Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in
Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the
Speaker 1: third season of Criminalia. This season, we're exploring the lives
Speaker 1: and motivations of some of the most notorious impostors throughout history.
Speaker 1: I'm Maria Tremarquis and I'm Holly Frying. In this episode
Speaker 1: takes us to seventeenth century Russia. This was a very
Speaker 1: unstable time in Russia, and most of this story takes
Speaker 1: place when the country was ravaged by uprisings and major famine.
Speaker 1: So before we begin, we just want to note that
Speaker 1: Russian history is really thick here with wars and treason
Speaker 1: and conspiracy, and we're going to try to keep the
Speaker 1: spotlight on our subject, false Dmitri. But we will still
Speaker 1: have some war and treason and conspiracy because you're gonna
Speaker 1: need a little bit of that for context, and there
Speaker 1: will also be a coup de toass So really the
Speaker 1: full complement of historical bag exactly. It begins when Szar
Speaker 1: Ivan the fourth died in Fight four and yes, that
Speaker 1: is Ivan the Terrible. So when Ivan the fourth died,
Speaker 1: he was succeeded by his son Theodore Theodor had an
Speaker 1: older brother named Ivan, after their father, who had been
Speaker 1: killed in one most likely by their father. The two
Speaker 1: men had gotten into a dispute, and while the actual
Speaker 1: fatal injury may have been an accident, it really doesn't
Speaker 1: make a whole lot of difference. It doesn't make anything better.
Speaker 1: In any case, the son who had been heir apparent
Speaker 1: was gone, meaning that Theodore, who had not been expected
Speaker 1: to rule, was now the next in line. Throughout his life,
Speaker 1: Theodore had always been considered weak, but now in this
Speaker 1: position he was not expected to take a czar. He
Speaker 1: was considered pretty much incompetent. It was known that he
Speaker 1: really didn't care much for politics, and seeing this opportunity
Speaker 1: to control the weeks are, Boris, goodnob Russian statesman who
Speaker 1: also was Feodor's brother in law, became a de facto
Speaker 1: regent for Feodor, a decision that was put in place
Speaker 1: prior to the Czar's death. How very convenient that act
Speaker 1: opened up the pass to the throne for Boris. To
Speaker 1: better secure his position, Boris sent Ivan, the fourth youngest son, Dmitri,
Speaker 1: and Dmitri's mother into exile. This is where Dmitri, who
Speaker 1: was an eight year old, mysteriously died. What was believed
Speaker 1: to be true but not proven, was that his death
Speaker 1: was an assassination attempt made to look like an accident.
Speaker 1: There were also two far fetched explanations here. One that
Speaker 1: circulated reported that Dmitri stabbed himself in the throat during
Speaker 1: a seizure while he was playing with a knife, and
Speaker 1: the official statement was that Dmitri had died of suicide.
Speaker 1: But again it really doesn't matter by what method though,
Speaker 1: because Dmitri was dead and Boris was clear to take
Speaker 1: the throne, so Feodor reigned. And we got to put
Speaker 1: that word in air quotes, because with Boris in the
Speaker 1: picture and Theodore essentially checked out of his duties, he
Speaker 1: really reigned in name only. Yes, Theodore had married, incidentally,
Speaker 1: Boris's sister, Arena, in Fight, and this is actually one
Speaker 1: of those rare instances where an arranged marriage between strangers
Speaker 1: as part of kind of a business agreement of state
Speaker 1: actually works out pretty well. Theodor and Arena were by
Speaker 1: all accounts, very devoted to one another and quite happy.
Speaker 1: But their one child, a daughter who was very much beloved,
Speaker 1: died when she was still a toddler, so there was
Speaker 1: no heir from that union and the family line died
Speaker 1: with Fyodor the first. That sad state of affairs was
Speaker 1: to just get another piece of good fortune for Boris, though,
Speaker 1: because there was now no heir to contest his claim,
Speaker 1: he was elected successor by the Great National Assembly, so
Speaker 1: from start to finish he ruled as de facto regent
Speaker 1: from five to and then and as sar Boris from
Speaker 1: sixteen o five. Russian historim Nikolai Karamzine, who's said to
Speaker 1: be a little bit biased in his writings, condemned the
Speaker 1: quote criminal ambition of Boris and then called him a
Speaker 1: power loving man whose quote punishment of heaven awaited him.
