Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: George Dornan, a forty nine er who'd traveled to California
Speaker 2: from New York during the Gold Rush, once recalled of
Speaker 2: San Francisco quote the glimmer of lights as they shone
Speaker 2: through the many tents of which the city was then
Speaker 2: largely made up. That's right, tents. At this time in
Speaker 2: San Francisco's history, most of its structures were flimsy, made
Speaker 2: up of materials like canvas and oil, cloth or wood.
Speaker 2: Most structures were heated and lit by wood stoves and
Speaker 2: oil burning lamps, and people made makeshift chimneys or flues
Speaker 2: for ventilation. Imagine it as a frontier outpost. There was
Speaker 2: hardly anything. A few boarding houses, mercantile houses, saloons. There
Speaker 2: was no sanitation infrastructure. There were few city services, and
Speaker 2: that included a lack of police and fire departments. Between
Speaker 2: eighteen forty nine and eighteen fifty one, peak years of
Speaker 2: the gold Rush, San Francisco was almost entirely destroyed by
Speaker 2: fire seven times. And there was something about these fires,
Speaker 2: at least the majority of them, that seemed well, somehow
Speaker 2: not accidental. Some were suspicious because they seemed to start
Speaker 2: at odd times, or when someone's temper was flaring, or
Speaker 2: they seemed to break out when what locals reported as
Speaker 2: odd people were hanging around. Seven's a lot of fires,
Speaker 2: and we'll talk about some additional smaller blazes too, So
Speaker 2: let's get started. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria from Marcy.
Speaker 1: And I'm Holly Frye. In the city's earliest days, the
Speaker 1: days before the gold Rush, San Francisco was known as
Speaker 1: Yerba Buena. It was officially renamed as San Francisco on
Speaker 1: January thirtieth, eighteen forty seven, and Yerba Buena was a
Speaker 1: small village that was formed on June twenty fifth, eighteen
Speaker 1: thirty five, when its first resident, a man named William Richardson,
Speaker 1: pitched a lean to made out of a ship's sail
Speaker 1: on a sandy rise near what's now Grand in Clay Streets.
Speaker 1: It was tiny, but that would change with the influx
Speaker 1: of fortune seekers. Its population of roughly two hundred residents
Speaker 1: grew to an estimated one thousand by early eighteen forty eight.
Speaker 1: According to doctor Malcolm Roorbo, professor emeritus at the University
Speaker 1: of Iowa and an authority on the American West. The
Speaker 1: gold rush is what put San Francisco on the map.
Speaker 1: When James Marshall, a prospector who had traveled to California
Speaker 1: from New Jersey, discovered goldflex at Sutter's Mill in January
Speaker 1: of eighteen forty eight, made his heart thump.
Speaker 2: It also sparked a rush of people to the state.
Speaker 2: Thousands of prospective gold miners traveled by land or sea,
Speaker 2: and they all flewed into town, and the place overflowed
Speaker 2: nearly overnight. It was attractive to a certain type of person,
Speaker 2: not only because of its location, I mean it was
Speaker 2: where the gold was, but because, according to historians, it
Speaker 2: was a place with no rules, or at least no
Speaker 2: one to enforce rules. San Francisco's population in eighteen forty
Speaker 2: nine had grown to about five thousand residents, but we've
Speaker 2: also seen estimates as high as twenty five thousand. By
Speaker 2: the end of the decade, that tiny village had swelled
Speaker 2: to fifty thousand people, and by eighteen fifty seven, roughly
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty thousand people lived there. San Francisco
Speaker 2: had rapidly transformed from what was basically an encampment into
Speaker 2: a city in roughly a decade, and with that great
Speaker 2: change came great destruction. During the early years of the
Speaker 2: Gold Rush, a series of several fires, some small and
Speaker 2: some really big, hit the city about the same time
Speaker 2: as the forty nine ers.
Speaker 1: It was on December twenty fourth, eighteen forty nine, when
Speaker 1: the first great Fire of San Francisco happened, and historical
Speaker 1: accounts have all agreed in describing the night in one word, bedlam.
