What's the highest safe alcohol percentage to drink straight

[smeag]

Think of the liability of someone with or without premission drinking some undilute hoouch (I have 23 year old twins with friends I keep it locked away)...but the harm to themselves or others would put you into a world of crap. Ah but curousity (stupitity) sometimes takes over sipping and moderation is learned. But safe %? I went to purple passion parties 35 years ago didn't kill me I seem to have no lasting harm....but the next day I learned quick to stay away from high octane.

[HookLine]

Understand what you're saying there, Blanik.

But these sort of questions are going to keep coming up again and again. So I think it is much better to have these things out in the open and show the public and the authorities that the hobby distilling community can deal with them in a rational constructive way.

[draco]

It probably don't help much that the discovery channel is running a show tonight on bootleggers/rumrunners showing some bar tender drinking a shot straight. I guess we don't know how strong it was but he kind of suggested it was high proof.

I don't cut mine in the bottle but I never drink it straight either. I always use 2 or 3 parts juice to one part of the high test. Of course the absinthe is always cut in the traditional way and even the store bought absinthe is quite high test.

Not to change the subject but is anyone watching the Discovery show? How come the guy with the large operation could give his name and show his face without being more worried? I won't even get into the fact that the idiot was "bottling" into plastic gallon milk jugs.

[blanikdog]

Understand what you're saying there, Blanik.

But these sort of questions are going to keep coming up again and again. So I think it is much better to have these things out in the open and show the public and the authorities that the hobby distilling community can deal with them in a rational constructive way.

True Hook, I hadn't thought of it that way... obviously.

blanik

[Fourway]

I've always liked the portability of very high strength spirit.
One of the first people I managed to convince to give me practical instruction on this hobby was a fellow who bottled all of his product at XXX still strength in 10 ounce star cap no deposit no return "glass cans" that a local soda company used in their vending machines all over this area.

I have since learned that many of his practices were bad and many of his ideas were wrong (starting with showing me how to distill and sending me home with high proof hooch when I was 16), for example he claimed that his XXX apple hooch (he only did apples) was 200 proof, he routinely left his still unattended, he believed that a good bead was a sign of impurities, he tended to get very very drunk while running and he'd shut everything down and leave it over night or even a few days before he got around to cleaning up.

And so clearly the 10 ounce bottles full of what was probably around 185 proof were among his bad practices... but they have a place in my heart.
You couldn't re-close the bottle, once it was opened, you were committed.
You could carry a bottle that size in your jacket pocket all day without it being in the way and when you found yourself in the company of five or eight friends you could bust it open and get everyone buzzed.
Open it with fewer than three or four friends and you were liable to wake up somewhere unexpected.

[Usge]

You can always add water to higher proof to your taste/liking. But, you can't rightly take it back out once it's been added unless you redistill it. People I know drank it all kinds of ways. It was commonly sold at 100-110proof or so watered down—and even lower. But, that was more to stretch the profits of the people sellin it than it was about any concern to the health of people drinking it. People I knew drank it all sorts of ways, but I can't recall a one of them complaining that the likker they bought was too strong. Truth be told, if they liked it watered down, they'd prefer to water it themselves to their liking for the occasion, as opposed to having someone else do it for them.

There are also quite a few commercially available products that are beyond 100 proof beyond the typical mentions of Bacardi 151 and/or Everclear (or a less common mention...Double Tavarski Vodka which is 160 proof). I can name about 4 scotches and 2 bourbons off the top of my head Macallan CS (63%), Laphroaig CS (57%), Caddenhead CS (62%), Abelour Abundah (65%), G. T Stagg (73%), Bookers (63.7%).

Science will tell you that Beef & Pork will kill you too. Just use some common sense/moderation and drink what you like.

Young and stupid is an entirely different issue that could be a problem with anything.

[Fourway]

Young and stupid is an entirely different issue that could be a problem with anything.

Amen to that.

When I think of all the ways I just missed managing to kill myself before I turned 18 I just have to shake my head.

[punkin]

Young and stupid is an entirely different issue that could be a problem with anything.

Amen to that.

When I think of all the ways I just missed managing to kill myself before I turned 18 I just have to shake my head.

Fast learner eh?

I was still doing stuff that could kill me most days when i was thirty




Young and stupid or drunk and stupid are the only things in this debate that concern me. The rest of the grown ups (i mean mature people who don't drink to get drunk and are smart enough to put the high strength away before they do) are not who i'm judging at all.

[draco]

Young and stupid or drunk and stupid are the only things in this debate that concern me. The rest of the grown ups (i mean mature people who don't drink to get drunk and are smart enough to put the high strength away before they do) are not who i'm judging at all.

Ignoring the legal definitions drunk is kind of relative ain't it? You OK with buzzed?

[punkin]

Young and stupid or drunk and stupid are the only things in this debate that concern me. The rest of the grown ups (i mean mature people who don't drink to get drunk and are smart enough to put the high strength away before they do) are not who i'm judging at all.

Ignoring the legal definitions drunk is kind of relative ain't it? You OK with buzzed?

Better still, i don't need to argue about it at all....