Speaker 1: Interesting quotes about this man is all I'm gonna say. Clearly,
Speaker 1: not a fan, right, but I guess we can take
Speaker 1: it with a grain of salt. But all this stage
Speaker 1: setting is actually to talk about Dmitri, Yes, the Dmitri
Speaker 1: who died in exile by possibly an assassination, possibly his
Speaker 1: own hand, or possibly by accident, and what happened after
Speaker 1: his death. Finally, we're gonna go to sixteen o five
Speaker 1: because in sixteen o five, the first of three impostors
Speaker 1: claiming to be Dmitri Ivanovitch emerged right, and these impostors
Speaker 1: are known as false Dmitri. A false Dmitri is also
Speaker 1: called a pseudo Demetrius, and it isn't one single person
Speaker 1: who gets this name. The term refers to all of
Speaker 1: the individual impostors who, after I'man the fourth Death, pretended
Speaker 1: to be Dmitri. Because, as we learned from Anastasia Romano story,
Speaker 1: a royal child who disappears leaves a lot of room
Speaker 1: for people to claim their identity. So here are the players.
Speaker 1: The first false Dmitri is the biggest of the stories
Speaker 1: that we're going to talk about today, and that's because
Speaker 1: he actually did become the Czar of Russia. His reign
Speaker 1: lasted from June tenth, sixteen o five, to May seventeen,
Speaker 1: sixteen o six. And then there was the second false Dmitri,
Speaker 1: who actively impersonated the real Dmitri Ivanovitch from sixteen o
Speaker 1: seven to sixteen ten, and then the third false Dmitri.
Speaker 1: That's right, the hits just keep on coming. Uh pretended
Speaker 1: that he was heir to the throne between sixteen eleven
Speaker 1: and sixteen twelve. And all three of these stories are
Speaker 1: quite different, but all three of these men met violent
Speaker 1: in each of these pretenders to the Russian throne claimed
Speaker 1: to have miraculously escaped the assassination attempt that was supposed
Speaker 1: to have claimed the real Dmitri's life. Additionally, in the
Speaker 1: case of the second and third false Dmitri, they both
Speaker 1: also claimed to have escaped the assassinations that had targeted
Speaker 1: the previous false Dmitri. I know that sounds really confusing,
Speaker 1: but basically everyone here seems to claim that they have
Speaker 1: escaped all assassination attempts, And just to further complicate matters,
Speaker 1: there is one more thing that we need to talk
Speaker 1: about regarding these impostors. There are also very minor hints
Speaker 1: and rumors that there may be sort of may have
Speaker 1: even been a fourth false Dmitri. And these lines are
Speaker 1: pretty blurry because this all happened more than four years ago.
Speaker 1: There isn't much of a debate though, to modern experts,
Speaker 1: because most of them think that he is not to
Speaker 1: be considered as his own individual person. He is generally
Speaker 1: considered to actually have been the third false Dmitri just
Speaker 1: kind of mixed up in the historical record. So in
Speaker 1: one example of fourth false Dmitri was rumored to have
Speaker 1: been active between sixteen eleven and sixteen twelve. But those
Speaker 1: are the same years you just heard us mention in
Speaker 1: relation to the third false Dmitri. And it's one of
Speaker 1: those cases where historical information may be inaccurate or lost
Speaker 1: over the centuries, or that it just got conflated with
Speaker 1: other information through word of mouth. So we wanted to
Speaker 1: mention that rumor. But because there just isn't nearly enough
Speaker 1: evidence to prove that he was a real person, we're
Speaker 1: gonna follow the experts who know a bit more about
Speaker 1: this than we do and just assume that any information
Speaker 1: about him is really about the third false Dmitri. So
Speaker 1: that is all you're gonna hear about the fourth false Dmitri.
Speaker 1: We've jumped ahead, but we're clearing him off the record. Yes,
Speaker 1: we're gonna take a break for a word from our sponsor.