Speaker 1: Just before six am, fire ignited in Denison's Exchange that
Speaker 1: was one of the city's most prosperous gambling houses, located
Speaker 1: on Kearney Street, opposite Portsmouth Square, which back in the
Speaker 1: day was known as Portsmouth Plaza. Today this is part
Speaker 1: of San Francisco's Chinatown neighborhood, but in eighteen forty nine
Speaker 1: it was mostly overtaken by twenty four hour saloons and
Speaker 1: gambling dens.
Speaker 2: Roger Lochkin, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of
Speaker 2: North Carolina Chapel Hill, described in his book San Francisco
Speaker 2: eighteen forty six to eighteen fifty six from Hamlet to
Speaker 2: City that quote, widespread carelessness and maliciousness were responsible for
Speaker 2: many blazes across the city. He continues, quote time and again,
Speaker 2: bursting pamphine lamps, falling against curtains or fabric walls, or
Speaker 2: discarded cigars started fires time and again, though there were
Speaker 2: also blazes like Denizens, which, according to local reports, likely
Speaker 2: went up in flames because of an angry bar patron.
Speaker 1: Teafield de Rute, a Swiss merchant on holiday, wrote of
Speaker 1: his time in America in his book The Adventures of
Speaker 1: a Young Swiss in California The Gold Rush account of
Speaker 1: Teafield de Route and It included this vivid description of
Speaker 1: the fiery night as he saw it. Quote, the cry
Speaker 1: of fire so terrifying for the city of San Francisco,
Speaker 1: built of wood and canvas, echoed in the air and
Speaker 1: spread rapidly from person to person and street to street.
Speaker 1: This was the district of wine and vegetable stalls, and
Speaker 1: also of lumber merchants, alcohol and wood. The most voracious
Speaker 1: fire could not have sought a more potent combination. Fed
Speaker 1: by a strong north wind, the flames took giant strides.
Speaker 1: It was a horrible and yet spectacular sight. With each
Speaker 1: new rum, brandy or grog shop it devoured, the fire
Speaker 1: doubled in intensity and at the same time changed color.
Speaker 1: It resembled a superb display of Bengal lights with reds, yellows,
Speaker 1: and blues, or else a giant punch bowl ignited by
Speaker 1: Satan and continuously stirred by the demons of Hell.
Speaker 2: The fire destroyed the block and then spread down the
Speaker 2: south side of Washington Street between Kearney and Montgomery, all
Speaker 2: the way to the edge of the bay. Only two
Speaker 2: fire engines were available. That's because there were only two
Speaker 2: fire engines in the city, and they were, according to
Speaker 2: reports from the time, manned by greenhorns, which was not
Speaker 2: their fault, though there was no training available, and according
Speaker 2: to author Pauline Jacobson in her book The City of
Speaker 2: the Golden Fifties, one of the two trucks was worn
Speaker 2: out and the other was, to share her perfect description,
Speaker 2: almost a toy machine designed to water lawns. In addition
Speaker 2: to a lack of an organized fire department at the time,
Speaker 2: the city had few cisterns, and at low tide the
Speaker 2: ones they did have were empty. Between the lack of
Speaker 2: water plus poor equipment, and the lack of training for
Speaker 2: those expected to use that equipment, fledgling volunteer firefighters were
Speaker 2: not much help extinguishing the flames.
Speaker 1: Most of the city's population at this time was transient.
Speaker 1: Most of them were gold seekers, and they didn't really
Speaker 1: care much about saving or rebuilding the city. They were
Speaker 1: there for gold, They were not there for San Francisco.
Speaker 1: In his book El Dorado, or Adventures in the Path
Speaker 1: of Empire, New York Tribune correspondent Bayard Taylor observed first
Speaker 1: hand during the fire quote at the time of the
Speaker 1: most extreme danger, hundreds of idle spectators refused to lend
Speaker 1: a hand unless they were paid enormous wages. One of
Speaker 1: the principal merchants offered a dollar or a bucket for
Speaker 1: water and made use of several thousand buckets and saving
Speaker 1: his property. All the owners of property worked incessantly and
Speaker 1: were aided by their friends, but at least five thousand
Speaker 1: spectators stood idle in the plaza, and in the end,
Speaker 1: to defend the city, it came down to blowing it up.
