New York – This buzz for you.
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The State Liquor Authority recently approved the sale of 192-proof booze – meaning the potent potables are 96% alcohol.
Some shop owners and imbibers are raising a glass to the hooch, believed to be the strongest ever available in the state, particularly folks in Polish and Russian communities who’ve had to travel to New Jersey for the stiff brew.
“It’s incredibly sharp. It takes your breath away,” said Levi Pekar, 22, a Brooklyn student who has sampled the swill. “It’s like getting punched in the solar plexus.”
William Crowley of the State Liquor Authority said the four new labels – including Spirytus Rektyfikowany and Baks Spirytus – were approved in the past few months after a review by the SLA found that they were not “false, misleading or deceptive to consumers.”
“We have laws against our licensees selling to people who are intoxicated, but there’s no law that even speaks to the alcohol content of a label we could approve,” Crowley said.
Eli Eber of Eber’s Liquor and Wine in Brooklyn said he sells eight to 12 bottles a week of the harsh stuff. A 750-milliliter bottle (between 25 and 26 ounces) goes for $22.
“The pilots in Siberia used to drink it,” he said. “Some people say they like to take it with orange juice; that way, they don’t feel the sting.”
Daring drinkers who have tried the booze swear by it, saying it has a long history overseas and is so pure that it actually wards off hangovers.
“Nine out of ten people won’t touch it,” said Aaron Raskin, 52, a Brooklyn shopkeeper. “You have to drink it fast.”
Some people find it hard to swallow.
“This sounds like it has tremendous potential for doing a lot of harm to people,” said state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Queens). “It sounds like moonshine.”
The approvals came several years after the state turned down the grain alcohol Everclear. The SLA spiked it because makers acknowledged it couldn’t be consumed without a mixer, Crowley said.
Why bother adding the other 4% of whatever at that point?
it’s the 4% (of water)that will kill u.
There is a true story about a chassid who lived to be over one hundred years old. He used to make l’chayim on “sechs un neintziger” (96% alcohol). In his 90’s he had some swelling and edema (water) around his ankles. When asked about it, he blamed it on the 96% alcohol – the 4% water in the drink was the cause of his health problems!
I’m not sure why 96% is okay if 100% is not.
The article states: “believed to be the strongest ever available in the state.” FYI, 96% (192 proof) alcohol is the most potent possible, and it is impossible for Mashke (vodka, spirit, etc.) to have more alcohol.
100% pure alcohol cannot exist as a liquid at room temperature.
Great moments in chasidus
100% pure alcohol can exist- but it will absorb water from the humidity in the air. It is also highly flammable.
The 96% solution is much more stable.
just as a point of reference, I WONDER HOW MUCH OF THIS would make an illegal B.A.C. for a 150 lb person. not that i reccommend ANY before driving! (it’s probably good to try a little after kiddush friday night, so you have almost 24 hours to metabolize it)
Is it kosher?
Maybe it does not need a hechsher?I think it’s sold in Crown Heights.Ebers has a liquor store
“The pilots in Siberia used to drink it,” he said.
The used to drink it or fuel their planes with it?
Note any alcholic beverage over 95.6% is azeotropic which means the boiling point is the same for the alchol and the water, hence no more water can be removed through normal distiliation HOWEVER if you use a Dean-stark aparatus you can make 200 proof alchol as I have done!…aditionally Everclear is very consumable alone as I have make kiddush on it plenty of times, good shabbos 🙂
Rebbe Reb Elimelech Leszhinsk taught that alcohol is of the klippah nogah. The Rebbe poskined Yidden shouldn’t drink whatsover until AFTER Shabbos davening and then only a small l’chaim at the Shabbos Seudah. Rebbe taught that Shabbos is for learning Torah and NOT for drinking. Sadly, some Chassidim of today never learned the Emesdikeh Rebbe’s heiligeh Torah. Learn Torah Yidden and stop drinking to get drunk like a drunken Russki or Pollishe bum.
This would be a great fuel for a Molotov cocktail. Hopefully the terrorists will have mercy on us.