Simple. What, besides money, greases the wheels of life around the world on a daily basis? Tea, Coffee, Tobacco, and Spirits. Even in times of plenty, its a wonderful treat to be offered a hot cup of coffee or a cold beer. And IIRC, a glass of speyside single malt is worth its weight in gold.

It only gets better with age while it's in the cask. Unlike wine, particularly red wines that develop structure and allow astringent tannins to mellow over time, the only maturing scotch does is while it's in contact with the barrel. At least so far as I know.

Actually ... no, not unless you buy it by the cask for self-maturing. Whisky matures in wood barrels, but not in glass flasks. As opposed to a bottle of wine (that matures in the bottle), nothing really changes in a bottle of spirits, except for the incredible slow processes of evaporation through the cork.



Yup, that's right. If the sealant is unbroken, you're probably talking about shelf life of centuries, or at least the majority of one century.


But I'm sorry to say that in most opened and partly drunk bottles the flavor will degrade over a few years... which kind of bogs me as I love single malts, but rarely drink enough of it to keep my collection from aging.

Great tip on the Velocitor ammo at those shows...I'm down in San Diego, but I'll have to see if I can make it to day 1 of any of them...

Small hand tools seem like another really great idea, since they're compact and just about universally useful...

TP
Salt and pepper. Other spices.
Soap
Nails, screws, bolts and nuts
Vodka - not beer as it gets skunky
Tea, packed in airtight containers
.22 ammo
9mm ammo

The TP is worth more than it's weight in gold

Post-disaster, based on experience:
Paper towels
paper plates, cups
Batteries AA, AAA, D
Garbage bags
Bleach
feminine hygiene products
Lysol spray
alcohol hand sanitizer
TP
cigarettes
gasoline
propane-camping and RV sizes
tarps

Every week I buy a few more things:
non-pershible items like peanut butter, small canned vegs, aspirin, vitamins,
ammo (.22 mostly but many others),
ammo clips
Brandy- 'traveler' size is in plastic bottles. Personal and barter use) brandy is cheap, gives you a warmth in your belly and universally palatable taste. Doesn't need lemon or salt, doesn't matter if its hot or cold.

Kids shoes-Goodwill stores are a good place to find footwear for kids. They grow so fast that its not practical to buy new and never use. Plus kids grow fast so they can be bartered or handed down later.

You guys are right. Scotch may not mature over time in a unopened glass bottle but it does mellow, which is very nice IMO. Pretty sure its the same with burbon. Oh, and you could try one of two things with that partially opened bottle of scotch. Keep pouring the remainder into smaller bottles or put glass marbles into the bottle to raise the fluid level. The whole point is to keep the amount of air in the bottle to a minimum.

I'm not so sure about the last thing you said because I highly doubt "everyone" will have all the ammunition they need in a massive SHTF situation. Besides, over the past couple of years, the value of ammo has gone up for me personally, and I have found myself shooting far less. Meanwhile, I have plenty of ammo. There are thousands of others like me.

Imagine a SHTF world where ammo is not being sold in stores. The value of that stuff will rise like crazy, even if some people have all that they need. No matter how much a small circle talks on Internet about stockpiling ammo, there are other normal folks who just don't talk about this stuff, but they have their one or two guns. They may not be stockpiling ammo, but they'll surely want it when SHTF and they can't get any ammo from Wally World.

Anyway, we don't have to guess. Just analyze the price of ammo in the last couple of years, and there wasn't even a massive SHTF situation.

In a SHTF environment where cash has become meaningless, guns are useful, and ammo is not being sold at retail stores, I predict ammo related items will operate as a type of currency, beyond just merely a barter.

Exactly when and where has that particular environment existed. As far as I can tell it has never existed in the better than 240 years the US has been around. And I have a hard time coming up with any time and place outside the US. Yes, people have bartered and traded for weapons and ammunition. But it is hard to find a time when they were when cash has been "meaningless".

Generally, throughout history, having cash has meant getting weapons, and people to wield them for you, has been easy. A good example is the Mexican drug lords. They have cash from selling drugs and people are falling all over themselves to get and use guns for them.

On the other hand there were certain groups with guns, Taliban, Al-Qaeda, the outlaw bank robbers in the 30s, who had guns but who have been relatively short of cash.

While there have been some who used money to get guns, like a small percentage of drug kingpins, who have led short, miserable and relatively violent lives. There are many more who live quite well. Often living in luxury as their underlings carry the guns and die in the conflicts.

On the other hand among those who have had guns but far less money, particularly those who use their guns to try to get money, there is a high percentage who have miserable lives and live in constant fear.

From this it can be demonstrated that in terms of having a long, happy life and controlling your destiny money is clearly more powerful than weapons. As far as I can tell this is has always been true.

Yes, it is possible to imagine a hypothetical situation where this is not true. There are several movies and a fair amount of literature based on the assumption that such a situation might come up. But it remains to be seen that that situation is really possible. It hasn't happened in over 240 years of US history. And may not have ever come up in the thousands of years of human history.



A few things come to mind regarding the increased price of ammunition. The first is the Mexican drug lords buying stockpiles. Second, most servicemen returning are buying guns and loads of ammunition even if they had previously had little interest. Third, one of the largest manufacturers has essentially withdrawn from the civilian market. Fourth, the existing gun culture has as an inviolable assumption that there is no such thing as too much ammunition so they just keep on buying. An assumption the dealers and manufacturers enthusiastically reinforce for obvious reasons.

It has to be noted that the growers and dealers of tulips also did their best to support the increasing price of their product. Right up until the market tanked. Bubbles are like that.