Speaker 1: When we're back, we'll finally talk about the first false Dmitri.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Criminalia. So, as promised, we will start
Speaker 1: with the first false Dmitri and the time that he
Speaker 1: was maybe shot out of a cannon. Maybe the first
Speaker 1: false Dmitri was the Tsar of Russia from sixteen o
Speaker 1: five to sixteen o six. His real name, though, was
Speaker 1: not Dmitri No. Prior to claiming that he had a
Speaker 1: right to the Russian throne, his name was GRIGORYO Trepiev
Speaker 1: and he came from an aristocratic family. He was often
Speaker 1: seen mingling among the elite class, including the romanofs. The
Speaker 1: Romanov family, if you are not familiar with the timeline
Speaker 1: of Russian history, came immediately after what we're talking about
Speaker 1: in this episode. They became the reigning Imperial House of
Speaker 1: Russia between sixteen thirteen, and then that went on until
Speaker 1: nineteen and then Grigory, who had been this aristocrat, became
Speaker 1: a monk, and it was as a monk who he
Speaker 1: was probably defraged, and it was believed he was on
Speaker 1: the run from something or someone. When he appeared in
Speaker 1: the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth in six three, claiming he was
Speaker 1: Dmitri Ivanovitch, the son of Czar five and the fourth,
Speaker 1: he explained that he had escaped an assassination attempt during
Speaker 1: his childhood. He had been hiding for years under a
Speaker 1: false identity, but now he was coming forward as the
Speaker 1: rightful heir to the throne. As the first false Dmitri,
Speaker 1: he was successful in ascending to the Russian throne. And
Speaker 1: it sounds like fiction, right a pretends are wearing the crown.
Speaker 1: But he did it, and he actually did it with
Speaker 1: a lot of support and backing. He was supported by
Speaker 1: both Polish Lithuanian nobles and King Zigmundwaza the third Waza
Speaker 1: was King of Poland, but not only king of Poland.
Speaker 1: He had inherited the Swedish throne and he was also
Speaker 1: the Grand Duke of Lithuania. For him to recognize Grigory
Speaker 1: as Dmitri Ivanovitch was both notable and extremely influential in
Speaker 1: Gregory's successful impersonation. This support there wasn't because he was
Speaker 1: charismatic or they were feeling particularly benevolent that day. The
Speaker 1: Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth had an interest in this because they
Speaker 1: wanted to control Moscow and the emergence of this false
Speaker 1: Dmitri was seen as an opportunity to regain influence in Russia. Well,
Speaker 1: it would be interesting to take a dive into the
Speaker 1: relationship between Russia and the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. We're going
Speaker 1: to keep it on False Dmitri and how a lot
Speaker 1: of Russians seized the opportunity for change and got behind him.
Speaker 1: So you'll remember Czar Boris from earlier. He ruled after
Speaker 1: Fiodor the first, and Boris died in April of sixteen
Speaker 1: o five, and his one son, Theodore the second, did
Speaker 1: succeed him, but he only ruled for a few months.
Speaker 1: Theodore the second and his mother were assassinated in June
Speaker 1: of sixteen o five. That was believed to have been
Speaker 1: a powerful political move by the first False Dmitri to
Speaker 1: ensure that the crown would be his. The first false
Speaker 1: Dmitri actually did have the support and acceptance as who
Speaker 1: he claimed to be, and with the help from political
Speaker 1: allies and the support of the Russian people, he seized Moscow.
Speaker 1: So historian Chester L. Dunning noted, though, that the first
Speaker 1: False Dmitri was and this is a quote, the only
Speaker 1: Tsar ever raised to the throne by means of a
Speaker 1: military campaign and popular uprisings. He was crowned in July
Speaker 1: of six five, and later that year married Marina Manusi,
Speaker 1: a Polish noble woman. Surprisingly, Maria Nagaya, who was the
Speaker 1: mother of the real Dmitri, accepted this first false Dmitri
Speaker 1: as her son, and as a consequence that confirmed the
Speaker 1: whole thing for many that he was, in fact Dmitri Ivanovitch.
