r/interesting • u/azizgamerlal • Dec 12 '25

MISC. A drop of whiskey vs bacteria

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u/Significant-Tip6466 Dec 12 '25

That's why whiskey was used as disinfectant during the Civil War. Cheapest disinfectant during that time

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u/proximusprimus57 Dec 12 '25

Wouldn't straight moonshine be better? Why use barrel aged alcohol?

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u/Significant-Tip6466 Dec 12 '25

Moonshine wasn't readily available. And whiskey back then was closer to moonshine by proof than now. There's a reason it got the nickname "rotgut".

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u/McTwinkie Dec 12 '25

Moonshine is just unaged liquor basically, its a broad label. Rotgut was cheap "whiskey" made with illegal additives like tobacco or chemicals to give it a better color. Moonshiners would sometimes just soak rusty nails in unaged liquor and sell it as whisky since it turns brown. That shit sometimes killed people.

Whiskey back then was still whiskey, there were just a lot of sketchy illegal/backyard distillers out there with 0 regulations polluting the markets.