Welcome to another episode of Drinking With Robots. I'm your host, Rob Nester. And I'm your host, Ingrid Folkers. On this episode of the podcast, we're reaching for the stars and maybe beyond as we delve into the mysterious world of UFOs. From the infamous Roswell incident to the Pentagon's latest revelations, we're going to be talking about flying discs, little green men, and the imminent arrival of our alien overlords. So buckle up, because it's going to be an otherworldly ride. A little bit later, Ethan Williford from Gatlinburg, Tennessee's own Dick's Last Resort will stop by. We'll talk about how much fun it is to be mean to people from behind the bar and whether he believes in aliens. But first, a word from our sponsors. Upgrade your cocktail game with Remedy Cocktail Company's handcrafted bitters. Order online at RemedyCocktailCompany.com and choose from over 20 flavors. Elevate your drink experience today. Hey Ingrid, what do you know about UFOs? Well, if you had asked me that a few weeks ago before doing research for this episode, I would have said all I know about UFOs is that they found evidence of them in Roswell, New Mexico some 70 years ago. Well, so many folks consider the Roswell incident as the start of modern UFO lore. But for me, it really starts with an event that occurred about a month prior to that. The Kenneth Arnold sighting, as it's come to be known, occurred on June 24th, 1947. So there was this private pilot, Kenneth Arnold, and he was out flying near Mount Rainier, Washington, when he saw what he described as nine high speed objects flying in a chain formation. While later reports described these objects as flat disc-like shapes, this is where we actually get the idea of flying saucers. Arnold originally described something that more closely resembled the heel of a men's dress shoe. The craft that he described had a rounded leading edge, drawing back to a point on the back side. In doing some research for this episode, I went looking for experimental aircraft from this era. And it really is interesting to note that the general shape of the experimental Vault V-173, known as the flying pancake, looks very similar to the shape that Arnold originally described, but reversed. And it was around this time in 1947 that the Air Force began to transition from propeller-driven aircraft to jet engine aircraft. Within two weeks of Kenneth Arnold's sighting in Washington, one of the most well-known events in UFO history occurred in Roswell, New Mexico. If you're not familiar with it, it's a tale of a mysterious crash that has become synonymous with UFOs and government cover-ups. The incident began early in July 1947, near Roswell, New Mexico, when rancher William Mack Brazel discovered unusual debris scattered around his property, located approximately 75 miles from Roswell. Brazel found metallic rods, chunks of plastic-like material, and scraps of a tough, paper-like substance that were unlike anything he had ever seen before. Intrigued by the material, which he couldn't identify, Brazel took some of the debris to the local sheriff, who then contacted the Roswell Army Airfield. The Roswell Army Airfield issued a press release on July 8, 1947, stating that they had recovered a flying disc from a ranch near Roswell. However, within a day, a higher military authority contradicted the statement and claimed the debris was from a crashed weather balloon. Over the decades, various theories have been proposed as to what exactly was found at Roswell. These theories have included claims of a cover-up of the recovery of alien spacecraft and bodies. And these theories have been supported by various people who have come forward with tales of secret military operations to retrieve and hide extraterrestrial artifacts. On the other side of the argument, it was in the 1990s that the U.S. Air Force released two reports which disclosed the true nature of the crashed device recovered from Roswell. These reports assert that the recovered object was part of a top-secret atomic espionage program called Project Mogul. Project Mogul was carried out from 1947 until early 1949, and the objects created for it were basically high-altitude balloons, which carried sensitive microphones, whose primary purpose was long-range detection of sound waves generated by Soviet atomic bomb tests. And so whether you take the government report as fact matters little, because Roswell remains a pivotal moment in UFO lore. It sparked a wave of intrigue and skepticism that continues to this day. With almost 50 years to percolate, the government report in the 90s did little to change the mind of UFO believers. Roswell wasn't a one-off. Over the next two decades, a government project called Project Blue Book documented over 12,000 sightings. Let's talk about some other UFO sightings that have captured the public's imagination. In Washington, D.C., on July 19th and 20th in 1952, a series of sightings over the nation's capital were reported and was also captured on radar at multiple airports. This prompted a fighter jet scramble and made headlines nationwide, raising serious defense concerns. In September of 1965, in Exeter, New Hampshire, close encounters were reported by multiple witnesses, including police officers, involving a large object with flashing red lights. The incident was highly publicized and is considered a classic case of a credible UFO sighting. Between 1983 and 1989 in Hudson Valley, New York, thousands of sightings of a large boomerang-shaped object were reported by numerous residents. These