Alcohol thread

I think the different types of alcohol making you feel differently are more to the level of alcohol and other factors in their consumption. I've never felt particularly one way or another depending on the kind of alcohol I've consumed. Similarly, I've never felt that peeing once means having to pee more later, except that alcohol dehydrates you so you'll feel the effects of that regardless of whether you've gone once or not.
 
Hmmmmm... some of these I feel are not myths... as in my vast VAST experience of drinking, i've found them to be true.

For example, i've definitely found different alcohol's hit me differently.

There may not be an scientific studies that PROOVE it... but I definitely have an entirely different night if I just stick to my usual cider, than if I try something else... Champagne makes me giggly and bubbly. Lager makes me tired. Tequila makes me flirty. Vodka makes me blackout... there is a definite pattern with these alcohols for me!

More alcohol - it's not that it 'cures' a hangover... but it delays it. Your body can't process a hangover while it's processing being drunk...

The breathalizer thing - I don't know about actual 'tricks'... but I have known people who've been breathalized after way too much to drink... and gotten away with it. Now, I don't condone this, because I think it SHOULD show up and people should have to pay the price... but it's not as simple as 'you've had the drink, therefore you will come up over the limit'... unfortunately :(

The break the seal thing - yeah, obviously if you didn't pee it wouldn't miraculously mean you wouldn't have to pee all night. But tbh I think it works the same as a urine infection does... once you've peed, you feel like you need to pee all the time... even if you don't actually suddenly have to pee more in a miraculous way.

As for the coffee thing... well I just plainly disagree.

Yes, you're still not 'sober' and therefore still capable of making the same bad situations...

But you ARE more 'compos mentis'... you are less speech slurry, you are less likely to pass out, and you are more likely to be able to communicate.

Just my food for thought :)

The different alcohol's "hitting" you in different ways is just psychosomatic in the sense that once you have a preconceived notion of how it will effect you then you are more likely to act a certain way. It's basically the placebo effect with booze.

As far as breathalizers go there is no way to "beat" them just like the article states. Everyone processes booze differently and while one person may pass one and another may not even though they had the exact same amount of drinks and time it can lead to varying results.

As far as peeing goes booze is a diuretic and just like the article mentions it blocks an enzyme that makes you pee more. I used to think that not breaking the seal would get you drunker but there is no mention of that in the article.

Caffeine and booze just aren't supposed to be mixed. If you're wasted a cup of joe ain't going to fix jack. You may feel more alert but you're still just as impaired. Not sure if they had something comparable out in the UK but we had this nast swill called Four Loko and it seriously messed kids up out here. It was basically 13% malt liquor and a bunch of caffeine and energy drink garbage. The kids would get so wasted but wouldn't pass out so they kept drinking and eventually would get alcohol poisoning, several kids died from that garbage and the government made them change the drink.
 
Caffeine and alcohol are a bad mix like DJ said. Caffiene is the opposite of alcohol in terms of how it affects your body ("upper" vs "downer") and it can kill you in large enough doses. Just the alcohol poisoning is bad enough but it can give you an actual heart attack too, even in your 20's and healthy.
 
I think the different types of alcohol making you feel differently are more to the level of alcohol and other factors in their consumption. I've never felt particularly one way or another depending on the kind of alcohol I've consumed. Similarly, I've never felt that peeing once means having to pee more later, except that alcohol dehydrates you so you'll feel the effects of that regardless of whether you've gone once or not.

That may be a fair assessment. I mean if I have a night on Champagne rather than a night on vodka, and I drink the same amount of both... obviously i'll get more drunk on the vodka cause it's a higher alcohol percentage.

The different alcohol's "hitting" you in different ways is just psychosomatic in the sense that once you have a preconceived notion of how it will effect you then you are more likely to act a certain way. It's basically the placebo effect with booze..

Yeah that's probably true as well. Society is so full of these 'ideas' about alcohol that a lot of how we feel is influenced by that.

As far as breathalizers go there is no way to "beat" them just like the article states. Everyone processes booze differently and while one person may pass one and another may not even though they had the exact same amount of drinks and time it can lead to varying results..

Yeah agreed :)

As far as peeing goes booze is a diuretic and just like the article mentions it blocks an enzyme that makes you pee more. I used to think that not breaking the seal would get you drunker but there is no mention of that in the article..

Haha I definitely don't think it'd get your drunker. It's more like 'Oh, i've hit that point where peeing is going to happen a lot now' :hehe:

Caffeine and booze just aren't supposed to be mixed. If you're wasted a cup of joe ain't going to fix jack. You may feel more alert but you're still just as impaired. Not sure if they had something comparable out in the UK but we had this nast swill called Four Loko and it seriously messed kids up out here. It was basically 13% malt liquor and a bunch of caffeine and energy drink garbage. The kids would get so wasted but wouldn't pass out so they kept drinking and eventually would get alcohol poisoning, several kids died from that garbage and the government made them change the drink.

Yeah.... i'm not a fan of caffiene in general.

We have 'jaegerbombs' which are jaegermeister and redbull (a heavily caffeinated drink) which are all the rage here as a shot on a night out... and there have been reports of people getting very ill on them.

