Category Archives: Alcohol

The Top 5 Strongest Alcoholic Drinks

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The Top 5 Strongest Alcoholic Drinks

By Jenny Hunt

The strength of most alcoholic drinks is roughly the same. One shot of liquor = one beer = one glass of wine. But some alcoholic drinks stand out from the rest as far as alcohol content is concerned. Tread carefully though, these drinks are all but guaranteed to get you wickedly drunk and give you a nasty hangover. Here is a list of the top 5 strongest alcoholic drinks:

1. Everclear: Everclear takes the top spot on every list of the strongest alcoholic drinks we can find. This potent liquor is up to 95% alcohol (190 proof). It is also available in a less intoxicating form (75.5% alcohol or 151 proof) which is good because the stronger version is banned in thirteen states. Everclear is a grain alcohol manufactured by Luxco. This incredibly strong liquor can be used as an antiseptic, as a fuel in camping stoves, and as a cleaner.

2. Devil Springs Vodka: Typical vodka contains between 38 – 50% alcohol by volume (76 – 100 proof). Devil Springs Vodka contains a whopping 80% alcohol by volume (160 proof). While most vodka’s aren’t strong enough to extract much flavor and aroma, Devil Springs is perfect for creating your own flavored vodkas. It can be steeped with a number of herbs or fruits to create a unique blend.  Drinkers are cautioned to always dilute Devil Springs Vodka before consuming it.

3. Absinthe: No list of the strongest alcoholic drinks would be complete without the inclusion of Absinthe, maybe the most notorious alcoholic beverage of all time. Absinthe originated in Switzerland and was a popular drink among French artists in the 19th century.  Known as the Green Fairy, Absinthe is rumored to have hallucinogenic properties. The psychedelic properties are attributed to the trace amounts of thujone, a chemical in Absinthe that is derived from wormwood, and are likely much exaggerated. Up until 2007, Absinthe was banned in the US. It is available now, but the US versions are thujone free. Though the US version may be hallucinogenic-free, it is still a very strong drink. Absinthe contains 45-74% alcohol by volume (90 – 148 proof). Absinthe is usually diluted with water before being served over sugar cubes.

4. Bacardi 151: Most rum contains 35-40% alcohol by volume on average. Bacardi 151 contains 75.5% alcohol by volume. The liquid is flammable and is often used when creating flaming cocktails (like Flaming Dr. Peppers). Not surprisingly, Bacardi is the only manufacturer of strong rums to employ a flame arresting cap on every bottle. Definitely one of the strongest alcoholic drinks on the market!

5. Sierra Silver Tequila: Tequila is a liquor made from the blue agave plant, primarily found near the city of Tequila in Mexico. Many people believe that some tequila bottles contain worms that, when eaten, will produce a psychedelic or aphrodisiac effect. There is a worm – called a gusano, or a butterfly caterpillar – in some types of mescal, a different kind of Mexican liquor. However, there seems to be no truth in the claim that the worm has any psychoactive properties.  Tequila is most often made at 38-40 alcohol by volume. At 75% alcohol by volume (150 proof) Sierra Silver Tequila is by far the strongest tequila available for sale in the US. Only 1/2% less alcohol by volume than Bacardi 151, it comes in at number 5 on our top 5 strongest alcoholic drinks list.

 

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

Too Many Hangovers May Be A Problem

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If you have ever had a hangover you know that it is truly unpleasant and a result of making poor choices the night before. 75% or more of those who drink alcoholic beverages experience hangover symptoms the next morning. Too many hangovers like this may be a problem.

Typical symptoms of a hangover are headache, upset stomach, vomiting or nausea, a bad taste in your mouth, depressed mood, lack of interest in doing normal things the next morning, and a lapse of memory regarding events from the night before. Some individuals feel a sense of guilt over behavior or events that happen during their drinking. When this happens often and you feel you have been having too many hangovers there may be a problem. There are many contributing factors to the occurrence of a hangover. The most obvious factor is the consumption of too much alcohol. Then there is the lack of sleep, drinking on an empty stomach, drinking too much in a small amount of time, having a dehydrated body, and being in poor health.

Too many hangovers may be a problem not only because of the deterioration of your health but also because of the effects it will eventually have on your work performance, school performance, and performance when it comes to life in general. Too many hangovers may also be a problem because it is a sign that you cannot control your drinking to the point that you can stop before you have a hangover. Hangovers being caused by drinking too much alcohol are a sign that you need to either stop drinking or seriously moderate your drinking. If you find that you continue to have negative symptoms due to drinking and too many hangovers then there may be a problem.

