Many thanks to /u/Unclebaldric for this surprise dram.

Digging into the history of business is one of those odd things. The very idea of it doesn’t really sound all that fun.

Then you realize that stories of the British East India company caused two wars between major super powers. Or that Hudson Bay once owned 1/8th of all the world’s land. These business’ are tied directly into history, and into interesting topics, such as whisky.

Thus brings us to the Pattison crash. In the 1890s, investment in whisky was as trendy as investing in cupcake shops was a few years ago. Most people thought things could only keep going up. Much like tulips in Holland, they’re bound to die at some point. Or rather, someone’s going to screw up.

In this case, whisky stocks were being traded, rather than futures in tulips. The bottler Pattison, Elder, & Company used some…