Drinking Like a Human: A Conversation Worth Having

Oct 26

Dr. Bill & Christina at the Weston A Price Conference 2026 — *Dr. Bill & Christina at the Weston A Price Conference in DC 2026*

If you don't drink alcohol—whether you never have, simply choose not to, or are sober and have worked hard to get there—we celebrate that. Nothing in this conversation is intended to change your mind.

And if alcohol is causing problems in your life, traditional ingredients and ancestral methods are not going to make those problems disappear. This isn't permission to justify a harmful relationship with alcohol.

This conversation is for people who choose to drink and want to bring the same thoughtfulness to their glass that they bring to their plate.

That is how Christina and I began our presentation at this year's Wise Traditions conference in Washington, D.C. And it feels like the right way to begin here, too.

Our presentation was called Drinking Like a Human: Alcohol Through the Lens of Ancestral Fermentation.

And, to be honest, we were nervous.

We've spoken at health conferences for years about sourdough, whole-animal cooking, fermentation, and the technologies our ancestors developed to transform food. But alcohol? In our experience, that conversation rarely makes it onto the stage.

Yet it often comes up between sessions or over dinner afterward. People who care deeply about where their meat comes from, how their bread is fermented, and what fats are used to prepare their food may also enjoy a glass of wine or a cocktail.

Christina and I do, too.

We felt it was time to bring that conversation into the room.

Nourishment Is More Than Nutrition

One of the ideas at the heart of our work is that nourishing a human being is complicated.

We have biological needs, of course. But we also have emotional, social, cultural, and sometimes spiritual needs. Food is about far more than the nutrients it delivers. A meal can nourish our bodies while connecting us to our families, our communities, our traditions, and our past.

For some people, alcoholic beverages have long played a role in those connections. Wine shared around a table, a wedding toast, or a cocktail enjoyed with friends can become part of meaningful experiences.

Recognizing that role doesn't mean claiming alcohol is necessary for health or that drinking provides biological benefits that outweigh its risks. It means acknowledging that human relationships with food and drink are more complicated than their nutritional composition alone.

We can recognize the cultural and social significance of alcohol while also being clear about its potential harms.

Both belong in an honest conversation.

WATCH THE PRESENTATION

The Name Doesn't Tell the Whole Story

How Was It Made?

At the Modern Stone Age Kitchen, we constantly return to one fundamental question: How was it made?

Calling something "bread" tells us surprisingly little about what we're actually eating.

A loaf of genuinely fermented sourdough and a loaf of Wonder Bread may share the same name, but the ingredients, processing methods, fermentation, and finished products can be dramatically different.

The same is true of alcoholic beverages.

Wine, beer, and cocktails are categories, not descriptions of how something was produced. What ingredients were used? Where did they come from? How were they processed? Was fermentation spontaneous or controlled? What was added along the way? These questions matter to us, whether we're making bread, cheese, charcuterie, or a cocktail.

To illustrate this during our presentation, I began by demonstrating how we make a Manhattan at the Kitchen. I chose the Manhattan because it has long been one of Christina's and my favorite cocktails when we go out for a nice dinner.

Our version reflects the same principles that guide everything we make: thoughtfully sourced rye whiskey, house-crafted components and bitters, and a fermented cherry that we prepare ourselves. No artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. No refined sugar in our house-made mixers.

Another Manhattan might look nearly identical, yet contain an entirely different collection of ingredients.

Two drinks can share the same name without sharing the same story.

That distinction matters. Of course, better ingredients don't eliminate the risks associated with ethanol. A thoughtfully crafted cocktail is still an alcoholic beverage, and how much and how often someone drinks remains important. But for those who choose to drink, we believe understanding what's in the glass—and how it got there—is worthwhile.

A Relationship Older Than the Glass

Alcohol, Evolution, and Ancestral Fermentation

From there, we stepped back into archaeology, anthropology, and the long history of fermentation. Humans didn't invent alcohol. Long before our ancestors deliberately fermented grains, fruits, and honey, wild yeasts were already transforming naturally occurring sugars into ethanol. We discussed the fascinating drunken monkey hypothesis, which proposes that our attraction to alcohol may have evolutionary roots in our primate ancestors' encounters with naturally fermented fruit.

It's an intriguing possibility that helps place our relationship with alcohol within a much longer evolutionary story. But evolutionary history is not a prescription for modern behavior. Just because our ancestors encountered something doesn't automatically mean consuming it today is beneficial. What archaeology and anthropology do show us is that humans around the world developed extraordinary ways to transform locally available ingredients into fermented beverages. These traditions became deeply connected to place, season, ceremony, celebration, and community.

Wine, beer, and other fermented beverages were not simply products. They were expressions of culture, ingenuity, and relationships with the natural world. And in many places, they still are. Understanding that history helps us recognize what can be lost when production becomes disconnected from the ingredients, people, and traditions that once defined it. It also gives us a better foundation for understanding what's in our glasses today.

