190 proof. It wasn't good.
Personally, my go to liquors are varied as I fancy Gin, Rum and Brandy. Of the three, I mix Gin and Rum in cocktails that are probably less than 30 proof by the end and Brandy I drink neat. So, on average, the highest proof that I'll tolerate seems to be about 90. Beyond that, the delightful warming sensation of Brandy becomes a burn and the ethanol flavor overshadows everything else about the beverage. It becomes useful only for adding alcohol content, basically.
Everclear, for example, has no flavor save ethanol and is downright painful to drink straight. It is only used in situations where you want to add a large amount of alcohol to a drink without watering it down - making an alcoholic smoothie or milkshake for example.
ThingWhatSqueaks said:
I, like many here, have had Bacardi 151 and I really can't tell what the appeal is. I am also past whatever the cutoff is for the drinking just to get drunk age. That said, IMO, the most "dangerous" alcohols are those that are fairly high proof but that don't taste like it. A good example of this would be Pisco a grape brandy. This stuff is ~80 proof and if one where really into grape juice could probably be consumed by itself (sans mixer(s)). Even mixed with something like a sour mix you're going to end up with a fairly strong drink that doesn't have even a hint of alcohol in the taste.
Any
decent brandy I've tried isn't shy about the alcohol content. In my experience, any drink above about 40 proof has obvious signs of alcohol - odor and flavor of ethanol, burn on the way down, etc. There are a few drinks I've had that have more alcohol than the signs would indicate of course. There are various brands of Cherry Bourbon that, when mixed with a cola, produce a wonderful cherry cola. It is perfectly possible to consume something mixed in favor of bourbon without the bourbon being overpowering easily resulting in a drink that is 20% alcohol or more. Were one not expecting such a mix and consuming the drinks rapidly, I could see how it is dangerous.
But something that's 80 proof is fairly obviously highly alcoholic. What's more, if you go beyond sipping such a drink any character tends to be lost and your only real option is the shot. If you're resorting to shooting liquor, then I'd argue you're already playing a dangerous game regardless of what proof the drink is as you've discarded any idea of enjoying the drink in favor of simply "getting drunk". Of course, I'd also point out that liquor is hard to acquire taste so your average young person just looks at it as a quicker way to intoxication than beer, cider or wine.
My own perspective as that some of the most dangerous drinks are high alcohol content beers. Harpoon's Levithan Porter, for example, is 10.5% alcohol - double the strength of an average cider and triple the average low end beer. Yet the strong flavors of the porter almost completely hide the alcohol falvor. I've had four of those in a sitting at a local beer bar not realizing how potent they were until I stood to use the bathroom and realized I was already quite tipsy.
Dash McCallen said:
Stroh 80 is good, very good, neat out of the shooter. Much better than the Bacardi (read "Rock gut"). But again. Hold onto something, it will take your breath away the first shot. I had 3 on a bet. That was all I could handle, had to go eat something after that or fall down.
Normally such things are called "Rot Gut" in that they are notable for doing nasty things to your insides.
Personally, my perspective is that anything over about 90 or 100 proof probably wasn't intended to be consumed straight as the pleasant burn becomes caustic and any flavor or character of the drink is quickly lost. Sure, you can drink something approaching pure ethanol straight but the experience is anything but pleasant and is only useful for attempting suicide via the bottle. 151 and other high proof rum seems as though it was made for cocktail creation so more of the liquid could be juices and the like without harming alcohol content. Such drinks also tend to have a very short (if any) aging process and thus are incredibly cheap to manufacture (and, as a direct result, cheap to buy and sell).
Something like 151, for example, costs less (on average) than a mid tier bottle of spiced rum. When mixed in a common cocktail, you can literally use half as much liquor as called for and only the most keenly attuned tasters will notice the difference. This is also why bars tend to serve absolutely terrible liquors as part of cocktails unless someone specifically requests otherwise - when mixed with tonic and a twist of lime, the difference between 14 dollar a bottle gin and 40 dollar a bottle gin is largely a question of what the drink is going to cost rather than what it's going to taste like.