Speaker 1: The first false Dmitri was. It turned out more than
Speaker 1: just well educated, he was a capable ruler, and he
Speaker 1: was able to keep his scam going for much longer
Speaker 1: than the other impostors. And he ruled for about eleven
Speaker 1: months before he was assassinated. Yeah, I have to give
Speaker 1: him props. I mean, we've talked about a lot of
Speaker 1: impostors on the show, and the usually get found out
Speaker 1: way earlier than eleven months into running a country. Plus
Speaker 1: all the campaign that he did before it like this
Speaker 1: is amazing. Here's what led up to that moment. At
Speaker 1: the very beginning of the first False Dmitri's rule, Vasili
Speaker 1: Ivanovitch Shuizy was convicted of treason. Prince Vasili Shuiski was
Speaker 1: a descendant of one of the oldest and most illustrious
Speaker 1: families of Russia. He was given a light sentence, though
Speaker 1: it was only briefly exiled, But once he returned to Moscow,
Speaker 1: Vasili began plotting to overthrow the Tsar. Vasili was angered,
Speaker 1: but not by his exile. He believed the Czar was
Speaker 1: guilty of spreading Catholicism throughout Russia. He circulated rumors that
Speaker 1: the False Dmitri was a power hungry, bloodthirsty impostor who
Speaker 1: was only there to convert the people of Russia to Catholicism,
Speaker 1: and the Prince's ideas kind of gained popular support. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's take two examples of the first False Dmitri's rule
Speaker 1: that really enraged people. So first, he permitted Catholic and
Speaker 1: Protestant soldiers to pray in Orthodox churches. That is huge
Speaker 1: because at the time the Russian Church regarded Catholics and
Speaker 1: Protestants as heretics. And then the other problem was the
Speaker 1: czar's inner circle. His friends, entrusted confidence weren't helping his
Speaker 1: reputation because they openly disregarded Russian customs and because they
Speaker 1: were mostly foreigners. Foreigners were generally looked upon with some
Speaker 1: suspicion since Poland thundered into Moscow with this first False Dmitri.
Speaker 1: When Vassili executed his plan, it worked. The first False
Speaker 1: Dmitri was killed during a kudata to install the prince
Speaker 1: as czar. The False Dmitri tried to flee, but he
Speaker 1: was dragged out of the palace. He was executed and cremated,
Speaker 1: and in the more embellished stories, which they're actually quite
Speaker 1: a bit of the more embellished stories, he was executed,
Speaker 1: cut into pieces, cremated, and then and his ashes were
Speaker 1: put into a can and shot out of a cannon
Speaker 1: into the general direction of Poland, where Russians believed he'd
Speaker 1: come from. I always sort of bowled over by the
Speaker 1: levels of thoroughness that people will sometimes go to in
Speaker 1: history to ensure that their fallen enemy is really and
Speaker 1: truly fallen and insulted after the fact, and maybe in
Speaker 1: Poland again as ashes like take him, he's yours. The
Speaker 1: prince turned czar did seize power with this assassination, and
Speaker 1: he became Zarvasili the fourth. The first False Dmitri's Polish
Speaker 1: Lithuanian allies, who had helped him rise to the throne,
Speaker 1: were then driven out of Russia. His wife Marina was spared,
Speaker 1: but she was imprisoned and she did not return to
Speaker 1: Poland until July of six eight. Not everyone, though, was
Speaker 1: quick to accept Vassily as their news are. They also
Speaker 1: weren't willing to accept that the First False Dmitri was
Speaker 1: dead either. Despite the cannon I guess. The body was
Speaker 1: so damaged during his execution it was actually pretty easy
Speaker 1: to wonder if the whole thing had been faked, or
Speaker 1: that maybe he'd escaped. Many believed it was possible Dmitri
Speaker 1: Ivanovitch could still be alive. Almost like their theatricality went
Speaker 1: just a little too far right, it could happen. We're
Speaker 1: going to take a break here for a word from
Speaker 1: our sponsor, and then the second and third false Dmitri
Speaker 1: will be up next. Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk
Speaker 1: now about how the next false Dmitri aren't actually very successful.
Speaker 1: So it took no time at all, just a few
Speaker 1: months for another false Dmitri to pop up. This time
Speaker 1: it's six seven, and this Dmitri is in Star a dupe.
