I'm on my way to the Reprobate Empire, via Whiskey Island and the Temptation Straits

January 21, 2012 2:20 PM

Mapping out whiskey. Start here, swimming in Drunkards Channel: Map On Temperance, 1846.

The lost whiskey distilleries of Ireland. An archaeological excavation map of George Washington's distillery. An 1887 first edition of the The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom sells for £2,500. Whiskey is the bridge between beer, wine and liquor conversations on social media. The WhiskyCompanion Android app, with maps of distilleries in 21 countries. The use of whiskey as a keyword in the Google Maps database.

The European Alcohol Data Map. An interactive distillery map of Scotland; the same region back in 1902. The Ireland Whiskey Trail. A map of Japanese single malt whisky distilleries. The US microdistillery map and the US whiskey map. A map of Kentucky's bourbon distilleries.

How the world's largest distillery made whiskey, circa 1940. Mapping out taste with The Whisky Wheel and the Scotch Whisky Research Institute's Whisky Flavour Wheel. Also, The Whisky Flavour Map.

MAKRZ, MAARK, BARRL, MAASH, DSTIL: Kentucky avionics waypoints. Starting in 1967, Canadian Club hid more than 25 cases of whiskey around the globe - at least nine are still undiscovered. Speakeasy raids in Washington DC, 1931. National liquor store search engine. Liquor stores in Los Angeles County, 1985. A topographical map of Whiskey Dick Mountain, Washington.

Previously: whiskey crisis; let's talk about Scotch; Ernest Shackleton; the joy of bourbon; American straight whiskey; the mystery of American rye

posted by not_the_water (17 comments total)

Before we get into the whiskey vs. whisky debate, I stuck with the same spelling that the source did.
posted by not_the_water at 2:21 PM on January 21, 2012 [3 favorites]

Awesome sweet, especially what I've seen so far of the Map of Temperance and Kentucky Avionics Waypoint. Want to print this stuff up on a good printer and frame it.

Plotting myself on the Map of Temp. I'm currently living on Dissipation Straits somewhere between Lazy Harbor and Cape Idle. Much too close to Pauper's Bay.
posted by Skygazer at 2:57 PM on January 21, 2012

So long,Saturday!
posted by Seamus at 3:07 PM on January 21, 2012

Neither the Microdistillery Map nor the US Whiskey Map have any mention of Leopold Brothers from Denver. It is definitely worth a try. I believe they sell it as a pre-prohibition style whiskey.

I am starting to believe I may have to waste more than a Saturday on this post. Or at least because of it.
posted by Seamus at 3:11 PM on January 21, 2012

I initially read FURY REGION on the Map on Temperance as FURRY REGION and it broke my brain a little.
posted by Blasdelb at 3:19 PM on January 21, 2012

So long, sobriety!
posted by Rangeboy at 3:24 PM on January 21, 2012

Yeah, I torn on this kind of stuff though, is it good or damaging to celebrate this sort of history and culture. As an Italian-American, I definitely feel the more you can tie drinking to cultural events and a ritual, and history and richness, the better it is and more healthy, because it's not drinking for drinking's sake, and once you move on the the next part of the ritual or tradition you can stop hopefully, but for some with the physiological disposition it doesn't matter, they're just attuned to just keep going and going and going until it turns into serious self-damage.

What's a good way to put a bow on a night of drinking and live to drink another day??
posted by Skygazer at 3:33 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

I mean, I guess puking is a rough landing, but you could sort of call it a "bow," of sorts, to the evening, yes?
posted by Skygazer at 3:35 PM on January 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Is anyone else suddenly incredibly thirsty?
posted by MCMikeNamara at 4:03 PM on January 21, 2012

There are a lot of 19th century "infographics" about the evils of drink. They can be strikingly cool. For instance,

The tree of Temperance, The Tree of Intemperance, and more versions of the same.

The Hogarth prints are also neat - Beer Street and Gin Lane. Note that beer was considered the everyday beverage of sobriety, here - it was just hard spirits that were intemperate.
posted by Miko at 4:15 PM on January 21, 2012

Much too close to Pauper's Bay.

Me too. I can appreciate some nice high end single malt scotches and whiskies, but was surprised to find I preferred the cheaper Jamesons (a blend) rather than their single malts, which were bitter to the point of being unpalatable. But nowadays I can't even afford the cheaper blend. So I'm looking for a decent low end product. I bought a cheap bottle of Canadian Club the other day, it was like drinking water. I'd rather not drink at all, rather than drink crap.

What's a good way to put a bow on a night of drinking and live to drink another day??

Someone told me that you could avoid hangovers by eating some carbs and fat at the end of the drinking, which would give your liver some nutrients that are essential to metabolizing the alcohol. Something like a baloney sandwich is optimal, but avoid something too fatty like pizza. Also drink some water. This generally works for me, but I'm not a heavy drinker, I rarely drink to hangover levels.