incidents, which occurred over multiple years, received extensive local media coverage and led to a significant investigation by multiple organizations. And then there's the Phoenix Lights. This occurred March 13th, 1997. It had thousands of witnesses, including the governor of Arizona, and they all reported seeing a huge V-shaped array of lights moving over the state. This is one of the most massive UFO sightings in terms of witness numbers. And then in 2006, November 7th, to be precise, at the Chicago O'Hare Airport, United Airlines employees and pilots reported a saucer-shaped craft hovering over a gate. The craft shot up into the clouds, leaving a clear blue hole in the cloud layer, which was witnessed by the pilots and the mechanics. And we can't forget about the Tic Tac UFO encounters. In November 2004, U.S. Navy pilots encountered objects off the coast of San Diego that looked kind of like a Tic Tac, and it moved in ways that defied current technology. They suddenly appeared at 80,000 feet, then hurtled towards the sea, stopping at 20,000 feet and hovering before shooting back up or dropping out of radar. Infrared video footage of the encounter was captured by the jet's gun cameras. And this footage, along with two other videos showing encounters from 2015, was leaked to the public in 2017, and later released by the Pentagon in 2020, acknowledging the objects as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, UAP, which brings us to... The Pentagon's UAP program. It's part of a push for transparency around what many have suspected for years. That the government knows more about UFOs than it's letting on. Recent disclosures have included declassified videos and reports of encounters between military personnel and unidentified objects that exhibit technology far beyond our current capabilities. This move towards transparency marks a significant shift in policy. You know, for decades, such information was either dismissed or covertly handled, leaving the public in the dark about what was really happening in our skies. And it's not just about monitoring. The program also aims to understand the potential threats posed by these phenomena. Are they advanced drones from rival nations? Do they represent natural atmospheric phenomena? Or are they something entirely unexplained? Well, what's fascinating here, Rob, is the release of several declassified videos by the Pentagon. These recordings captured by Navy pilots show UAPs moving at incredible speeds, with agility that seems to defy the limits of our current technology. Those videos were a bombshell, sparking widespread media coverage and public interest. They show objects performing maneuvers that challenge our understanding of physics, accelerating with no visible means of propulsion, making sudden stops, or changing directions instantaneously. And let's not forget the 2021 UAP report to Congress. It analyzed 144 reports of UAP, and only one could be explained. The rest remain a mystery, classified as unidentified in the truest sense. This report was a watershed moment. It acknowledged that these incidents are not isolated, nor can they be simply explained away. It also stressed the need for better scientific understanding and enhanced data collection strategies. It's important to take these incidents seriously, to consider their implications for national security, and perhaps to confront the broader question of potential non-human origins. It's also about preparing ourselves for any future encounters, whether they'd be adversarial or benign. The establishment of a new office dedicated to these phenomena in the Department of Defense underlines the ongoing commitment to addressing this mystery. As we continue to pull back the layers of secrecy, it becomes clear that the path to understanding is paved with more questions than answers. But each step forward in government disclosure is a step closer to potentially profound truths about our universe and our place within it. It's a complex mix of defense, science, and the search for understanding. And as the government opens up, it encourages a more informed public discourse on what's really out there. So whether it's a matter of national security or cosmic curiosity, it's clear that the government's role in the UFO phenomena is crucial. As we pivot from government disclosures to the broader implications of what those disclosures might mean, let's dive into the scientific and speculative world of alien life theories. What do the experts say? And how does this align with or challenge our understanding of life in the universe? So that's a great question, Ingrid. The scientific community is deeply engaged in this debate, and it often centers around the Fermi Paradox. So this is named after physicist Enrico Fermi, and the paradox poses a simple yet rather profound question. If the universe is teeming with planets and the potential for life, why haven't we encountered any clear signs of extraterrestrial civilizations? It's a question that has puzzled scientists and scholars alike. The universe is believed to be about 13.8 billion years old, with billions of stars similar to our own sun, many of which are billions of years older than our solar system. Statistically, it seems inevitable that life should exist elsewhere. And yet, here we are, seemingly alone. This brings us to one of the most intriguing and somewhat unsettling solutions to the Fermi Paradox, the Rare Earth-Great Filter Theory. This theory suggests that life in general, and especially complex intelligent