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August 14, 2015

Drunk History: The Rise, Fall, and Revival of All-American Whiskey

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For a long time, if you wanted to buy whiskey, you weren’t buying bottles.
When you’d go to a liquor store or grocery store, you’d fill up your own jug or flask or decanter. Bars and grocery stores would purchase a barrel of whiskey, and then they would sell that by the glass, or they’d allow people to fill up their own containers. Nothing really came in a glass bottle because it was so expensive to make them at that time. That really changed in 1870, when the first bottled American whiskey came out. It was called Old Forester, and it’s still available today. Old Forester was marketed not at consumers, but at doctors, since they would prescribe whiskey for a range of maladies. Previously, doctors couldn’t be sure of how pure their whiskey was because there were all types of middlemen between the distiller and the final customer, or the patient in this case. Because Old Forester was sold in a bottle, you could guarantee that it was pure unadulterated whiskey, meaning it wouldn’t do more harm than good. | Collectors Weekly

Posted by gerardvanderleun at August 14, 2015 1:44 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

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Most of the trouble in this world has been caused by folks who can't mind their own business, because they have no business of their own to mind, any more than a smallpox virus has ...

In this world of shabby rooming houses, furtive gray figures in dark suits, hop joints and chili parlors the Johnson Family took shape as a code of conduct. To say someone is a Johnson means he keeps his word and honours his obligations. He's a good man to have on your team. He is not a malicious, snooping, interfering self-righteous trouble making person. - The Place of Dead Roads (1983)
`The Johnson Family’ was a turn-of-the-century expression to designate good bums and thieves. It was elaborated into a code of conduct. A Johnson honors his obligations. His word is good and he is a good man to do business with. A Johnson minds his own business. He is not a snoopy, self-righteous, trouble-making person. A Johnson will give help when help is needed. He will not stand by while someone is drowning or trapped under a burning car. Burroughs

Posted by: chasmatic [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 15, 2015 10:23 PM

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