Speaker 1: The second false Dmitri, whose real name we actually don't know,
Speaker 1: was an educated man, and he was fluent in both
Speaker 1: Russian and Polish. He was considered by the locals to
Speaker 1: be somewhat of an expert in religious rich rules. Historical
Speaker 1: records suggest he may have been the son of a
Speaker 1: priest or. Possibly perhaps he had converted to Judaism. Nobody
Speaker 1: really assured on this. His first time as an impostor,
Speaker 1: at least that we know of, was when he pretended,
Speaker 1: in fact just to be a Russian aristocrat. He was
Speaker 1: exposed and under torture he confessed. We're using air quotes
Speaker 1: again because his confession was that he was the legitimate
Speaker 1: heir of Czar Ivan the fourth, and that is when
Speaker 1: he became the second false Dmitri. I always wondered if
Speaker 1: he did that first impersonation so that he could do
Speaker 1: the confession as like, there's no proof of that, but
Speaker 1: of course that's the game. The false Dmitri never claimed
Speaker 1: that the previous false Dmitri was pretending. In fact, he
Speaker 1: legitimized him when he explained that he'd escaped execution, which
Speaker 1: for clarity, would have been an escape from having his
Speaker 1: remains shot out of a cannon. So he was at
Speaker 1: that point in person both a legitimate air Dmitri and
Speaker 1: a fellow impostor the first false Dmitri in what's really
Speaker 1: quite a spectacular impersonation stacking maneuver. Of course, I'm both
Speaker 1: of those, but he's not claiming them as different. He's
Speaker 1: claiming them to all be one, exactly. We're all one.
Speaker 1: So amazingly, when the widow of the first false Dmitri,
Speaker 1: and we're going to use their quoes here was reunited
Speaker 1: with She acknowledged him. She claimed that she recognized this
Speaker 1: man as her husband, and she supported the new false Dmitri,
Speaker 1: despite the fact that the only thing similar between those
Speaker 1: two men was that they were both posing as Dmitri
Speaker 1: Avon a bit. There was no real resemblance there. But Marina,
Speaker 1: it's suggested in some records, is actually who convinced him
Speaker 1: to use a revolution to seize power. So she may
Speaker 1: have just been like, I will play along if it
Speaker 1: makes my life better. Exactly. I always thought the same thing.
Speaker 1: She's like, all right, let's do this. So the second
Speaker 1: false Tomitri was taken at his word by many of
Speaker 1: those who had supported the first false Dmitri. So he
Speaker 1: said he was Dmitri Vanovitch, and so he was Dmitri.
Speaker 1: Marina's recognition brought him the support of the elite class
Speaker 1: in the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was the same class
Speaker 1: who had supported the first false Dmitri. The Polish Lithuanian
Speaker 1: involvement was their desire to again occupy Moscow, and the
Speaker 1: second false Dmitri, in their eyes, would be a great
Speaker 1: puppet ruler. Some supplied him with funding, another sent him soldiers.
Speaker 1: He managed to put together an army of according to
Speaker 1: many rumors at the time, upwards of a hundred thousand men.
Speaker 1: That number is of course debatable due to a lack
Speaker 1: of surviving documentation, but he most certainly did sign up
Speaker 1: a lot of support, and in the spring of sixteen
Speaker 1: o eight he headed toward Moscow to claim his throne.
Speaker 1: But the second False Dmitri did not claim the throne.
Speaker 1: In December of sixteen ten he was killed. And he
Speaker 1: was not killed on the attlefield like you might have guessed.
Speaker 1: He was killed will He's writing in his sleigh and
Speaker 1: was a little drunk, and he was killed by Prince
Speaker 1: Peter Russov. It said that the second False Dmitri had
Speaker 1: previously beaten Russo as a punishment for something. We don't
Speaker 1: know what that was. It appears to be lost to history.
Speaker 1: But russof was angry, and so with several of his
Speaker 1: friends he followed the sleigh, and when he had the opportunity,
Speaker 1: the Prince shot the second False Dmitri with a pistol
Speaker 1: with his saber. He then beheaded him and cut off
Speaker 1: his hand. Perhaps both hands depending on what account you read.
Speaker 1: But after you're beheaded, does it really matter how many
Speaker 1: hands you have. After the second false Dmitri died, a
Speaker 1: third false Dmitri entered the picture in sixteen eleven. So
Speaker 1: this third false Dmitri was actually the last of the
Speaker 1: impostors who claimed to be the youngest son of Ivan
Speaker 1: the fourth, which made him false heir to the throne. Right,
Speaker 1: we've been talking about that, so we know he existed,
Speaker 1: but as you're about to he is a huge, big,
Speaker 1: enormous mystery to us, many question marks. So it is
Speaker 1: thought that this third impostor was a deacon known as Sidorka.