Bringing the Questions Home

From Ancestral Fermentation to the Modern Bar

We finished our presentation by exploring wine, beer, spirits, and cocktails—how they were traditionally produced, how modern production methods have changed them, and how consumers can make more informed decisions.

What are the ingredients?
How was it fermented?
What was added afterward?
Does the producer explain the process?
Does the bartender actually know what's in the ingredients being poured into your glass?

These are questions we ask every day in our kitchen.

We believe they deserve a place at the bar, too.

Our goal wasn't to convince people who don't drink to start drinking. Nor was it to suggest that traditional, organic, or naturally fermented alcoholic beverages are somehow free of risk. We simply wanted to give people who already choose to drink a better framework for making informed choices.

We ended the presentation with a tasting of traditionally produced Georgian wine, connecting everything we had discussed to one of the world's oldest living winemaking traditions.

The room was full. The questions were fantastic. And afterward, a line of people waited to taste the wine and continue the conversation.

After all our nerves, that response meant a great deal.

It reinforced something Christina and I have believed for a long time:

People are hungry for a deeper understanding of their food and drink. They want to know where it comes from, how it's made, and why those choices matter.

And that brings us to some exciting news.

Introducing the Modern Stone Age Kitchen's Full Bar!

The Same Philosophy. A Whole New Experience.

Next month, we're officially launching our full bar program at the Modern Stone Age Kitchen!

For years, we've worked to rethink how food is sourced, prepared, fermented, and served. We've brought ancestral food technologies into a modern kitchen to create food that is as nourishing, delicious, and deeply connected to its origins as possible.

Now, we're bringing that same philosophy to everything we pour.

This isn't simply about adding alcohol to our menu.

It's about extending our approach to food into the glass.

And just as we do with everything else at the Modern Stone Age Kitchen, we're starting with the ingredients, the producers, the traditions, and the processes that make each beverage possible.

*Just a peak at the difference in something as simple as cherries*

Wine: Ancient Traditions, Living Fermentation

Our wine program will feature regeneratively produced wines from the Republic of Georgia, a country with an extraordinary winemaking history stretching back approximately 8,000 years.

These wines are made using traditional methods, including spontaneous fermentation with naturally occurring yeasts in clay vessels called qvevri, which are buried in the earth.

Rather than relying on highly standardized industrial processes, these winemakers embrace the relationship between grapes, microorganisms, clay, time, and place.

The result is wine that expresses not only the grapes from which it was made, but also the traditions and landscapes that shaped it.

These are wines with stories worth telling.

*Wine research in the Republic of Georgia*

Beer: Celebrating the Art of Sour Fermentation

Our beer selection will focus on sour beers, celebrating the incredible complexity that fermentation can create.

For thousands of years, brewers relied on microorganisms to transform grains into beverages with remarkable diversity in flavor, aroma, and character.

Sour beers offer an opportunity to explore that microbial world through acidity, complexity, and fermentation-driven flavors.

We're particularly interested in beers that honor traditional fermentation methods and the microorganisms responsible for creating their distinctive character.

Cocktails: 100% House-Crafted, From Scratch

And then there are the cocktails!

This is where we've been having an incredible amount of fun.

We're developing a cocktail program built around the same uncompromising approach we take to our food.

Every mixer, syrup, bitters blend, infusion, and garnish we prepare will be made from scratch in our kitchen.

We're using real ingredients and traditional techniques to create cocktails without refined sugar or artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives in our house-crafted components.

That means making our own bitters, preparing our own syrups, fermenting our own garnishes, and exploring the remarkable flavors that can be created through careful sourcing and traditional preparation.

Our Manhattan is just the beginning.

We're reimagining classic cocktails through the lens of ancestral foodways, fermentation, and genuine ingredients.

And we can't wait to share them with you.

A Full Bar You Can Feel Good About

We know that alcohol is not necessary for a healthy life, and choosing not to drink is always a decision we respect and celebrate.

But for those who do choose to enjoy alcoholic beverages, we believe the same questions that guide our food choices should guide what we drink.

Where did it come from?
Who made it?
How was it produced?
What ingredients were used?
What was added or left out?

Our new bar program is an opportunity to celebrate the people, traditions, ingredients, and fermentation processes behind the beverages we serve. It is also an opportunity to slow down, connect, and enjoy something thoughtfully crafted in good company. We aren't claiming to make alcohol healthy.

We're committed to making the beverages we serve with the same care, transparency, and respect for ingredients that define our kitchen. Because how something is made matters. Whether it's a loaf of sourdough bread, a wheel of cheese, a glass of Georgian wine, or a beautifully crafted Manhattan.

We hope you'll join us this week to experience the next chapter of the Modern Stone Age Kitchen. The same philosophy. The same commitment to genuine ingredients. Now in your glass.

Cheers!

*Dr. Bill with his tinctures and Christina serving up some healthy alcoholic options*