Personally, I find i'm more sensitive to caffeine than I am some other 'uppers' so it's not something I use very often.
 
Ya I think Jager bombs are a worldwide phenomenon these days. They are big here but most places they are expensive as heck. I'd much rather get a bottle of Jager and kill it myself with an energy drink chaser
 
Ugh, Jägerbombs. I had a bad experience one time and developed an aversion to that s***, nevermind the fact that they are usually overpriced like hell. Jägermiester is right up with Kraken on my "hell no" list.

:barf:
 
I can tolerate a few Yagerbombs in a night.


Anybody try Pickle Shots yet? Dill pickle juice w/Vodka.
 
The notion that Champagne makes you emotional is the most obvious fallacy.

Think about it: where do most people drink Champagne? Generally at celebrations, often where there are a lot of people, perhaps who they have not met for a long time. Champagne also tends to be the drunk by people who don't otherwise drink much.

I remember an old girlfriend who insisted that Champagne made her cry. The reason, clearly, was that it always came in a situation where she was over excited to begin with, got slightly drunk, and then took offence at something someone had said to her.
 
The notion that Champagne makes you emotional is the most obvious fallacy.

Think about it: where do most people drink Champagne? Generally at celebrations, often where there are a lot of people, perhaps who they have not met for a long time. Champagne also tends to be the drunk by people who don't otherwise drink much.

I remember an old girlfriend who insisted that Champagne made her cry. The reason, clearly, was that it always came in a situation where she was over excited to begin with, got slightly drunk, and then took offence at something someone had said to her.

Hmm i've never heard that one. I've heard that Gin makes you cry, but i've always heard Champagne makes you bubbly... cause of the bubbles :funny:
 
wine makes me happy

gin gives me a terrible hangover

beer makes me sweat

vodka depresses me

tequila makes me sleepy

soju and rice wine makes me drunk quickly
 
Rum makes you eat... well, that's probably not appropriate to say here.
 
If your goal is to get drunk, is drinking on an empty stomach or a full stomach more effective?
 
Empty, but I don't recommend it, particularly if you are already tired. Really low blood sugar combined with intoxication can make you do some very strange things. I once found myself brushing my teeth with shaving foam.
 
Haven't finished my first drink yet, and I'm already buzzin', so this has been proven as a fact to me.
 
Drink your ass off on a full stomach. Drinking on an empty stomach is a horrible idea. You will regret that s*** tomorrow. It sucks.

And damn son. You live in California and are already getting drunk. You're a damn alcoholic.

:o
 
I try to have at least a moderate amount of food in my stomach before I do any real drinking.
 
The Miracle Stick That Makes Wine Taste Better in Seconds



The tricky thing about wine—especially the fancy stuff—is that since it gets better with age, what you buy off the shelf isn't necessarily always at its peak. A few seconds with the Clef du Vin, though, will age it to perfection. And, if you're not careful, all the way around to bad again.

The Clef du Vin, made by Peugeot (not the car company), is a novel device that simulates the bottle-aging of wine. For every one second you put this nifty wine key in contact with your wine (per 50 mL), it claims to mimic the process of aging it for one year. So if you have a wine that would taste best in 2016, just expose it for a brief two seconds to the Clef du Vin, then like magic you have an aged wine akin to drinking it two years in the future.

How does it work and why would I need to bottle age my wine?

Bottle-aging is a common technique used to create smoother, more mature wines with rich complex flavors, one that normally requires nothing more than patience, and enough self-control not to drink your stock until it has reached peak maturity. Essentially, a wine's tannins are gradually thrown from harsh, astringent, and dry to smooth, voluptuous, and velvety. Now, if the latter descriptors sound more enticing, then I'd say you're likely a fan of bottle-aging whether you know it or not.

There's a bevy of contributing factors to the infamous tannic quality of a wine, but more important than what causes them are how they affect the taste. The Clef du Vin, an unobtrusive metal stick that looks like you could flip mini-pancakes with it, supposedly mirrors the same effect of these long-developing tannins in just seconds.

It claims to do so by employing unique mixture of copper, gold, and silver, three metals that have a direct chemical reaction with the wine that forces rapid oxidation, accelerating a process that happens naturally when your wine is exposed to oxygen over time.

Oxidation can be a tricky thing. Many red wines that contain high levels of tannin require air in order to "breathe" and "open up," otherwise they're considered "tight" and can taste quite dry (think about how some wines suck all the moisture out of your mouth). However, after a brief upward bump in its flavor profile from aeration, the wine begins an irreversible spiral downward. Think how you'll pour wine into a decanter to let it breathe, but not let it sit out overnight.

Now if you could create a device that were to simulate this brief bump in such a predictive manner by creating softer, rounder tannins, you could achieve the effect of an aged wine before its downward trend. But does the Clef du Vin actually pull it off?

Ask the experts: an experiment in wine aging

We stopped by a local wine store, D'España in Soho, to conduct our experiment of the Clef du Vin. We had several seasoned wine veterans taste various bottle aging times affected by the Clef du Vin, and then did a blind tasting to see if anyone could tell the difference.

