Nikola Tesla's Science of Whiskey

Nikola Tesla drank whisky every day because he thought that it would make him live for 150 years.

Towering scientific achievements aside, Nikola Tesla was also sophisticated and worldly. He couldn’t shake his love for one vice: alcohol. He was particularly fond of whiskey.

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“I myself eschew all stimulants. I also practically abstain from meat. I am convinced that within a century coffee, tea, and tobacco will be no longer in vogue,” he said in the early 20th century. “Whiskey, however, will still be used. It is not a stimulant but a veritable elixir of life.”

 tesla whiskey

In fact, he believed that alcohol’s benefits far outweighed any risks: “Alcohol is not a poison, nor is it a drug…[i]n small quantities, it cleans and sterilizes the alimentary channels; thereby preventing infections, and proves a beneficial stimulant to thought, speech and physical exertion.” Tesla also claimed that moderate drinkers are “as a rule, long lived and considered by life insurance companies the safest policy holders.”

Tesla’s respect for the rule of law led him to become a teetotaler during Prohibition, but this change wasn’t without tremendous sacrifice. In a separate writing of unknown origin, he claimed: “Had I not given up [daily] whiskey during [Prohibition], I would surely live to 150 years of age.”

Tesla did not make it to the age of 150, a circumstance he would probably credit to his abstention from alcohol in the early 1900’s. He died at age 86, leaving behind a legacy that will last for generations to come. He was universally regarded as being ahead of his time and clearly had his social priorities in order.

Tesla Blue Whiskey Glass by TheWhiskeyRecord

In recognition of one of truest genius whiskey drinkers we have designed a glass in his honour. Our Tesla Blue Whiskey Glass has a traditional straight tumbler shape which neatly aligns with the circular Strike Ring of a Tesla Coil. We have chosen an electric blue colour injection for this crystal whiskey glass.


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