Speaker 1: Authorities used black powder explosive to create fire breaks to
Speaker 1: stop the blazer's spread. In the end, the fire burned
Speaker 1: a total of two hundred and ninety structures and caused
Speaker 1: one point five million dollars in damage.
Speaker 2: We are going to take a break forward from our sponsor,
Speaker 2: and when we return we will talk about the formation
Speaker 2: of the city's first volunteer fire company, and of course
Speaker 2: more fires.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to crimin Ilia. Before we get into the
Speaker 1: second great fire, let's talk about the changes that were
Speaker 1: put in place in the aftermath of the first one.
Speaker 2: There was an emergency meeting held the day after the
Speaker 2: Great Fire, called by the town Council. Along with those
Speaker 2: considered the city fathers, and that's a list that includes
Speaker 2: names you may recognize on modern day street signs around
Speaker 2: San Francisco. We've got Samuel Brannan, William Davis, Alfred Ellis
Speaker 2: Talbot Green, Edward Harrison, William Stewart, and Frank Turk. The
Speaker 2: following resolutions were adopted, and we quote from their meeting.
Speaker 2: The town is severely suffering this morning from the want
Speaker 2: of necessary organization and means to meet the devastating element
Speaker 2: of fire. Therefore resolved that the citizens be requested to
Speaker 2: meet in Portsmouth Square on Wednesday next at twelve o'clock
Speaker 2: to take such measures as may be deemed advisable to
Speaker 2: protect the town against another calamity by organizing fire companies,
Speaker 2: and that the town Council will supply the hook's ladders, axes, ropes,
Speaker 2: et cetera to be kept by said companies. More precautions
Speaker 2: were advised concerning the use of fire streets would be widened.
Speaker 2: They also authorized the Chief of Police to employ a
Speaker 2: sufficient number of people to guard burned neighborhoods and protect
Speaker 2: the property of those impacted by the destruction.
Speaker 1: The town council didn't just say they'd organized fire companies.
Speaker 1: They followed through. On January thirteenth, eighteen fifty fifty two
Speaker 1: men enrolled in the volunteer San Francisco Fire Company. Frederick
Speaker 1: Koehler was elected by the town Council as the first
Speaker 1: chief engineer, and there it was the first volunteer fire
Speaker 1: department was formed, and it was instructed to quote direct
Speaker 1: operations at fires and conflagrations, and with permission from the mayor,
Speaker 1: to blow up buildings with explosives as necessary. Less than
Speaker 1: a month later, on February fifth, Protection Engine Company Number
Speaker 1: two was organized. It wasn't until December of eighteen sixty
Speaker 1: six that the council established the San Francisco Fire Department,
Speaker 1: its first professional fire department, ending its sole dependence on
Speaker 1: volunteer firefighters. Later two the council had cisterns built at
Speaker 1: strategic points around the city.
Speaker 2: In less than a month, property owners had amazingly rebuilt
Speaker 2: most of their city. According to an historical account published
Speaker 2: in the Annals of San Francisco, which is one of
Speaker 2: the most important primary sources of information about the formation
Speaker 2: of the city, so we quote scarcely where the ashes cold,
Speaker 2: when preparations were made to erect new buildings on the
Speaker 2: old sites, and within a few weeks the place was
Speaker 2: covered as before with houses of every kind. It was
Speaker 2: the San Franciscans who rebuilt their city for themselves. There
Speaker 2: was no sauntering, no idleness, no dreaming. All was practical
Speaker 2: and real, all energy, perseverance and success.