life, might just be exceedingly rare. And it could require an extraordinarily precise combination of factors. Like a stable star, protective planetary neighbors, a large enough moon to stabilize axial tilt, that kind of thing? Exactly. The Great Filter part goes on to theorize that there is a stage in the life cycle of a civilization that is incredibly difficult to overcome. This stage is so challenging, in fact, that it might prevent civilizations from reaching the point of star travel or becoming visible to others in the galaxy. This filter could be anywhere in the developmental timeline of a civilization. It could be the leap from non-living chemicals to living cells, the emergence of complex life forms, the development of the technological prowess, or even the survival of technological maturity without self-destruction. Yet the implications are staggering. If the Great Filter is behind us, we might be one of the few lucky civilizations to have made it through. But if it's ahead of us, our future could be in jeopardy. The discovery of any form of advanced alien life might suggest that the filter is still to come, and that our prospects might be grim. And within this context, let's not overlook the recent advancements in exoplanet research. Astronomers are discovering planets in the habitable zone around their stars where conditions could support life as we know it. Each of these planets is a new chance to find life and possibly a new piece of the puzzle of the Fermi Paradox. Another set of solutions for the Fermi Paradox are the limited or inadequate scope, a technology or communication mismatch, or the transient nature of signals explanation. Yeah, so the idea here is that radio searches, for example, might not be sensitive enough. We may not be aimed at the right part of the sky, at the right frequency, or for long enough. Space is vast, and our current SETI efforts cover a minuscule fraction of possible signals. You mentioned SETI, which, for those of you listening that might not know, is the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. This is a non-profit dedicated to listening for signals that might indicate the presence of advanced civilizations. Other initiatives are focused on finding biochemical signatures on distant worlds that could indicate life. But it's not just about finding life. It's about understanding the conditions that allow life to thrive, the commonalities and differences in life's biochemical basis, and the implications for our understanding of life on Earth. Right, and then there's this whole other set of solutions that we may have issues with technology or communication mismatches. Alien civilizations may be using technologies or communication methods that are just beyond our current understanding or detection capabilities. Maybe they're communicating on a quantum level, or with gravitational waves, or tight beam lasers, or any of an untold number of technologies we currently don't have access to. And even if they're using technology we understand, signals are transient. They may only broadcast for a short window of time in their development, and the odds of overlapping with another civilization's broadcast phase may be extremely low. And then there's a whole set of solutions that fall into the zoo-slash-laboratory or isolation-slash-indifference buckets that generally indicate that either they're observing us in a manner similar to the way we observe animals in a zoo, or in the vein of Star Trek's prime directive of non-interference. Or maybe they have no interest in communicating with less advanced life. They may find it more efficient to focus on their own virtual realities or internal affairs or other interests rather than contact biological civilizations. And then there's the they have visited but remain undetected or unrecognized set of solutions. Maybe they came to observe us, deemed us not worthy of their time, and decided to remain unknown to us. Or perhaps past visits might have occurred thousands or millions of years ago, long before we had the capability to notice them. Another set of solutions suggest that civilizations are common but short-lived. They fall victim to self-destruction or catastrophe, whether it's self-inflicted or natural in cause. And a final set of solution posits that perhaps they're so far advanced that they are beyond our comprehension. Perhaps they've transcended biology, or maybe they're highly efficient and thus undetectable by our current efforts. Indeed, Ingrid. Every discovery adds depth to our understanding of the universe and our place within it. Whether we find microbial life on Mars, witness the atmospheric signatures of life on an exoplanet, or intercept a signal from another civilization, each will be a monumental moment in human history. It's a journey of discovery that ultimately shapes our understanding of existence itself, pushing the boundaries of science, philosophy, and even theology. So while the great filter presents a daunting challenge, it also invites us to explore, to learn, and to hopefully safely navigate whatever challenges might lie ahead of us in our cosmic journey. While extraterrestrial life might not be interested in us, we are definitely interested in it. Recent years have seen significant advances in technology that have invigorated the search. High-resolution satellites, faster computers, and vast data networks allow us to monitor the skies more comprehensively than ever. And then there's the increase in commercial and amateur skywatchers. With high-quality