James:
First, thanks for the blog useful information is so hard to come by nowadays. With regards to alcohol I would add a few bits
First, Everclear 190 is a great addition it any backpack or bail out bag, This wonder bottle has a subject all its own. If for barter purpose you choose booze there is a bit of an OPSEC point to make. Trading liquor has risks especially if you are dealing with someone who may be looking for a lucrative target. Trading a sealed bottle of bourbon or even worse taking said bottle from a visible case can leave the impression of plenty which is simply dangerous in TEOTWAWKI. If you have liquor on hand to trade it will be important to disguise it so that you do not appear “rich” [in tangible goods]. Personally, I am not going to place a lot of faith in liquor jumping in value there are a lot of things I do use that I will need to stock up on (namely, the three Bs–Beans, Bullets, and Band-Aids). But if I were to invest in liquor I would go with no more than a case of pints of a popular brand (Jack Daniels or Jim Beam come to mind) and when it came to trading I wouldn’t bring new sealed bottles, instead I would use a small amount out of one bottle (say for a cake or sauce) and use the now not quite full bottle to trade. So now I am trading something that looks like my last bottle.( This can apply to anything being used for trade.)
Appearing like you have little, but that little will be very is hard to take can mean the difference between having a robber problem or not. – Stephen from Idaho
JWR Replies: Thanks for those important barter OPSEC tips. As I’ve mentioned before in the blog, in addition to storing denatured alcohol for external use (and as a fuel), high grade medicinal ethyl alcohol (sans denaturants, such as Everclear) is important to keep on hand, for creating your own herbal infusions and decoctions. These are described in detail in the book The Complete Medicinal Herbal, by Penelope Ody. (This was one of the late Memsahib‘s favorite books.)