The overall conclusions is that the device is definitely changing the profile of the wine, albeit mostly in aroma, but the biggest question we faced was: Was it a change for the better?

First, we wanted to see how the Clef du Vin affected the composition of the wine to understand the chemistry going on behind the scenes. We picked a young Ribera del Duero (100% Tempranillo) from Spain that would require years of bottle aging before it reaches peak maturity.

The wine we chose was an Aalto Ribera del Duero, 2011. We had a control glass, then 4 others that had been modified by the Clef du Vin (equivalent to three years, five years, seven years, and thirty years aging). Our expert panel agreed ahead of time that the optimal number of years to age this wine would be around three to five. The seven and 30 year glasses were to see how much downside came with overusing the Clef du Vin.

The control glass was juicy, robust, and full of flavor; however, it was obvious that the wine was tight and incredibly young. It would definitely benefit from a few years in a dusty cellar. The simulation of three years aging was miraculously different. The texture was transformed into something more velvety, soft, and smooth. There was also a significant change in its aroma.

The next three age simulations, however, seemed wildly inconsistent. The seven year was oddly closer to the control, while the five and the 30 year both had a "tinny" or metallic taste. It's clear that overexposure is definitely a danger with the Clef du Vin, and exposure times should be considered carefully. Luckily, the product actually comes with a chart to guide you through the process, including different varietals and different exposure times that will tease out various flavors in the wine.

Next, we used a lighter wine to conduct the same test. However, our test subject was blind-tasting the four glasses this time. The wine we selected was a Mencia from Bierzo, Spain—Palacios Corullon 2011—and we hid a control glass among the three affected glasses (three years, six years, and 15 years).

While we weren't able to effectively identify each of the glasses, differences between the four were apparent to every nose and palate that encountered them. In fact, the three year age simulation was resoundingly the favorite, suggesting an optimal exposure time of the Clef du Vin.

The factors that go into what makes a wine taste a certain way are innumerable. We spoke at length with the good folks at D'España about what was happening inside our glasses and came up with some pretty good hypotheses. Zachary Moss, the store's purchasing director, concluded that the change was likely more of a strong olfactory suggestion more than anything else:

"My guess is that the metallic component is a reactive metal that introduces ions into the wine. A similar analogy would be a copper mixing bowl adding ions to the albumin in egg whites making them fluffy when whipping them into a meringue. My assumption is that, by the addition of these charged particles into the wine, the volatile acids & esters that are dissolved in the solution are excited and thus vaporized. This gives the consumer the impression of the wine 'aging' since the nose is immediately more open."

The power of suggestion is an intimidating factor for many, especially in wine. Therefore, if someone says this will make your wine taste better, we tend to believe them. However, an olfactory change can't be overlooked as our sense of taste is highly connected to our sense of smell.

Okay, so it works for the fancy stuff. What about the wine you're actually drinking?

The Clef du Vin and your favorite bottle of Yellowtail

The wines we tested at D'España were higher-end, meant for at least a few years of aging, which isn't exactly your every day glass of red. So how does this thing work with your daily drink?

I grabbed a bottle of Apothic Red 2012 and Yellowtail Shiraz to conduct my own experiment. I poured my control glass and then tasted the two wines. Both were jammy, pungently alcoholic, and so juicy and ripe that they were nearly sweet. Hello New World! Next, I carefully poured three glasses of each to expose to the Clef du Vin (two years, three years, and five years).

From what I could tell, the aroma changed just like our higher-end wines, and the alcohol was masked by an oaky, nearly woodsy smell. I definitely enjoyed both wines more after using the Clef du Vin, but the drop off started immediately after about the 3 year mark. The wines weren't more complex, nor were they less sweet. However, it was the texture of the wine and a reorganization of the same flavors that made it more pleasing.

For $50, this handy device isn't a hefty investment and is worth the fun of just testing and tasting different wines. Additionally, if you're a more serious collector, you could actually use it to gauge the cellar potential for a few bottles you bought as to predict their peak maturity. Regardless of your style—whether it's that bottle you've been saving for a special occasion or just your average Two Buck Chuck—the Clef du Vin is certainly worth a try. Just try not to overshoot your target.

http://www.cutleryandmore.com/search/clef-du-vin

For all you vino lovers out there you may want to check this out
 
I'm a bit suspicious of those kinds of devices, because they tend to produce unstable results. The process of a wine ageing is not merely oxidisation; oxidisation in itself is a wine fault, and it leaves any bottle tasting like vinegar. Wines that have aged gracefully, however, taste less acidic than those that are fresh from the winery.

The standard advice for people who want to commit infanticide on a really good bottle of wine is to decant it early. That usually leads to it "opening up" without any further risks.
 
It's coming up on eggnog season again. If you drink it, what's your spiking alcohol of choice? I'm a brandy man, myself.
 
alcohol is a drug. does this mean we can make a thread about marijuana and our favorite strains
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top
monitoring_string = "afb8e5d7348ab9e99f73cba908f10802"