
The Drunkest Place on Earth
Uganda drinks harder than any other country on the African continent, at least by the numbers VICE host Thomas Morton comes armed with, and this trip follows him into the bars, distilleries, and backyard stills where that reputation gets made. The local moonshine is waregi, or "war gin," a homemade spirit strong enough that Morton compares it unfavorably to the roughest Appalachian rotgut he's tried. He drinks with locals in Kampala and rural villages, watches the informal economy that produces and sells the stuff, and sits in on a goat slaughter and cook-up that becomes one of the trip's set pieces, filmed in full and referenced separately as an uncensored extra. There's little narration standing between the viewer and what's in front of the camera: producers mixing batches, drinkers explaining why they choose war gin over beer, and Morton doing his usual job of asking blunt questions and drinking along with the answers. It's a short, unpolished look at a drinking culture built around scarcity and homemade alcohol rather than bars and brand names.