cameras and drones, everyday citizens are now on the front line of spotting and documenting these unexplained phenomena. It's a collective effort that spans across continents and cultures. Each new video, each sighting, adds another piece to the vast puzzle we're trying to assemble. Speaking of efforts, let's talk about Project Galileo, a scientific project led by renowned astronomers aimed at systematically searching for evidence of extraterrestrial technological civilizations. Using a combination of telescopes, AI algorithms, and data analysis, they're not just waiting for UFOs to appear. They're actively looking for signs of alien technologies, like satellites or debris that could orbit distant stars. It's a proactive approach that could potentially change the game. If they find something, anything, it could be one of the most significant discoveries in human history. As we wrap up today's journey into the unknown, remember there are countless resources out there for those who want to explore further. Books like The UFO Phenomenon by John Spencer and websites like MUFON where you can dive even deeper. And there are podcasts such as the Unidentified Alien podcast, Weaponized with Jeremy Corbel and George Knapp, and Extraterrestrial, which keep looking up and asking those big questions. Stick around after the break and we'll answer the big question of what cocktails our human and AI competitors would serve during a close encounter of the cocktail party kind. Are you a professional bartender who thinks they have what it takes to defeat our AI challenger? If so, we'd love to talk to you. Reach out by sliding into our DMs. We're DrinkingWithRobots on Instagram or email us at bookings at DrinkingWithRobots.com. We just wanted to say thank you for listening so far. We'd love for you to connect with us on social media. You can find us at DrinkingWithRobots on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Threads. While you're at it, go ahead and hit the subscribe button wherever you're listening to this podcast so you don't miss any future episodes. Also, check us out at DrinkingWithRobots.com. All right. Thanks for sticking with us for this episode of Drinking With Robots. We're sitting down today with our good friend, Ethan Williford. Ethan, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. So you are currently in Dick's Last Resort in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, but we'll talk about how we met you. You were a former Raleigh, we'll call you a Raleigh native, so you were here for a better part of what, a decade? Yep. That's long-term, I feel like, these days. How did you find yourself in Raleigh? Yeah, my parents moved here from Texas for a job, so I just had to follow them. Yep. Oh, the classic get-in-the-car kid. Oh, yeah. So what part of Texas did you grow up in? I grew up in San Antonio. Oh, okay. How was that? It was gorgeous. I was going to say, yeah, I didn't know how much memory you would have, you know, depending on when you moved, I guess. Yeah, it was hot, but pretty. Funny enough, San Antonio is the only place I've ever been to a Dick's Last Resort. Oh, really? Yeah. How do you enjoy bartending at an establishment that encourages you to be mean to your guests? I think it's a little more fun. It brings a different vibe, and it brings a different experience to the guests. So, okay, I'm curious, because I think maybe I've been to Dick's Last Resort once when I lived in Boston. There's one at Faneuil Hall. But we were sitting at a table, so we had a server, so I don't know if there's any difference in kind of how you get to riff with customers and whatnot sitting at the bar versus, you know, table service. But I can imagine that a lot of it is very corporate, right? Like, it's kind of like any corporate gig. Do they give you specific guidance on, like, what you can and can't really say to a customer? So they definitely do. There's certain lines we can't cross, which is to be expected. But you can definitely say some things that you couldn't say behind a normal bar. Do you have any favorite insults or things that you often say? A lot of it comes down to the hats, to be honest. Okay, wait. So for folks who may not have ever been to a Dick's Last Resort, talk about the hat. Yeah, so the hat is a paper rolled hat that's based off a condom. And you write things that you notice about the person or something that you could insult them about or have fun with on that hat and just put it on them. Okay, so it's kind of the, here's what you can roast me about sign, huh? Yeah, it's almost like a dunce hat. Okay. Is that something that they've got on once they're sitting down at the bar or do you get to write that as well? So I get to write it out, put it on them at the bar. That sounds like it could be so much fun. I'm not going to lie. Anything common that you put on the hats that are your favorites or is it all just case by case, something new every time? It's definitely case by case. But if I get a guy that's a little bit bigger, I'll usually put a built like a house, hung like mouse. I've always wanted to work in a place that you could be overtly mean. I just feel like I'd be so good at it. Something like a Dick's Last Resort or I think there are other variations of that kind of same business model, but I think I'd be so good at it. See, this is so tough for me because my experience with you has been you were always like an incredibly kind person. So the idea of you being like mean to someone is so weird for me because it's just not my