Gin used to be 40%. Then in the 90s, there was an EU ruling that anything with not less than 37.5% alcohol could be called gin. Almost the day after all gins became .... wait for it ... 37.5% !
When I was in Scotland, went to one pub which had a "guest scotch" of the week. I had never ever seen or heard of this brand, so I tried a shot. Damn near killed me, I hadn't realised it was 46% !
I vaguely recall seeing a rum in Morrisons which was 56% abv.
I've had 60% whisky It really does need water unless you are playing macho crap.
Quite. If you actually want to taste the whisky, rather than zap the taste buds.
Many christmases ago, I was round a friends house, and his Polish neighbours came round with a bottle of (illegally, I suspect) imported "rectified spirits" which they offered me.
Have you ever felt your throat melt ?
Is that stuff even meant to be drunk that way? The other very strong things I've seen (American "Everclear" & German "Gartenmeister" at
95%, & I think there's something similar in Italy) are labelled for "making home cordials" & similar purposes involving dilution.
Ah well, that explains it.
I've tasted --- in a loose sense of the word --- Bacardi 151, which is
75.5% (American "proof" is twice the %).
Just as a point of principle, I have always refused to buy gin that's less than 40% alcohol. Why subsidise a company perpetrating a con?
Tim
'highland water' is often just a handful of degrees C away from ice.
I might have got my figures wrong there, but 46% is about 92proof, 37% is 74proof - doesn't sound too far out
Jethro_uk :
Indeed, which is why it's good to pour cask strength from the bottle into the glass and let it down to "normal" strength immediately before consumption.
Never tried Stroh rum then?
80% (160proof) alcoholTastes horrible and "wooshes" through the mouth if you put the merest drop on your tongue
Put it on an xmas pud once - almost set the house on fire
Yes - you have no chance of appreciating the flavours at that concentration
In message , John writes
Yes but not marked "window licker - beware"
How the f*ck do you think you dilute vodka other than adding water
d*****ad
BTDT.
I then discovered there are also Stroh petrol stations, and I wonder if there was more in common than just the name.
That's what it's there for, innit? Flambe-ing, they call it, doesn't work
*properly* unless you got lots of Stroh Rum, or that Captain Morgan stuff. And it's still weaker than what the old French polishers used on the piano -- water-free ethanol, and they'd drink it, and old-timer told me.And it's for making "Jagatee" (which is a hot sweet herbal tea with "a bit" of alcohol, and you can't get enough alcohol into it without resorting to 80% spirits). And "Rumtopf", which is fruit soaked in rum, and it needs the 80% so it keeps after the dilution of the fruit juices.
Thomas Prufer
Dunno about Morrisons but Australian Bundaberg Rum (Bundy) is available in a O.P version at 57.7% Unfortunately (in my opinion) it tastes more of alcohol than of rum and is only good for mixing so I won't buy it again. I still buy the bog standard 40% version though.
Nick
Satanic bunny?
You can get a similar effect adding sweeteners to some drinks (like overly acid ciders). With sweeteners, waiting a few days seems to help the flavours to blend.
So may be dilute and wait a bit?
Or even ferment your own weak vodka-like drink:
Woods 100 is actually not bad. But you want to take _small_ sips.
Andy
Thomas - how could you, of all people, misspell that ?
What's the concoction called where you have a cone of sugar suspended above a pan full of wine - add Stroh and light the sugar which melts and drips into the wine ?
Feueurtopf?
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