[heynonny]

Whoever wants to know the max % you can imbibe of, (not safely, just without dying), so you can drink at that level, lets go!! Start tonight! 50%, get ripped! Post results. Tomorrow 55%. No 60%! post. Continue, , , . I'll periodically check the 'Darwin Awards' site, and when we have a winner there, We'll then know your real name!! -hey-hey-hey-

"Now why dont you take it easy, Group Captain, and make me a drink of grain alcohol and rain-water, and help yourself to whatever you like."
--Gen. Jack D. Ripper

[emmanuel82]

95% alcohol (190 proof), far more than anything else in the liquor store. Absinthe is is illegal not because of it's alcohol content, but because of the effects of the wormwood. Bacardi 151 rum is 75.5% alcohol (151 proof), and vodka is 40% (80 proof). Everclear is a grain alcohol which is illegal in the 95% form in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Washington, California, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Virginia and West Virginia because it can be so dangerous when drunken irresponsibly. In these states, it can still be purchased with 75.5% alcohol.


_________________
Vending Machines

[Mr.Spooky]

ok,,, just a question.
say you got 500 mls of 120 proof, and you then add 500 mls of water.. would that give you 1000mls of 60 proof ,,, or does it not work like that? the reason i ask is, it would be easier to take a small amount of high proof to a gathering and cut it there, with just useing measurements on the jar,,, as aposed to taking yer proof hydro everywhere you went.
SORRY IF IM STRAYIN OFF TOPIC

[bobtuse]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6C-3SZKXRo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Mmmm Looks fun

Great friends to stand around and film it too.....

[blind drunk]

Watered down stuff just taste better. I learned that just the other day.

What's a purple passion party?

[rad14701]

Mr.Spooky, use the Dilution Calculators on the parent site...

[Mr.Spooky]

CRAP!!!!!!! your right,,,, sometimes i forget all the info HD has hidden away
thanks

[bronzdragon]

Just to beat the dead horse a little more. I've seen a guy take a swig out of an Everclear bottle. It induced rapid vomiting and he said it sucked the air out of him immediately. Not something on my to-do list.

Everclear used to be the popular thing in college and we had many good parties due to it...but we always had it mixed with fruit juices of various types.

I stick with 80 proof on most things and 90 proof on my center cut whiskey.

~bd~

[NukleusX]

Had some real everclear once when I was living in the midwest. Was OK mixed up with other stuff in punch, but when I went to take a tiny sip, was not all that pleased (of course this is after a night of drinking the punch) and after taking a very very tiny sip I wanted to vomit but held back from doing so. Now living back in CA, cant even get the 190 proof stuff here, and I can understand why some states (and im sure countries even) have it on their blacklist.

[dropping_planets]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6C-3SZKXRo

Mmmm Looks fun

Great friends to stand around and film it too.....

holy sh*t.... what's wrong with that kid..... i think he died on that bathroom floor.....
i prefer 40 or 45%... any higher is just too hot for me....like a smooth sippin' drink.. not into burning

[punkin]

That's the trouble...good neutral doesn't burn....


A ten year old child could do what that kid in the video did. At 95+ it could well kill the child.

[eternalfrost]

hmmmm yes just keep drinking until you are dead... that is the answer you are looking for given your posts...

[bourbonbob]

About 6 months ago I had a tooth that needed pulling, one night I plucked up the courage to pull it myself, I took a swig of some 96%, swirled and swallowed it and extracted the tooth with a pair of plyers. I don't recommend drinking 96% but it certainly makes a great numbing/pain killing aid.

[Ayay]

BBob, I'll be soon facing that problem...mmmm

[jdonly1]

About 6 months ago I had a tooth that needed pulling, one night I plucked up the courage to pull it myself, I took a swig of some 96%, swirled and swallowed it and extracted the tooth with a pair of plyers. I don't recommend drinking 96% but it certainly makes a great numbing/pain killing aid.

Man I tried doing that.I pored it onto the tooth and then had to find the tap real quick

[trthskr4]

Nothing quite like at home dentistry to make the sphincters pucker.

[NukleusX]

Nothing quite like at home dentistry to make the sphincters pucker.

funny yall said that, we did some home dentistry at my buddys house a couple months ago, and the results were priceless. had a group of a buncha young (my age, early/mid 20s), my buddy (early 40s), his wife, family dogs, etc. all gathered after we'd been drinkin some, and he had a horrible toothache for a while.

well he dont drink much so after 8 or 10 beers or so he had the courage to say he wanted it pulled. needless to say, i bet he wished he had some 96% lying around

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jXA-fG6 ... annel_page" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow then the aftermath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaUa7xlU ... annel_page" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[blanikdog]

Nothing quite like at home dentistry to make the sphincters pucker.

blanik

[T-type]

About 6 months ago I had a tooth that needed pulling, one night I plucked up the courage to pull it myself, I took a swig of some 96%, swirled and swallowed it and extracted the tooth with a pair of plyers. I don't recommend drinking 96% but it certainly makes a great numbing/pain killing aid.

You have balls my friend to pull a tooth yourself...dont matter if i was drunkerd off my arse, i couldnt do it.

[rad14701]

You have balls my friend to pull a tooth yourself...dont matter if i was drunkerd off my arse, i couldnt do it.

Agreed... How do you dig the roots out after you bust the tooth during extraction...??? Septic infection can set in pretty quick and end up doing irreversible damage to vital organs, especially if you get drunk and pass out for a while... Not a risk I'm willing to take...

We've got an old dentist here in town that is usually booked solid because he pulls teeth for $40 each all day long... That's the extent of his dental practice these days... He makes more money pulling teeth that have been neglected than he could trying to help people keep them healthy if they were ever inclined to do so - which they aren't...