experience with you. You know what I mean? But the fact that you're like, it would be so much fun. I'm like, oh, there's a whole side of Ingrid. I don't know. Yes, the evil side. But no, I feel like I'd be really good at it. So and it would be fun to just poke fun at people all day long. For sure. It's also more like you can just be very honest with the guests. So if food's not coming out quick or you're busy, you can just say that and they don't care. Yeah. Oh, that's actually kind of nice. You don't have to be like, oh, hey, I'm so sorry. Thanks for bearing with us. You're like, hey, look, it's going to be a minute. Yeah, that would be the refreshing part of the job, I think. Oh, for sure. So I am curious. Do you ever stop and wonder why it is that people enjoy that environment? Do you think it's the authenticity of like the, you know, the directness? Or do you think that it is something about there's a big part of a lot of people that like to have that evil side brought out? What do you think, Ethan? I think it's just something different and something new to a lot of people. Because so many people go to restaurants and they expect a certain style of service and this blows it out of the water. Gotcha. You know, being in Gatlinburg, so for those who may not be aware, Gatlinburg is home to, I think, one of the primary pilgrimage locations for Southerners. It's called Dollywood. Do you get a lot of tourist overflow from Dollywood and Dick? For sure. You get a lot of people for that and a lot of people for the old smoky distilleries. A lot of that moonshine kind of drives people to Gatlinburg. You were there for a period of time, correct? I was. Did you enjoy your time there? I did. I learned a lot about moonshine that I wouldn't have learned otherwise. Okay. Definitely got to try some new flavors, got to present those flavors to people. So I'm going to be a contrarian. I'm going to be a grumpy old man for a moment. I personally dislike using the term moonshine for any product that taxes are being paid on. And I'm curious, did that ever come up when you were working at Old Smoky? Did you ever run into me grousing about the fact that it was called moonshine? Or were most people there kind of cool about it and were like, hey, moonshine? There's 100% people like that that come into Old Smoky. I was going to say, did you guys have like a, this is how you handle that kind of line? Or was it just kind of like, whatever, guys? We got lines to handle it. It was always that we came from the original moonshine and we adapted into a legal version that could be sold. Gotcha. Okay. Well, I mean, I guess that's a, yeah, that's a solid line, I suppose. But it's just hard because like I grew up in Western North Carolina, which, you know, is one of the, I mean, the reason that America has NASCAR is because we had folks that were like, we've got to get this moonshine somewhere really fast. And so I'm always a little just pedantic about it. And my question is, it's whiskey though, right? Like for the most part, they're selling like whiskey, even if it's unaged, it would be like a white dog whiskey, right? So why not just call it what it is? Whiskey. Right. I think the main reason that they don't is because it's a new name that can attract people and a way to sell it. Because everyone knows whiskey and whiskey at this point isn't selling as much. Moonshine has definitely been on the rise because of that name. Yeah. Because what is it? There's the television program that was big a couple of years ago that was all about moonshiners and stuff like that. I think it was called Moonshiners. Was it? Okay. Yeah. In case it's not obvious, I did not watch it. Also going back to my, well, if you're on television talking about it, I don't think you're actually making moonshine. Because like everyone I've ever known that did make moonshine where I grew up was like, now you tell anybody about this and I'll find you, you know, kind of thing. Yeah, there's still people like that out in the woods making moonshine and they come in old smokey and they talk about it. Oh yeah? Yeah. Huh. That's interesting. A little bold there. Yeah. Very bold. Like, hey, I make this too, but not legally. I don't pay any taxes. Ha ha ha. Yeah. Yeah. I think as long as you're not selling it, you're good. Actually, so fun story here. I got into a whole discussion with someone a couple of years ago about the legality of production for spirit as alcohol because they were like, no, no, you can totally make whiskey for yourself. And I was like, I don't think that's how that works. And they're like, yeah, you can make ethanol. And I'm like, hold up. So I actually went, did the research. Legally, you can produce ethanol for fuel, but the moment you consume it, that is now a distilled spirit. And the only legal way to produce a distilled spirit in America is to have a DSP. And so it doesn't matter if you're producing a gallon, 20 gallons, you are not legally allowed to produce it without a DSP. And I thought that was kind of crazy because there's allowances for beer. There's allowances for wine. But I think once you jump that, was it like 15%? Roughly. It's probably a little higher than that. Well, because liqueurs usually start at 35. I think it's once you start the distillation process. I agree. And I do think that that is important to make sure people aren't just, you know, distilling in their bathtubs or what have you, because it can be a little dangerous, right? Having that regulated keeps people from, you know, drinking unsafe spirits