Speaker 1: His recorded story is that he appeared from behind the
Speaker 1: river Narwa in the town of Ivan Garrod and proclaimed
Speaker 1: himself Dmitri Ivanovitch, son of Czar Ivan the Fourth. Like
Speaker 1: the false Dmitri before him, this false Dmitri does not
Speaker 1: dispute the existence of the first or second false Dmitri.
Speaker 1: He recognizes and legitimizes them. After all, these men didn't coexist,
Speaker 1: they weren't competing with one another. So each successive Dmitri
Speaker 1: wove the story of his predecessor into his own, and
Speaker 1: that's why the entire lot is kind of referred to
Speaker 1: in the singular as false Dmitri sometimes, but unlike the
Speaker 1: first and second of his very unique group, no one
Speaker 1: actually ever believed Sedorca was Dmitri. Not long after, sometime
Speaker 1: in early sixteen twelve, we know this impostor was killed,
Speaker 1: but we don't know for sure where or how. And
Speaker 1: this is the end of the story for the false Dmitri.
Speaker 1: And with an awkward transition to Holly, let's talk about
Speaker 1: the false cocktail naturally. This one was a little bit
Speaker 1: of a puzzler. I was trying to think of the
Speaker 1: best way to approach it, and in thinking about mocktail
Speaker 1: sometimes like we did, we did one that's kind of
Speaker 1: like a lemon drop, and so I was trying to
Speaker 1: think of, like possibly replicating some other cocktail. But then
Speaker 1: I got myself into a little its own confusion. So
Speaker 1: I'm calling this the fourth false Dmitri. I hope you would.
Speaker 1: I love it, but it's not a real impersonation of
Speaker 1: a thing. It's a bad impersonation of a thing that
Speaker 1: one would only accept as an impersonation of another cocktail
Speaker 1: if it benefited you in some way. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but anyway, So I was thinking about a couple of things. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the thing that came to mind first was a white Russian,
Speaker 1: which is a delicious and heavy drink, and who doesn't
Speaker 1: love the big Lebowski. And the thing is about a
Speaker 1: white Russian right has khalua in it, which is a
Speaker 1: liqueur that's meant to taste somewhat like coffee. So that
Speaker 1: also got me thinking about last year's big trendy viral
Speaker 1: coffee sensation, Delgona coffee or that whipped coffee that was
Speaker 1: going around everywhere. And so for everyone who tried that
Speaker 1: and now has a canister of like instant coffee crystals
Speaker 1: in your pantry, I'm giving you another thing to do
Speaker 1: with it, because I have them and I'm not using them.
Speaker 1: So it starts very similarly to that famous whipped coffee.
Speaker 1: It is two table spoons of instant coffee. But here's
Speaker 1: where it changes. You're gonna do one tablespoon of sugar
Speaker 1: and then two tablespoons of or jaw or just regular
Speaker 1: almond syrup. Or jah is an almond syrup that just
Speaker 1: has some kind of unique flavor profiles to it. But
Speaker 1: if you just have plain almond syrup, that's fine, and
Speaker 1: then two tablespoons of cold water and you're gonna put
Speaker 1: this in a mixer. It's not enough, at least in
Speaker 1: my blender to like rise to the level where it's
Speaker 1: activated by the blades, so a hand mixer works great.
Speaker 1: Or if you have an immersion blender, this is the
Speaker 1: time I love looking for things from my immersion blender.
Speaker 1: I mean, I imagine it would vary depending on the
Speaker 1: profile of the bottom of your immersion blender and where
Speaker 1: the blades sit, but for mine, it works fine. Mix mix, mix,
Speaker 1: mix mix. It's not going to get like the same
Speaker 1: kind of stiff, frothy that the whipped coffee trend would have,
Speaker 1: but it gets, you know, a little a little bubbly
Speaker 1: and fuzzy, and you really want it to get well incorporated.
Speaker 1: You want all of those coffee crystals to dissolve, and
Speaker 1: it's gonna smell really good because of that almond syrup.
Speaker 1: And then once that's nice and frothy, you're gonna start
Speaker 1: adding a little bit of milk. And you can go
Speaker 1: with any kind of dairy item here. If you want
Speaker 1: to do something like a heavy cream, great, If you
Speaker 1: want to go all the way down to something as
Speaker 1: kind of thin as a rice milk. That's also fine.