Speaker 1: But just a few months later, at about four am
Speaker 1: on May fourth, eighteen fifty, a second great fire broke
Speaker 1: out in the city. This time the fire started in
Speaker 1: the United States Exchange that was also a saloon and
Speaker 1: gambling house, and it happened to be built on the
Speaker 1: same site as the former Dennison's Exchange where the first
Speaker 1: fire started. The flames proved difficult to extinguish, in part
Speaker 1: because it was always pretty windy, but also because parts
Speaker 1: of the city had elevated wooden sidewalks, perfect fuel for
Speaker 1: spreading fire. Before the Second Great Fire was extinguished, it
Speaker 1: had engulfed the entire block bounded by Kearney, Clay, Montgomery,
Speaker 1: and Washington Streets, and had jumped Washington Street across from
Speaker 1: Portsmouth Square. Three quarters of the city was destroyed. Town
Speaker 1: officials suspected arson, and a five thousand dollar reward was
Speaker 1: posted for information leading to an arrest, but no one
Speaker 1: was ever found responsible. Once again, though residents rebuilt quickly.
Speaker 1: In fact, construction started even faster than after the First
Speaker 1: Great Fire. The Annals of San Francisco reported that quote
Speaker 1: in a wonderfully short time, the whole burned space was
Speaker 1: covered with new buildings and looked as if no fire
Speaker 1: had ever been there. It was generally remarked that these
Speaker 1: were even more unsubstantial and inflammable than those which had
Speaker 1: just been destroyed.
Speaker 2: People were trying to improve building methods and materials after
Speaker 2: the fire of eighteen forty nine, and to prevent future fire.
Speaker 2: A few more volunteer fire houses had been established. On
Speaker 2: June fourth, eighteen fifty, Empire Engine Company Number one was organized,
Speaker 2: which was Great because just six weeks after the Second
Speaker 2: Great Fire, the Third Grade Fire occurred on June fourteenth,
Speaker 2: eighteen fifty. Fire broke out in the bakery in the
Speaker 2: Merchant's Hotel at Clay and Kearney Streets. Of all the
Speaker 2: fires discussed in this episode, this one was unlike the others,
Speaker 2: assumed not to be arson and may have been caused
Speaker 2: by a faulty chimney, but we don't know. We do know.
Speaker 2: It blazed for three days and destroyed three hundred buildings.
Speaker 2: San Francisco in eighteen fifty had only a fledgling police force,
Speaker 2: but it was big enough to control or to mostly
Speaker 2: control looting. The volunteer fire department, on the other hand,
Speaker 2: was growing, but was in no way up to the
Speaker 2: challenge yet. After the destruction multiple large fires had on
Speaker 2: the city, more fire units were established, and after this
Speaker 2: Third Great Fire, the city began placing experienced firefighters who
Speaker 2: had come to California from back East, where they'd had
Speaker 2: training into these new and untrained fire companies.
Speaker 1: Three months later, another fire broke out out in the
Speaker 1: early morning hours of September seventeenth, eighteen fifty, known as
Speaker 1: the Fourth Great Fire. The reportedly suspicious fire broke out
Speaker 1: on the north side of Jackson between Graham and Kearney Streets,
Speaker 1: and it destroyed one hundred fifty buildings in the area
Speaker 1: bounded by DuPont, Montgomery, Washington, and Pacific Streets. The newly
Speaker 1: organized fire departments that was the San Francisco Empire and
Speaker 1: protection companies tried to fight the blaze, but had no
Speaker 1: available water with which to do so.
Speaker 2: Five weeks later, in October, the city hospital, owned by
Speaker 2: a doctor, Peter Smith, was destroyed by fire. All one
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty patients were rescued, but the loss was
Speaker 2: estimated at roughly forty thousand dollars. Smith filed claims against
Speaker 2: the city. He sued, and it took years to settle.
Speaker 2: Arson or accidental, we don't know, but it left an
Speaker 2: additional charred mark on the already charred city and in
Speaker 2: mis In December, to wrap up a fiery year, another
Speaker 2: blaze suspiciously broke out in the Cook Brothers and Company building,
Speaker 2: resulting in an estimated one hundred thousand dollars in damages.
Speaker 1: We're going to take a break and hear from our sponsors,
Speaker 1: and when we're back, we will be you guessed it
Speaker 1: talking about fires. Get ready to move into the fires
Speaker 1: of eighteen fifty one.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Criminalia. Want more fires, We've got some.