that they've made themselves and going blind or worse. Yeah. So I kind of understand the, you can make wine, you can make cider or beer, but once you switch to distilling, you end up working with more volatile. Yeah, you get heavy metals at the end of distillation, for example, the stuff that hasn't quite boiled out and things of that nature. And so, I mean, I get it a hundred percent. I'm here for it. But, but yeah, so maybe that's our PSA to everybody out there who's trying to make their own bathtub gin. Don't do it. Just don't do it. Or learn how to do it correctly and get the licensing. There you go. There you go. We don't want to discourage distillation. We just want to encourage safe distillation. There we go. You're at Dick's. You're enjoying that because you mentioned you get to kind of just focus more on, you know, that's just kind of straight ahead bartending and it leaves you time for competitions and things like that. What have you found is like one thing that you've been able to focus on that you were kind of the most excited about? Definitely coming up with more creative drinks on my own. It just gives me more time to actually focus on my crafts and throwing things together, seeing how they work. Have you entered any competitions lately that you want to tell us about? Unfortunately not. I'm looking for some. I just haven't found one that I really want to jump into yet. So, you know, I was just thinking like if you are a bartender who's, you know, maybe in a location where there aren't a ton of local competitions or you're looking to kind of step out of your local realm into something a little bit larger. How do you go about that? Like, are there resources out there for you or is it just you've got to be eagle eyed? There are a ton of resources. When I first started getting into national competitions, what I did was I put a Google alert for anything that said cocktail competition or bartender competition. And so my inbox was just flooded every day with a bunch of nonsense most of the time. But that was a good way for me to make sure I was aware of any competitions that were happening. Another good resource I would recommend is Difford's Guide, which is a great resource for cocktails. If you're not familiar, I would definitely say check it out. But they also have a bartender lounge section of their website where they post competitions and things of that nature. So I would definitely utilize that. There are also other magazines that I would rely on, like Vinepar and Punch magazine, which often post competitions that they help fund. And then there is a whole network of bartenders in the United States that have kind of a Instagram group that we post all of our competitions. Anything we come across, anything we find that's like on a national level, we make sure to post it in there. So anyone who wants to compete can. I was going to say USBG, that'd be another good resource. Oh yeah, absolutely. In whatever area someone's in, I imagine that would be useful too. For sure. It depends because the local chapters range widely for how involved they are. Sure. But nationally, yeah, absolutely. The USBG is the host of world class, which I've always compared it to the Olympics of bartending, which is always a fun competition to try and get into every year. It's tough competition, but it's one that I really put a lot of stock in each year. Ethan, do you have any experience with the USBG in your area? None in my area. In Knoxville and Gatlinburg, there's not one. And I haven't seen any effort to start one. Back in Raleigh, I had a lot of experience with them, but there's no push for it here in Knoxville or Gatlinburg. You could always start one. There you go. I'm tempted. It's a lot of work, but it would be a good resume builder and get you a little bit more recognition on the national stage. Great way to network too. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So, you know, the first part of the show, we're talking all about UFOs, UFO history, things of that nature. And one thing I'm curious about, Ingrid, do you believe in UFOs? Have you ever seen anything? I've never seen anything, but I do believe in them. I do think they exist. I just haven't been in the right spot at the right time. But I do think that I believe people who say that they've seen them. Now, to be clear, there's always a little bit of waffling here because, you know, UFO and UAP all mean just unidentified. Now, do you think that there's like alien life inside of these or are there just things that we don't know what they are? I think that there may be alien life in them. Maybe not, but definitely of alien origin. Okay. So, I do think it's completely possible that they could just send over an unmanned craft to kind of check things out because we've done that with Mars. So, why wouldn't they do that with our planet? So, I'm not necessarily saying there has to be an alien in the craft, but I do think we have gotten probes from other planets, if that makes sense. All right. Ethan, how about you? Have you seen anything kind of wild and crazy in the sky, so to speak? Or do you believe that UFOs are a thing? I've never personally seen anything, but I do 100% believe. I've heard stories from other people that definitely convinced me. And then everything coming out from the U.S. government recently is saying that it's real. Yeah, it's been really interesting, that idea of what's referred to as disclosure and what that really means. So, I am a cynic by nature, and as fun as I think all of this is, and as