FREE drinks for the punters, delivered by two entertainers on a whistle-stop tour of some of the untapped parts of the country.

It sounds like a recipe for a messy night, but the Thinking Drinkers are eager to make their alcoholic odyssey about more than just a booze-up.

The award-winning drinks writers and comedy performers Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham are drinks columnists for the Daily Telegraph, write a bar column for Metro and regularly contribute to an array of international publications. Authorities on all aspects of alcohol, they have appeared on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch and regularly pop up on radio and television espousing their “Drink Less, Drink Better” message.

Their new tour, The History of Alcohol, calls in at the Beggar's Theatre, in Millom, on Friday October 20, which sees the duo doing what they do best.

"We time travel between different places and different times, and each time travel is accompanied by a different drink," says Tom.

"The show covers everything from how monkeys evolved into man, how the artists like Van Gogh and the great inventors were all influenced by alcohol. It also is portrayed throughout history that the winners were always the drinkers and the losers were the tee-totallers - it's been with us through every aspect of civilisation.

"We do take measures to make sure people aren't getting blind drunk - we're responsible.

"Our motto is 'Drink Less, Drink Better'. We're trying to show people that it's worth spending money on something a little bit more expensive - we're drinks experts by trade, and it's our ambition to get people thinking about how they drink.

"Over the past 10 years, people are spending more money on better alcohol, even if that means buying less - they're not drinking to just get drunk, they're becoming more discerning in their approach to alcohol."

Ben adds: "Being intoxicated is becoming more and more of a social 'no-no', and the desire to get drunk is starting to wane. People are starting to take more of an interest in what they are drinking.

"I saw a vodka tasting the other day where people were talking about the umami - I still don't really know what that is. It sounds like something off Shooting Stars.

"But like we're seeing with all the food programmes on TV, it's just the same with drinks, and people want to know everything about what they're consuming."

The five free drinks offer seems like it could be an incentive to get people through the door, but the tasting is there to help the narrative.

It's a formula that has worked so far, and has seen them perform seven critically acclaimed sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

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, they have appeared in London’s West End, Madrid and toured the UK extensively. Their previous Edinburgh show, The Thinking Drinkers Guide to the Legends of Liquor, subsequently inspired their award-winning book The Thinking Drinkers: An Enlightened Imbibers Guide to Alcohol.

Not bad for two drinks writers, who found themselves supplementing their wages with the odd speaking appearance.

Ben says: "What we do is very varied, so I think that works in our favour. In stand-up comedy that's a lot of pressure to make people laugh, but because we're also providing an educational side, and there's also a tasting - it's working well for us.

"What people are starting to demand is a lot more variety from what they see on stage, so if you're ticking more than one box with your show, then people are more likely to enjoy it."

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Tom continues: "It's not been a natural route at all for us, but we've just done 26 consecutive nights at one of the biggest festivals in the world, in Edinburgh, so we're not doing too badly.

"It was actually borne out of necessity; journalism is not the easiest way to make ends meet, so we had to look for other ways. At the time we were both speaking at a lot of events, but talking for 45 minutes about the way something tastes is a bit dull.

"I started to find that when I'd talk about the stories behind the drinks, the history and the people who made them or drank them, that was a lot more interesting.

"We met a director and producer, and then we went to this kind of theatre

boot-camp so that we had some idea of what we were doing.

"At first it was absolutely terrifying being on the stage, and it still is to be honest.

"We've never really got past that, but we've managed to confine our anxiety into the 15 minutes before we go on, rather than feeling sick with nerves for the whole day."

As they have with all of their shows to date, Ben and Tom extol the virtues of the brewers and distillers that have helped put Britain at the forefront of alcohol production.

And while they won't get to sample everything that this part of the world has to offer on their short stay in Cumbria, they are looking forward to their first visit to Millom.

"We don't know Millom at all," says Ben.

"The only thing we're aware of is that Hardknott Brewery is based there - I know a few of their beers.

"We'll be there for about 24 hours, so we should be there early enough to get a good look around.

"Lakes Distillery is also somewhere that we'd like to get to, but there's obviously the fact that we have to drive everywhere - we don't actually drink during the shows, but mainly that's because 26 nights on tour would put us in hospital.

"We always like to try a couple of the local drinks after the show though, so we'll be hunting them down."

The Thinking Drinkers appear at the Beggar's Theatre, in Millom, on Friday October 20, from 8pm. Tickets are available from the venue's box office.