Real-world treasure hunting isn’t limited to the movies. There are enough local legends, ancient texts, and conspiratorial histories out there that it’s surprising someone isn’t tripping over a hidden chest of emeralds every other day.…

The post 6 Real World Treasure Hunts That Could Make You Rich first appeared on Cool Material.

It’s hard to beat the classic field watch. You can wear a field watch with nearly any outfit, they’ll survive anything your noncombatant life can throw at them, and they follow in a long tradition…

The post The History of the Field Watch, the Military’s Most Trusted Timepiece first appeared on Cool Material.

It should be well-known that the Founding Fathers, as well as most early Americans, were fond of a drink. It wasn’t uncommon for citizens to start their day with a quart of hard cider and Benjamin Franklin…

The post How to Drink Like the Founding Fathers this 4th of July first appeared on Cool Material.

(Image – James Hart) Just because a special shaped glass exists for whiskey drinking doesn’t mean anyone who drinks out of something else is wrong. We’re very much of the Ron Swanson mindset. There’s no…

The post The History of the Whiskey Glass first appeared on Cool Material.

For those of us in colder climates, this time of year is the hot cocktail’s time to shine. It’s the perfect drink. The warmth gets you through the chill and the alcohol keeps you feeling…

The post Meet Wassail, the One Drink You Should Make This Holiday first appeared on Cool Material.

Even if most of you didn’t put in the time to become Eagle Scouts, you probably joined the Cub Scouts. If you did, there’s a significant chance you designed, built, carved, and painted your very…

The post From Soapboxes to Scouts: The History of the Pinewood Derby first appeared on Cool Material.

Whether or not you’re conscious of it, your wardrobe has extremely deep military roots. People might have wanted to dress like their war heroes or soldiers brought back certain gear that adapted well to civilian…

The post Menswear Trends Stolen from the Military first appeared on Cool Material.

For brewing and distilling, these are days of revival. Brewing was a macro-lager mess up until a few years ago, when craft brewing exploded, giving us roughly ten million choices in even the smallest liquor…

The post The Turbulent History of Rye Whiskey: The Real American Spirit first appeared on Cool Material.

Sports today are tame by history’s standards. Ancient societies didn’t seem to think twice about spending blood and lives in the pursuit of great athletic entertainment. People have been hacked, poked, drowned, punched, cut, smashed,…

The post History’s Most Dangerous Games first appeared on Cool Material.

Alcoholic punch has suffered a bit of a dip in popularity, and by bit of a dip we mean its popularity almost completely evaporated since its peak in the 17th and 18th centuries. The invention…

The post 7 Alcoholic Punches Your Ancestors Would Want You to Drink first appeared on Cool Material.

To orient you, the Isle of Jura’s next door neighbor is Islay, off the West Coast of Scotland. You probably recognize the latter’s name if you’re at all a fan of scotch whisky. For all…

The post The Isle of Jura is the Perfect Quiet Vacation for Scotch Lovers first appeared on Cool Material.

German beer purists would have you believe beer was divinely begotten from malt, water, hops, and nothing else. If it wasn’t divine, then it was at least bureaucratic, thanks to the Reinheitsgebot, a law that…

The post What Beer Was Like Before Hops first appeared on Cool Material.

You can tell a lot about a man by the kind of watch he wears, and it’s particularly helpful when it’s celebrities. Normally, we’d never have a chance to get to know people at that…

The post 6 Famous Watches and the Men Who Owned Them first appeared on Cool Material.

The Western Front of the First World War was an unpleasant place, to say the very least. The chalky French soil would fall apart at the lightest rainfall, compromising trench integrity from the start. Belgian…

The post The History of the Trench Lighter first appeared on Cool Material.

Before you can be famous for great whiskey, you have to invent whatever comes before it. For the Irish, that was poitín (puu-tcheen). It means “little pot” in Gaelic, named for what early Irish distillers…

The post This St. Patrick’s Day, Drink Poitín, the Irish Moonshine first appeared on Cool Material.

Most presidents like to drink. It’s a simple fact. The founding fathers got wasted as often as they could and the mentality carried through to almost everyone else who’s inhabited the Oval Office. In honor…

The post Presidents and Their Drinks of Choice first appeared on Cool Material.