much as I do read and learn about it, I will say that there's yet to be anything that says this is alien from the government. But they have definitely said, yeah, we don't know the source of this. And I think that's why the UAP moniker has kind of refreshed, is because UFO immediately conjures thoughts of little green men in alien life form. And I think that's part of the stigma that we talked about in the first portion of the show, about how the rise of UAP as a term is, I think, intended to mitigate or minimize some of the stigma around folks saying, yeah, I've seen stuff in the sky, because they didn't want to be called a crackpot or crazy or, you know, whatever. So, I'm a skeptic, I'm a cynic, and I'm going to say that I do agree that we don't know what it is, but I don't know if I'd go so far as to say I think it's extraterrestrial. Then what is it? So, I'm going to throw this out there. We've all seen modern drones, right? And of various sizes, from the ones that, like, hobbyists have all the way up to the ones that various governments will deploy, okay? Think about the ones where you've got atypical propulsion. They can move in a very odd manner, oftentimes hovering and then accelerating rapidly, stopping, reversing course. What does this sound like? A UFO. Exactly. You know, and just because we've only really been exposed to them, you know, in the past 20 years, doesn't mean that, you know, you didn't have governments focusing on development of, you know, these types of aerial equipment. And so, if you were in Phoenix, for example, we talked about, you know, the Phoenix lights in the first part of the show, and you see all these lights in the distance, you know, and they're moving concordantly, and then they're moving independently. Well, like, we see that kind of stuff now. We've seen these big shows where they'll have multiple drones, and they're flying in formation to make pictures because the lights on them and stuff like that. So, I kind of, I kind of like, okay, I think that's probably what we're talking about, by and large. Yeah. I think it's definitely possible. But, it could also be aliens. I'm not saying it's aliens. I'm saying it could be. I'm saying it could be. You make a lot of valid points, but also aliens. Talking about UFOs and aliens and everything else, you know, this episode's prompt was, since we're all about UFOs, imagine you've been beamed aboard for a close encounter of the cocktail kind. Create a delicious beverage that would wow our forthcoming alien overlords, and make sure to show off unusual flavor combinations to our out-of-this-world visitors. And so, with that being the prompt, do you want to take a few moments and walk us through the cocktail that you submitted for this, Ethan? Yeah. So, my cocktail was heavily based off of Ramos Gym, because I wanted that style of cocktail. And the ingredients I used, I went with Aquavit, Midori, lemon juice, heavy cream, egg white, and ginger beer for most of the base. The combination was just different. It was interesting. It was refreshing. And it was just a lot of fun to create. And then I threw in the creme de violet caviar, just to give it some color pop. Yeah, I will say, I make all of the cocktails blind for the judge. And, you know, I'm not a professional bartender. And I always love when we get cocktail specs, whether it's from, you know, our human bartenders or from AI, that introduce either new techniques or new things. And I had never made cocktail caviar. So, this was really fun to, like, you know, explore and use a little bit of agar powder, which that's not me being stuttering. That's actually what it's called. And so, that was kind of neat, putting it on just kind of a low heat, letting it drop in and kind of spherize. That was really cool. Yeah, the technique of spherification is something that's always nice to have in your back pocket because you can do it with fruit juices. You can do it with liqueurs. You can do it with any kind of flavor profile you want. And it does add a great pop of color, like Ethan said. And it's always fun to consume them as well. Oh, yeah. Yeah, but the cocktail came out a perfect green. And that little bit of purple behind it just gave it that very alien look. There is something about the color combination of lime green and purple that does read very alien for some reason. I'm not sure if I just grew up with too many cartoons that used that color combination. I definitely think the color theory behind it has to be something because it does. It is very evocative of science fiction. And there's Eclipse Comics, I think it was, did a whole series in the 50s and 60s on the science fiction and horror tropes. And that color combination, you see that almost every time there's an alien, there's some color combination on the cover or in the artwork itself for the cover art that is evocative of that. Yeah, so you take the Aquavit, the Midori, the Lemon Juice, the Heavy Whipping Cream, the Egg White, and you put them all in a shaker. Dry shake it for 15-ish seconds. Add in some ice. Shake it again for another good 10 to 15. Double strain it into a Collins glass with no ice. And then top it off with the creme de violet caviar. And then that gets topped up with your ginger beer, right? Yes. So that's the one you brought. And you called this the, what was it? Beam Me Up. I love that name. I do too. But I also have a soft spot for the interesting acting of William Shatner in the original Star Trek series. So, you know, I got that going for me. All right. So you brought