Speaker 1: It's going to change it, obviously, but you have options,
Speaker 1: and then you're gonna just kind of keep adding it
Speaker 1: a little bit at a time until it gets to
Speaker 1: a paleness and a taste that you like. You can
Speaker 1: also at this point give a couple of shakes of
Speaker 1: like an angust or a bitter and then just pour
Speaker 1: that over ice and it's kind of like a very
Speaker 1: bad approximation of a white Russian. But really it's into thing.
Speaker 1: I like to think of it in the way that
Speaker 1: that second false Dmitri people are like, yeah, that's the
Speaker 1: same guy. It doesn't look at all like him, totally
Speaker 1: the same guy. That's kind of what we're doing here.
Speaker 1: So then if you wanted to additionally make it alcoholic
Speaker 1: for the grownups or just people that like to drink,
Speaker 1: the world is your oyster at this point. Obviously, I
Speaker 1: would say choose a vodka. But you can further alter
Speaker 1: this with whatever vodka flavor you pick. So you can
Speaker 1: go with, you know, just your standard vodka. You can
Speaker 1: do like an espresso vodka and it does something very nice.
Speaker 1: You can do a vanilla vodka or a whip like
Speaker 1: anything in that space. You can also whether it's in
Speaker 1: the mock tail version of the alcoholic version. I played
Speaker 1: around with one where I added in some cocoa powder
Speaker 1: and nutmeg and that got very yummy, So you have
Speaker 1: some options. Think of this as a base to make
Speaker 1: your own version of false Dmitri because it's all fake anyway,
Speaker 1: so you know the details and the rules are a
Speaker 1: little fuzzy. As long as you endorse it, it's fine.
Speaker 1: I like that the mock tail season is kind of
Speaker 1: like a choose your own adventure sometimes when it comes
Speaker 1: to adding the alcohol, it makes it, it makes a
Speaker 1: little more fun. Yeah. Well, I mean I'm a big
Speaker 1: fan of choosing your own adventure anyway in mixing drinks
Speaker 1: and cooking and baking. Right, as long as you have
Speaker 1: the basics down, you can start playing and do your
Speaker 1: own thing and make it the way you like it.
Speaker 1: Like I found, I added a little more sweetener to
Speaker 1: mine than it initially had because I'd like it a
Speaker 1: little sweeter. But I know I tend to when it
Speaker 1: comes to coffee drinks, I like things almost at a
Speaker 1: level that would be cloying to normal. So I'm not
Speaker 1: going to give you a measure because she'll be like,
Speaker 1: how much sweetener did you put in there to taste?
Speaker 1: Are you? Are you broken in your brain? What is
Speaker 1: going on? Is that table spoons or tea spoonies, right cups?
Speaker 1: So yeah, you could sweeten it to taste and over
Speaker 1: ice it makes like a nice It's a little different
Speaker 1: from an iced coffee because of that almond flavor in
Speaker 1: the bitters. Um, it feels a little more grown up
Speaker 1: than just having a niced coffee or a frappuccino. No
Speaker 1: shade to those, they're delicious, but um, it's a little
Speaker 1: just a little bit different. And then like I said,
Speaker 1: adding other stuff, I want to do one with you know,
Speaker 1: pumpkin pie spice in the fall and see how yummy
Speaker 1: that is. Maybe as a dessert drink. I'll do that
Speaker 1: both with and without alcohol, and will do taste testers
Speaker 1: and see how it goes. But hopefully that is a yummy,
Speaker 1: yummy thing for you to enjoy. If you're in one
Speaker 1: of the places in the US or anywhere in the
Speaker 1: world is getting hit by crazy temperatures right now and
Speaker 1: it's very hot, this might be a good way to
Speaker 1: get your your caffeine fix and cool awful little it's
Speaker 1: the same time again. Thank you for spending this time
Speaker 1: with us and our false Dmitris today. We will have
Speaker 1: more false people next week, and we hope you join
Speaker 1: us then and we'll also have other libations, so we'll
Speaker 1: see you right back here. Criminalia is a production of
Speaker 1: Shonda land Audio in partnership with I Heart Radio. For
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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.