Recession Proof

I couldn't help noticing, now that the world economy is crashing down around us, that certain companies I have regular dealings with seem to have been around for a while and have weathered hard times before. For instance, I was looking at a bottle of Jim Beam rye whiskey, and they've been around, it seems, since 1795. Then I looked at a bottle of Sandeman tawny port, and they've been around since 1790. Then there's Affligem abbey ale, which has been in business since 1074. That's 1074 as in one-zero-seven-four, and you know there have to have been hard times in Belgium in that length of time. Delicious drinks, all of them, and they blunt the claws of concern, so I'd imagine they have no problem at all when the rest of us are having hard times. Affligem could be considered a luxury item—it costs about two and a half times what Coors Light does—but it's about eleventy-five times as good, so it's worth it.