the Beam Me Up and the AI brought the Galactic Glow. AI is never very good at naming cocktails, but they're always so good at describing why they made the decisions. But the names are always a miss for me. I can't describe why I don't like them. But the AI brought this cocktail made with blue gin, which is like Empress or something with butterfly pea flower to give that hue. Ounce and a half of that. Then half an ounce of violet liqueur for more floral notes. Three quarter ounce lemon juice. Half an ounce simple syrup. And a quarter ounce elderflower syrup. Again, just bringing in a little bit more floral element. This is a part that confused me a little. A pinch of ground cinnamon and then a few slices of fresh pear. The instructions for this cocktail are to start by muddling the fresh pear slices with the simple syrup and cinnamon to extract the flavor. Then add the rest of the ingredients into the cocktail shaker and shake vigorously until well chilled. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass and then gently top with sparkling wine to create a layering effect. Stir lightly to integrate while maintaining some layering for visual effect. And then garnish with a slice of pear. So there we have our two competitors. I have to say they were both very fun, but I think it was pretty clear once we get into our scoring how this was going to play out. So speaking of scoring, you know, we have three big buckets of points. Our biggest bucket is 50 potential points for taste because ultimately at the end of the day, you know, we're drinking these. We want them to taste great. So Ethan, you scored 45 points for taste. While the AI scored 41 points. The next bucket of points we have is presentation with a total of 30 points available. And Ethan, you scored a perfect 30 points. The AI came up a little bit short with 24 points for presentation. And lastly, originality. We have 20 points available in this category. And Ethan, you scored 18. And continuing the trend, AI came up a little bit short with only 15 points for originality. So if you're doing the math at home, that would be Ethan. Your total score was 93 points. And the AI fell short, getting only 80. So congratulations. You have fought off our robot overlords and successfully prepared the winning cocktail for our future alien overlords. How does that make you feel? It feels incredible to know that I beat AI. So I will say, as always, you know, our judge does like to give a little bit of feedback on the cocktails. For the AI, it started with a little bit of critique on, you know, that it was refreshing and well balanced. While the color could fit in with the idea of the grays, it was kind of a little meh. I think a lot of what was intended to be blue tones, you know, or those kind of violet, you know, colors, really kind of got washed out. And so they ended up looking just kind of a little meh. The garnish is understated, the judge notes. But, you know, overall, the cocktail was good and they would order it again. But, you know, I think it kind of fits that like solid, like this is an 80 rating, you know. Nothing overwhelming. Ethan, for your cocktail, the judge said, wow, beautiful and deliciously unexpected. At first, they thought it was going to be all melon on the palate, but the Aquavit added a great depth and complexity. The cocktail caviar added a nice contrast of color and flavor. They did say they would have liked to see a clump of it on top for presentation purposes once the foam settled. So I'm not sure it stayed on top of the foam. Yeah, I think that was the one critique that the judge kind of had was that given the direction, you know, because I am a faithful reproducer of the directions I am given. Because that's one of the things, too, is like, you know, being able to write that recipe, that spec, so that it can be reproduced anywhere, anytime. And I figure if I can do it, then anyone can do it. But I think that the directions as they were provided to me didn't quite spec that, hey, we should give this a while for the foam to kind of solidify. Yeah, I would say 10 seconds for a cocktail based on a Ramos is a short amount of time. If I'm making a Ramos gin fizz, I would put it into a freezer or cooler of some kind and let it sit for about 30 seconds to even a minute to just to get that foam to solidify. And I think if that had been done, then the cocktail caviar would have stayed on top a little bit better. Yeah, because what ended up happening when we did this for the judge was that there were kind of as varying density a little bit, you know, there's slight variation. So the cocktail caviar kind of found a spot in the drink to kind of level out, which was still neat. But yeah, that on top would have been, I think, a nicer presentation. But, you know, with that said, the judge was a big fan of these. And, you know, the judge gets a lot of cocktails to to wade through. And so the fact that they started with just wow, you know, says a lot, I think. No, the the idea with caviar was to have it kind of float in there like a lava lamp. Oh, OK, so that's perfect then. So, yeah, I mean, you achieved that 100 percent. Yeah, but I do get wanting to have it on top. Well, Ethan, we wanted to say thank you so much for sitting down with us for this episode. If people want to keep up with you, where can they do that at? Yeah, the best place to find me is Instagram at Ethan Bartons. Well, awesome. Thank you so much. And with that, that's us signing off saying drink well, be well and live long and prosper. you