Hangovers are not a problem if they only happen once in awhile. While it is true that 75% of people who drink alcoholic beverages experience hangover symptoms that does not mean they are experiencing them frequently. Too many hangovers may be a problem if they persist, especially if you always have a hangover after you drink. A hangover is a sign that your body need to recover from the amount you were drinking and if you are drinking enough to be experiencing too many hangovers then your health, mind, body, work, school, and vocations could be in jeopardy of being hindered or lost all together.

Too many hangovers may be a problem but the way to truly find out is to try and limit your drinking or stop drinking all together and see how it goes. If you find you cannot do either of these things then your constant hangovers may be a more serious problem than you thought initially. If your hangovers turn out to be more of a problem than you expected the next step would be to seek outside help from some kind of alcohol counseling, treatment, or self-help group in your area.

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

Prohibition Era

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Prohibition in the United States [1913 – 1933], also known as the “Prohibition Era” was the national ban on the sale, manufacturing and transportation of alcohol. [Wikipedia, 2012] This prohibition era led to rebellion, which resulted in underground criminal organizations, i.e. the American Mafia, corrupt politicians and police officers.

The prohibition era set precedence for the amount of consumption of alcohol and smuggling of illegal substances in America. Most people didn’t appreciate the prohibition of alcohol and continued to attend the thousands of bars that sold alcohol illegally. Speakeasy’s like Bill’s Gay Nineties were raided quite often and even went as far as to install secret levers at the bar that would shoot the bottles of liquor down into the basement into a pit filled with sand so that the glass would not break. Inventive stuff!  Due to the overall sentiment against prohibition, police officials had a very hard time enforcing the law. From its very inception, the law lacked legitimacy in the eyes of the public who had previously been drinkers and yet completely law-abiding citizens.

Although the prohibition era was an important part of alcohol’s history in America it was far from the first time it became a hot topic.  The prohibition era was one of the victories from many years of efforts against the consumption of alcohol that branched from the American Temperance Society. (ATS). ATS was founded in 1826 with a platform on temperance (the social movement urging the reduced use of alcohol) and also supported the abolition of slavery and expansion of women’s rights.

The marketing and sale of alcohol today in America is a billion dollar industry that doesn’t do half as much as it should to warm against the health effects alcohol has on the human body or the long-term consequences of drinking. The prohibition era was not successful but most “bans” or  “eradications” hardly go over smoothly. People are afraid of change and get stuck in their ways very quickly.  People will naturally rebel and as we know criminal activity thrives off of illegality.  Alcohol can be and is extremely dangerous and the prohibition era tried to stifle these dangers with a complete ban of alcohol which was not the right way to go about the issue of consumption and resulted in more problems than it helped. Regardless the prohibition era does not mean that alcohol is NOT dangerous.

Underage drinking, DUI, and alcohol related deaths are all topping the charts and have caused a lot of needless deaths throughout the United States. Alcohol is a drug and should not be abused. The prohibition era attempted to crack down on the use of alcohol completely but in today’s society it’s our duty to promote the safe consumption of alcohol, which includes not drinking alcohol at all, and drinking within the legal limits.

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

What Happened Last Night? Alcohol Induced Blackouts

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What Happened Last Night? Alcohol Induced Blackouts.

By Jenny Hunt

February 24, 2012

Many of us have asked this question after a night of drinking. Binge drinking alcohol can cause memory loss similar to amnesia. These periods of alcohol-related amnesia are generally referred to as blackouts. So what are blackouts, exactly? What causes you to blackout?

Most people experience one of two types of blackouts-en bloc blackouts and fragmentary blackouts. En bloc blackouts happen when you are unable to recall anything from the blackout period, even when your memory is prompted. Fragmentary blackouts are classified as being able to remember certain things during the blackout period, but having gaps in your memory. Fragmentary blackouts seem to occur with lower blood alcohol content then en bloc blackouts. Sometimes, when prompted, a person can remember certain things that happened during a fragmentary blackout.

