One can see "42% vol" which is 42% alcohol by volume. How that converts into degrees, e.g. "138°", I don't know.
The actual adult beverage in my picture is a Mongolian baijiu, made in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, that I like to drink occasionally on some evenings.
http://www.gushaojiuye.com/
Some baijius can go up to 75% vol. and can rather smell like jet fuel.
Well, ° is not always degrees.
It can also be used for the proof of alcoholic beverages.
Proof is 2x the percent of alcohol.
So 42% by volume is 84°.
138° is 69% alcohol.
Something that is 75% would be 150°.
For me, when you get into the 110° and above territories, if you smell or taste 'jet fuel' it is a turn off and a sign of a not real good product.
You can distill more than once, and each time will improve the product.
Anyone can go and get a bottle of EverClear, which is something like 190°, but the taste and odor is horrible.
I believe it is only distilled one time.
I have drank real moonshine (not this overpriced, weak in the knees commercial crap available everywhere now), which if done right is smooth and easy to sip.
The typical burn felt from strong alcohol is virtually non-existant, and the effects are felt extrenely rapidly.
Probably distilled 3 or more times.
Typically, I drink Scotch or Irish whiskey that is usually 80°. (Most of these are blends.)
These tend to be even more harsh with that alcohol burn than real, good moonshine or this here bottle of absinthe.
It is all about how much time and trouble is devoted to the production.
The problem is that when you get something like absinthe, or some excellent moonshine, you can get drunk very rapidly and not really comprehend how much alcohol you have consumed.
Absinthe was known for 'The Little Green Fairy'.
I can imagine why.
The very strong black liquorice flavor overwhelms the alcohol burn even at this high level.
You really can't taste it (in small sips), but you sure know that it is there.
When I got this bottle, I was going to an Orthodox Easter party.
They had their own bartender, who about lost her cookies when I brought it in.
She even refused at first, thinking that I was going to light a drink on fire.
I explained that that was not going to happen, and then some of the history of absinthe.
She is about half my age (and rather cute) so she got a pass on it, lol.
I wound up having two large drinks- one was the traditional way to drink absinthe, and the other was a Mohito made with absinthe.
After those two drinks, I was not slurring my speech or stumbling in my steps- but I was totally lit.
My ol'lady drove the 12 miles home, a ride that I really do not remember.
So here I was, totally coherent and able to function, yet unable to remember a car ride.
Easy to see how trouble could be found, lol.