Speaker 1: We're now ready to get into the fires of eighteen
Speaker 1: fifty one. What's known as the San Francisco Fire of
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty one broke out overnight on May third, the
Speaker 1: anniversary of the Second Great Fire. Flames engulfed a paint
Speaker 1: and upholstery store on the south side of Portsmouth Square.
Speaker 1: English author Frank Marriott wrote of this scene, quote, At
Speaker 1: one time the burning district was covered by one vast
Speaker 1: sheet of flame that extended half a mile in length.
Speaker 1: It burned the city's entire business district, jumping street to street.
Speaker 1: He described this destruction at length, and will quote just
Speaker 1: part of it. But when the excitement of such a
Speaker 1: night as this has passed by, one can scarcely recall
Speaker 1: the scene. The memory is confused in the recollection of
Speaker 1: the shouts and of the excited populace, the crash of
Speaker 1: falling timbers, the yells of the burned and injured, the
Speaker 1: clank of the fire breaks, the horse orders delivered through
Speaker 1: speaking trumpets, Maddened horses released from burning livery stables, plunging
Speaker 1: through the streets, helpless patience being carried from some hospital
Speaker 1: as the swaying crowd forced back by the flames, tramples
Speaker 1: all before it, explosions of houses blown up by gunpowder,
Speaker 1: the thunder of brick buildings as they fall in the
Speaker 1: heap of ruin, and the blinding glare of ignited spirits.
Speaker 1: In fewer than ten hours, two thousand buildings across eighteen
Speaker 1: blocks were destroyed. The fire was so intense that the
Speaker 1: California Engine Company Number four, which had organized only just
Speaker 1: in October of eighteen fifty, saw their first and only
Speaker 1: fire engine destroyed.
Speaker 2: As authorities had done in the First Great Fire, black
Speaker 2: powder was used as an explosive to create fire breaks
Speaker 2: in an effort to save the city. It's reported the
Speaker 2: flames were so bright they were seen in Monterey, about
Speaker 2: one hundred miles away. The Daily Alta, California published quote,
Speaker 2: it was as if the god of destruction had seated
Speaker 2: himself in our midst and was gorging himself and all
Speaker 2: his ministers of devastation upon the ruin of our doomed
Speaker 2: city and its people.
Speaker 1: Some residents suspected that the fire was set by the Hounds,
Speaker 1: a nativist gang in the city. Others suspected it was
Speaker 1: by the Sydney Ducks, a criminal gang of immigrants from
Speaker 1: Australia who lived on the waterfront in the area known
Speaker 1: as Sydney Town. It was after this fire that city
Speaker 1: business and property owners took matters into their own hands
Speaker 1: and formed a vigilante group known as the First Committee
Speaker 1: of Vigilance. The Sydney Ducks were known for intentionally setting fires.
Speaker 1: They found that it was a good distraction while they
Speaker 1: looted homes and businesses as people tended to the flames.
Speaker 1: Four members of the Sydney Ducks were hanged by the Committee.
Speaker 2: And then came the final major fire we'll talk about today.
Speaker 2: On June twenty second, eighteen fifty one, fire broke out
Speaker 2: in a wood framed home on the north side of
Speaker 2: Pacific Street. It destroyed residences from Powell to Sansomi and
Speaker 2: from Clay to Broadway, and in total about sixteen city blocks.
Speaker 2: Among the ruins were many of the old landmarks of
Speaker 2: the original year Burguena. The newly constructed reservoirs were nearly
Speaker 2: empty at the time and without proper ways to fight
Speaker 2: the flames. This fire destroyed city Hall at Kearney and
Speaker 2: Pacific and the Jenny Lynn Theater. The theater had actually
Speaker 2: been destroyed in two different fires that year and rebuilt
Speaker 2: each time. In total, the fire caused upwards of three
Speaker 2: million dollars in damages. Local police arrested a man named
Speaker 2: Benjamin Lewis for arson charges. He got off. In fact,
Speaker 2: you may have noticed, even if a fire was suspicious,
Speaker 2: and there may be was a suspect, no one was
Speaker 2: held responsible for any of these blazes and their destruction.
