Red Dead Redemption 2's world is packed with details, some of which manage to tell and entire story without an NPC ever even being involved. Years after the game's initial release fans are still uncovering Easter eggs, secrets, and mysteries lying just beneath the surface of Rockstar's epic western.
The Whiskey Tree is one of Red Dead Redemption 2's most baffling details, and one most players are likely to run across early in the game. However, for players willing to dig just a little deeper, it can also be quite profitable. Here's where fans can find the Whiskey Tree, why they might want to, and why the detail may have been included in the game.
Finding The Whiskey Tree
Finding the Whiskey Tree is relatively simple. First, players need to go to the Heartlands in New Hanover, not far from where the first Van der Linde gang campsite is set up after making it out of the mountains in the game's opening. From there they can head down to Flatneck Station, where players first find the Reverend gambling in the mission "Who Is Not Without Sin."
If the player then travels due east along the road until they're roughly south of the "l" in the word "Heartlands" on the map, they'll find the Whiskey Tree. The tree gets its name from the whiskey bottles which have been hung up over its branches. If the player goes into Eagle Eye mode - not Dead Eye - they'll see that one of the bottles is glowing. Shoot it down, and they'll find a gold nugget inside.
The Mystery Of The Whiskey Tree
So many mysteries remain, however. Who put the bottles in the tree? Why? How did they manage to get a gold nugget inside of one of the bottles? In one sense, the Whiskey Tree may be a reference to some of the dialogue found in the game. Some random NPCs will say that they "wish whiskey grew on trees." The Whiskey Tree may be nothing more than a joke at the expense of Red Dead's NPCs, especially since anyone who comes across the tree will find the bottles mostly empty.
The bottle emptier may even be a character players know. The area around the station is certainly a site for drunken debauchery - it's where the drunk Reverend Swanson nearly gets hit by a train, and it's where Arthur can wake up after his drunken night with Lenny. When it comes to common phrases, however, the Whiskey Tree could also be a play on the phrase "money doesn't grow on trees," with the gold nugget providing some tongue-in-cheek evidence to the contrary.
Other Red Dead Redemption 2 fans have suggested that the Whiskey Tree may be a reference to the Hanged Man's Tree that appears in The Witcher 3. Both are open world games with similar visual styles albeit different genres, in both cases the tree is easily found near the start of the game, and the trees even have similar shapes. Others claim to have seen strange burn markings near the Whiskey Tree at night, though these are more likely to be campfire glitches than a hint that some darker secret lies beneath the Whiskey Tree.
What the tree is likely intended for, however, is to give players a sense of just how unique each location in Red Dead Redemption 2 is from early in the game. The Whiskey Tree raises so many unanswered questions, making the world of Red Dead 2 feel alive completely independently of the player or the characters in the story.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, Stadia, and Xbox One.