The important thing to remember about blackouts is that they are not the same as “passing out” or losing consciousness. Blackouts are periods of time when the drinker is completely conscious, having conversations and performing sometimes amazing feats, but later they have absolutely no memory of the events that transpired.  Total amount of alcohol ingested does not seem to be the determining factor when people blackout. Whether or not a person will blackout seems to depend on how quickly they consume the alcohol. Surveys suggest that a person can drink the same amount or more alcohol as he or she did when the blackout occurred and not experience memory loss, provided they drink the alcohol over a longer period of time.

Enough alcohol will prevent the brain from recording new memories. These periods of amnesia are primarily “anterograde,” meaning that alcohol impairs the ability to form new memories while the person is intoxicated, but does not typically erase memories formed before intoxication. During the blackout, the brain is not recording anything going on, which is why you are unable to recall it later. Alcohol affects the hippocampus area of the brain, which is involved in memory storage.

Though repeated episodes of blacking out will lead to permanent changes in the brain, blackouts are more psychosocially damaging than physically damaging. Many people report engaging in high-risk behavior during a blackout. They drive while intoxicated, get into fights, or engage in unprotected sex. During a blackout, normal restraint of emotions, impulses, and desires is impaired and that may result in enormous harm to self and others. Blackouts inhibit your ability to control your impulses. This can be very dangerous.

When alcohol is mixed with other drugs, especially drugs classified as benzodiazepines (i.e. Xanax, Valium, Rohypnol), blackouts are even more common. Benzodiazepines act on GABA receptors in the brain, magnifying the effect of alcohol. The risk for blacking out is compounded when alcohol is mixed with these drugs, as is the risk of overdose and death. The combination of two potent central nervous system depressants can produce serious side effects on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. This puts you at risk for respiratory depression. This side effect is especially dangerous for someone knocked unconscious by the sedative cocktail, as it can lead to respiratory failure.

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.

Vodka Tampons

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Vodka Tampons

By Jenny Hunt

January 27, 2012

Lock up the Tampax, Mom and Dad, teens have found a new way to get drunk.

My first reaction to this story was utter disbelief. I had to do some serious research to confirm that this was a real story. Several reputable news sources have written stories about this phenomenon. Teens around the country are supposedly using alcohol soaked tampons to get drunk. Does this mean that is actually happening?

Known as “butt chugging” the method of consumption involves soaking a tampon in vodka and inserting it rectally or vaginally. KPHO in Phoenix reports that there have

 

been cases of teens being hospitalized for consuming alcohol this way. And it’s not just girls who are doing it.

Experts say using vodka tampons to consume alcohol reportedly gives you a stronger, quicker drunk than oral consumption. Apparently, the vodka tampon method of consumption is the “ultimate body shot.” By using vodka tampons, alcohol is absorbed through the mucus membranes directly into the blood stream. Also, because the alcohol is not being consumed orally, teens think it is easier for teens to hide the fact that they are drinking.  However, when alcohol is metabolized, a portion is released through the saliva, no matter how it is ingested.  Also, vodka tampons won’t fool a Breathalyzer, as the test measured blood alcohol content. So apparently, the teens that are doing this are not hiding it as well as they think.

Risks of this using vodka tampons include severe mucosal irritation and bleeding. Several doctors have commented that the use of vodka tampons may be mildly to severely painful, depending on the user. It has also been said that the use of vodka tampons will “literally destroy the vagina.”

There is also a strong risk of overdose with vodka tampons. Because the teens are not ingesting the alcohol orally, they override the body’s natural response to overconsumption: regurgitation. Also, the alcohol does not come into contact with stomach acid so it does not get broken down before entering the blood stream. Alcohol poisoning is a huge risk with the use of vodka tampons.

So are teens really using vodka tampons to get drunk? Critics say that the legend of the vodka tampons has been around for almost a decade and that it is nothing but urban legend, much like the so-called “rainbow parties” that were reported a few years back. A blogger from the Huffington Post reportedly tried to use vodka tampons and did not have good results.

Alternate routes of consuming alcohol are nothing new. In 2010, vodka eyeballing was reported as a growing trend among university students in the United Kingdom. Several YouTube videos were posted showing kids imbibing alcohol this way. “Vodka snorting” was also reported by several British bar owners as an alternate route for ingesting alcohol in UK students; reportedly inducing an instant blackout in some drinkers.

Whether or not this is a real trend in teens, the important thing for parents is to have open and honest communication with their child about drugs and alcohol. Surveys confirm that teens are much less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol if they are well informed by their parents about them.

If you need help with your addiction give us a call now at 1-800-984-4003.