Speaker 1: During the fire spree in the city. Estimates of the
Speaker 1: combined death toll from the fires depend where you look.
Speaker 1: They range from three hundred to more than one thousand,
Speaker 1: with most deaths occurring during the fire of May fourth,
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty one. According to the San Francisco Chronicles, some
Speaker 1: residents who had tried to improve their safety situation after
Speaker 1: living through multiple fires had constructed a life edged fireproof
Speaker 1: corrugated iron houses, but unfortunately, many people were killed inside
Speaker 1: their homes because the intense heat caused the metal to
Speaker 1: swell and made it impossible to open the door. There
Speaker 1: were additional reports of people injured or killed from weapons
Speaker 1: and ammunition that discharged in the heat.
Speaker 2: The final fire, the one on June twenty second, is
Speaker 2: considered the last of the Great Gold Rush era fires.
Speaker 2: In general, improved building materials, full cisterns, and firefighting training
Speaker 2: helped prevent future disasters. There would, though continue to be
Speaker 2: arson in the city. For instance, the nineteen oh six
Speaker 2: earthquake got the nickname the nineteen oh six Earthquake arsen
Speaker 2: Fires for a reason. Many fires that broke out immediately
Speaker 2: following the earthquake were ultimately found to be arson fraud.
Speaker 2: Most fire insurance policies of the time had what was
Speaker 2: called a falling building clause, which meant they didn't have
Speaker 2: to pay out if a house fell down because of
Speaker 2: an earthquake. So to collect insurance on their losses, property
Speaker 2: owners pretended their buildings did not fall down in the quake,
Speaker 2: but had rather instead burned down. The full extent of
Speaker 2: arsen fraud is unknown, but experts suggest it may have
Speaker 2: reached as high as thirty million dollars, and that's not
Speaker 2: adjusted for today's equivalent.
Speaker 1: And we can't really close out without talking about the
Speaker 1: San Francisco Phoenix. It can't be coincidence that the Gold
Speaker 1: Rush fires and the city survival inspired San Francisco to
Speaker 1: adopt the phoenix, a mythological bird that arises reborn from
Speaker 1: its ashes, as the symbol of the city. It was
Speaker 1: first used in an official capacity in the city seal
Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty two as the city was being reborn.
Speaker 1: Are you ready for a little lighter fluid man?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: Okay, where's the thing that kept jumping out at me
Speaker 1: as we were looking at this, Even after they had
Speaker 1: put hopeful protections in place, built better things, made fire
Speaker 1: departments volunteer, otherwise, they really could not sort out the
Speaker 1: water situation. Yes, and so I wanted to make a
Speaker 1: drink that addressed that. And it's called the Dowser.
Speaker 2: That is an excellent name for a drink that's based
Speaker 2: on that.
Speaker 1: A dowser or a dowsing wand is one that allegedly
Speaker 1: finds water. There's some mystical attachment to this idea that
Speaker 1: someone has a natural knack for finding water with a
Speaker 1: dowsing wand. But I wanted to just make something super
Speaker 1: delicious that was very light and airy and easy to drink.
Speaker 1: And I also wanted to do something that we haven't
Speaker 1: done before, but also wanted to reference the fact that
Speaker 1: this was all kind of gold rushing originated, right, So
Speaker 1: I wanted to do something golden. But we've done all
Speaker 1: the gold things except for saffron.
Speaker 2: Oh, oh interesting, So.
Speaker 1: For this one, which I love. I have a rabid
Speaker 1: love of saffron. I love it in everything. Put it
Speaker 1: in rice, put it in ice cream, put it in bread,
Speaker 1: put it in drinks. So we're putting it in drinks today.
Speaker 1: You just need a little pinch of saffron. I know
Speaker 1: it's pricey, but if you're like me, you'll be an
Speaker 1: addict and you'll get through it pretty quickly. You're gonna
Speaker 1: put a pinch in like a mixing glass with two
Speaker 1: ounces of gin. Let that sit for a little bit.
