his eyebrow. “Can you fix it?”

“Sure can.” The man extended a hand. “The name’s Dunstan.” Then he gave a wave of his hand and ushered the man to a nearby building. “Come on. My shop’s in here.”

Dunstan threw open the doors to the blacksmith shop and went inside. The devil followed. There was an iron furnace burning red hot in the far corner of the room and tools hung on hooks along one wall.

It was hot, but the heat felt like home for the devil. He groaned and dropped his knee into a chair, gripping the back of the chair with his hands and exposing his injured hoof. The flickering firelight made it glow eerily. 

Dunstan had walked away to gather up tools. He returned and dropped them next to him on the floor. “Ahh, yes. I see.” He pressed on it. “Does this hurt?”

The Devil let out a roar that sent the mice scurrying back into their holes. 

“Sorry. Sorry.” 

“Just fix it.” The Devil grumbled. “Or I’ll take off your head.”

Dunstan wrapped his arm around the devil’s foot for leverage and locked the leg into place in the crook of his arm. He clamped down in a swift motion and slammed a piece of iron onto the hoof at the same time.

The Devil let out a roar. “Dammit, I’m going to kill you.” He yanked his foot away. “Fix it.”

But, there was no where for him to go. Dunstan had him locked down tight. “What do you think I’m doing? Your open sore will be the least of your problems when I’m done with you.” 

Dunstan brought his hammer slamming into the first nail of the iron and sent another shock of pain through the devil. “By the power of God. I banish you.”

Now, while the devil could be pushed away he certainly couldn’t be banished by a mortal. And while the devil couldn’t die he could most certainly feel pain. He was feeling pain now too. Excruciating pain as the nail drove into his already injured hoof. 

The devil also knew that this man was no mere blacksmith. This man was a believer, a follower of the one who had cast him out of heaven and forced him to make a home in the smoldering, fire filled pits of the place they call hell. 

There was another tink of the hammer hitting a nail and connecting with the iron, and another nail driving straight into his hoof. The Devil let out another yell and swiped at Dunstan, but he was off balance and couldn’t see behind where Dunstan was behind him to do any real damage. 

The third nail strike was the worst and it came fast and without warning, like the other two. The Devil was lightheaded with pain and feeling very foolish about being tricked by this priest named Dunstan. 

Although he didn’t want to, he had no choice but to submit. “Okay.” He growled, pulling at his foot. “What do you want?”

“Be gone with you.” Dunstan yelled again.

The devil rolled his eyes. The hubris of the man. “Okay… that’s not really the way this works. Just can’t die and all.” His foot was throbbing. The iron attached to him was burning and radiating pain through his leg and up to his chest. It was making him sick to his stomach. “Just take it off.”

“No.”

“You know I can kill you.”

“You’ll never get this iron off.”

“Okay, okay.” The pain was becoming unbearable. He couldn’t walk around with this on forever. He needed it removed. “What do you want?”

“Agree to never tempt or harm anyone who has one of these present.”

He didn’t even know what one of these was. And, telling the devil to not do his devil things was kind of a tall order. He might just take the –

Clank. The hammer connected with a nail and sunk it deep into his hoof. He howled again. He was nearly to the point where sawing off his leg seemed a better option than enduring any more pain. 

“Fine.” He howled. “I’ll agree to never tempt or harm anyone who has one of those thingies present. I swear it… on my own name I’ll swear it.”

“On God’s name.”

“Never.”

There was a pause. There was no more hammering. There was only the constant pain in his foot and leg. Then, just as fast as it had started, it stopped and the pain drained out of him like water draining out of a basin.

Dunstan was beside him then, holding a bloody piece of metal with the nails still in it. “It’s called a horseshoe. Keep it so you know what to avoid.”

He thrust it into the devil’s hand. And it has remained in the devil’s hand all of this time, and in all parts of the world. Thanks to the trickery of St. Dunstan, a Bishop of London, who convinced the devil he was going to help him, but instead hurt him. 

Fast forward thousands of years, through all the mischief and evil of the devil and he never forgot his deal. He always avoided the houses where a horseshoe was nailed above a threshold. 

It was this legend that created the horseshoe as a symbol for good luck, as a ward against evil spirits and the devil. 

And, in Mexico, a place and a people steeped in superstition and religious reverence, the horseshoe became a tradition on farms and ranch lands. 

In 1870, Felix had a horseshoe nailed to the threshold of his newly purchased Hacienda, which was at the foot of a mountain in the Sierra Madres. Felix needed all the help he could get too, for he was embarking on a new journey, a terrifying, borderline, ungodly journey in his own right. 

He was cooking hearts in water, crushing them, and extracting their liquids. Felix had hired men to go out into the countryside in search of hearts. They would take their knives, walk the land, and slice up the things they found, ripping out the hearts and keeping them. Then, they would take these hearts and return to Felix, who started experimenting with them.

He wasn’t the first to experiment with hearts either, and he wouldn’t be the last. In fact, his work would become so important to humanity that it would travel around the world and shape the lives of millions of people. 

And while Felix wasn’t the first to cook with hearts, he was the first to employ a new process, a process that was built on time, and hence, patience. He took the heart juices he’d always used and, instead of consuming them right then and there, decided to let them sit for a bit. He experimented with the time frame too. Some he let sit for only a month. Others, he let sit for a year.

In the end, what he discovered was that his clear heart juice had darkened and turned amber. The taste changed too. What was once harsh had, like most of us, mellowed out with age. 

It would be Felix’s son Aurelio who would really take what his father started and make it into something known around the world. Imagine that, a drink made with heart juice, consumed around the world. Now that’s something only the devil could love. And this new drink, made from hearts, and allowed to mellow for months, would actually be used in another very popular, modern drink. 

And Aurelio would also carry on the superstition and the healthy fear of evil and the devil that his father had. So, when Aurelio was on the hacienda, looking out over the fields of the property, watching the sun, he took it as a sign when rays of light caught on a horseshoe. 

It was at that moment he knew that he had to include the horseshoe, this instrument of luck and the key to warding off evil on their drink of hearts. Because they were playing too closely to the devil and dancing with the devil usually leaves you tripped up. So, he put the horseshoe on their drink.

And it’s been on every bottle ever since. 

A horseshoe with the heel facing the opening of the bottle so every drink is poured through the horseshoe and imbued with luck to ward off evil spirits and the devil.

Herradura…the Mexican tequila company started by Felix Lopez, puts this on all of their tequila bottles. 

Tequila that’s made with blue weber agave hearts. 

Which are cooked, sliced and mashed to drain them of their juice. The resulting liquid is then fermented and turned into tequila. 

Then if you take that tequila and age it anywhere from 2 to 11 months you get reposada tequila

A smoother, more flavorful tequila. 

And Reposada, imbued with the history and protections against evil and the devil of Mexico and their superstitions… 

Is used in Wiseacre’s Set Up Ranch Water. 

Ranch Water

Ranch water has been around for almost 30 years now. It’s basically a seltzer that contains lime, tequila and seltzer water. 

But, most seltzers are malt based.

And ⁠Wiseacre Brewing Company has taken the extra step of intention to use Reposada tequila in theirs… because it tastes better and because when you have a drink in the South… it’s good to find ways to ward off the devil whenever you can. 

After all, he did go down to Georgia to steal easier souls and lick his wounds when he was tricked into wearing a horseshoe by St. Dunstan. 

Anyway…I’ll drink to that.