But if you really want to drink, there are ways to avoid the hangover. A friend once showed me a pamphlet called "The Drinking Man's Diet" or some such thing. It had advice for avoiding hangovers. Here's how it works (in my possibly inaccurate recollection from 30 years ago).

About 1-2 hours before drinking, take a megadose of vitamin B complex and a huge dose of vitamin B-12. The B-12 is best delivered by injection, but since this is usually impractical, sublingual is adequate. Start drinking, vodka shots are preferred since it has no complex chemicals that are difficult to metabolize, avoid gin in particular. About every half hour, breathe pure oxygen (no, not deep breathing, from oxygen tank). After every 2 drinks, consume a glass of water. For the first hour, drink 2 shots, then increase up to a maximum of 6 shots per hour (depending on body weight), for up to 6 hours.

Now usually this level of consumption would be nearly fatal. But my friend arranged a test run, including the oxygen tank. I never drank so much in my life and still be able to stand upright. I managed to stay lucid and not black out, and I was never nauseated. And no hangover the next day.

The theory of all this is that the vitamins and 02 supply components necessary to metabolize the alcohol and reduce toxic metabolic byproducts. But this method is too complex to be practical. You can get some of the same effect by drinking plenty of water and breathing deeply occasionally. Deep exhalations are particularly useful for blowing off CO2 to avoid nausea and dizziness.
posted by charlie don't surf at 4:25 PM on January 21, 2012 [3 favorites]

I am now seriously contemplating acquiring a copy of the speakeasy map of DC for a colleague. This is an excellent post. Thank you.
posted by gingerbeer at 4:31 PM on January 21, 2012

That is a lot of work just to drink something as bland and flavorless as vodka. If you just want to get fucked up, there are much better ways to do it than alcohol.
posted by ryanrs at 8:57 PM on January 21, 2012

That is true, ryanrs. I once told that anecdote to an Alcoholics Anonymous member. She said, "well I can tell you're not an alcoholic. A real alcoholic would just slug down the vodka until they passed out." You remind me of a famous AA story, a guy said his sponsor asked him, which would he rather have, a bottle of whiskey, a bag of weed, or a gram of coke. He said he'd take the coke. His sponsor asked why, he said, "I'd sell the coke and buy a case of whiskey."
posted by charlie don't surf at 9:30 PM on January 21, 2012

Neither the Microdistillery Map nor the US Whiskey Map have any mention of Leopold Brothers from Denver. It is definitely worth a try. I believe they sell it as a pre-prohibition style whiskey.


The Microdistillery Map still has Leopold Brothers in Ann Arbor, MI, where they were for many years before moving to Denver. They had an amazing old warehouse space just south of downtown, but at some point their landlord decided to jack up their rent enough to make them take a move that they wanted to do anyway. Of course, back then I almost never went there. They presented themselves more as a brewpub that also made spirits, and their beer just wasn't very good compared to what you could get elsewhere in town. Also, it was pervasively smokey. It was only in the last few months of them being open that I realized how good their spirits were (and the smoking ban went into effect), and now I see their stuff on all manner of top ten lists.
posted by Schismatic at 4:03 AM on January 22, 2012

Great post! I took a tour of the Huber Starlight Distillery in southern Indiana just last weekend, and saw the stills they have. They had two--a huge industrial one they had shipped over from Germany ten years ago so they could make their wonderful brandy, and a smaller, handmade one acquired from the family of a local, uh, distiller.

I hasten to point out that here in Kentucky, we distill bourbon, thank you very much. I'm aware that there are heathens out there who consider bourbon a subset of whiskey, and while there may be merit to that argument, for us here in the Bluegrass "whiskey" is an issue of location. If you want bourbon, you stay right here in our lovely state, and enjoy some basketball and fried chicken while you're at it. If you want whiskey, you get on I-65 or I-75 and head south until you reach oru neighbors in Tennessee. Granted, either path will take you straight past many of Kentucky's finest bourbon distilleries, and we can't promise you won't spend all your money at those distilleries on your way to the Volunteer State.
posted by magstheaxe at 4:48 AM on January 22, 2012

This is pretty great, but the map included George Dickel twice for some reason, once as Geo. Dickel and once as Cascade. I think it's twice as good as the venerable Jack Daniel's (I say this as a former JD employee), but that's only my opinion as someone who prefers the Tennessee version of the drink known as whisk(e)y.

Finding a knowledgeable bartender and taking the time to try as many as possible, and then form an opinion is always a great way to pass the cold winter months. I should probably update and strengthen my opinions again, now that I think about it.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 6:54 AM on January 22, 2012