Speaker 1: You could stir it periodically. I would say, like ten
Speaker 1: or fifteen minutes. It's not a long thing, but it
Speaker 1: will break down and it'll turn the liquid very golden
Speaker 1: and it's very pretty. And then in a tin, a
Speaker 1: shaking tin. While you're letting that sit. After a while,
Speaker 1: you're gonna add an ounce of lemon juice, an ounce
Speaker 1: of simple syrup. And one of my favorite things.
Speaker 2: One a I've come around. I have come around.
Speaker 1: Oh, this one's really good because something magical happens and
Speaker 1: it gets really fluffy. So once you have these things
Speaker 1: in place, pour your gin with the saffron pieces still
Speaker 1: in it. Right in there. I used my little frothy
Speaker 1: magic hand mixer and it became giant.
Speaker 2: Oh, there's egg wets.
Speaker 1: Or you can do a dry shake, meaning you don't
Speaker 1: put ice in your tin and you shake it really
Speaker 1: hard till it gets quite frothy, and then you add
Speaker 1: ice and get it really cold with your next shake.
Speaker 1: And then all this time you've had the cocktail glass
Speaker 1: of your choice pre chilling, and you're gonna glaze it
Speaker 1: with lit le blanc, which is a French a pair
Speaker 1: of tief, so it's a French fortified deserty kind of wine.
Speaker 1: And then into that you will just pour no ice
Speaker 1: in there, because theoretically everything's already cold. You're gonna pour
Speaker 1: this drink through a strainer. It is so fluffy and delicious.
Speaker 2: Oh, it takes your mind off of the fact that
Speaker 2: the city's burning down.
Speaker 1: This already, I think is a high level candidate for
Speaker 1: my favorite of the seasonally. Oh, it's really good to
Speaker 1: make this one in mocktail version. In lieu of using gin,
Speaker 1: you're gonna do what we've done a couple of times
Speaker 1: I think in the past, which is let some tonic
Speaker 1: water go flat and use that. Again, you're not going
Speaker 1: to get an exact dupe of a spirit. You can
Speaker 1: always we don't really talk about it much. You can
Speaker 1: always buy zero proof spirits and use these uses in
Speaker 1: any of these.
Speaker 2: We don't really talk about that.
Speaker 1: But those are a vailable yeah, they are, and some
Speaker 1: of them are quite good. It's a mixed bag. I've
Speaker 1: tried a number and some I really like and some
Speaker 1: I'm like, mah, not quite. But it's always worth trying
Speaker 1: because everybody's palate is different. So like I have encountered
Speaker 1: ones where I think they're pretty good and a friend
Speaker 1: thinks they're gross, and vice versa. And so I think
Speaker 1: some of that's just palette. So you'll do the exact
Speaker 1: same thing with the saffron, using your flat tonic, and
Speaker 1: then the rest of it is no alcoholic except for
Speaker 1: your little blanc, which you are going to mix a
Speaker 1: little simple syrup and water and I mean very little,
Speaker 1: like a half ounce of each and a drop or
Speaker 1: two of vanilla extract to just give it a little something.
Speaker 1: Use that to glacier glass and you're ready to go.
Speaker 2: Holly just made a young face.
Speaker 1: Egg white with that little saffron situation. Yes, I'm going
Speaker 1: to make this all the time, and I may adapt
Speaker 1: it into many other drinks for my own personal use.
Speaker 1: So that is the dowser.
Speaker 2: I love that there was still something gold to use
Speaker 2: because I feel like we really golded it up during
Speaker 2: the Alchemy season.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't want to use gold slogger. I
Speaker 1: don't want to use I was trying to avoid ginger
Speaker 1: ale because that's an easy way to do a gold thing.
Speaker 2: This is a great solution to it.
Speaker 1: Thank you Universe for Oh that's so good. I'm in
Speaker 1: love with it. We hope that you love this drink
Speaker 1: if you give it a whirl. We will be right
Speaker 1: back here again next week with another fire story and
Speaker 1: hopefully another delicious concoction to drink. Criminalia is a production
Speaker 1: of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.