# Alcohol % and Proof **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2001, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898 "2001-08-30T06:46:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kgriffey79](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@kgriffey79](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kgriffey79)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/1 "2001-08-30T06:46:18Z")
K, the proof is always double the % right? So what is the point of even putting the proof on there? What is Proof anyhow? Matt Shepard ---
**Author:** ![kgriffey79](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@kgriffey79](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kgriffey79)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/2 "2001-08-30T06:55:24Z")
Oh, BTW, I am sure that this has been covered many times over on this board, so a link to a previous thread will do. thanks ---
**Author:** ![Ell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@Ell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ell)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/3 "2001-08-30T07:25:32Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=76253](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=76253) ---
**Author:** ![Cougarfang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c67d28/32.png) [@Cougarfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cougarfang)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/4 "2001-08-30T12:37:38Z")
i don’t know if it’s just me, but i think i’ve heard of over 200 proof alcohol. now, if proof is twice the %, how can there be more than 100%? or did i hear wrong? if it’s just me, then let me know, because it’s been bugging me for years and none of my friends know the answer. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/5 "2001-08-30T12:48:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cougarfang \* > \*\*i don’t know if it’s just me, but i think i’ve heard of over 200 proof alcohol. now, if proof is twice the %, how can there be more than 100%? or did i hear wrong? if it’s just me, then let me know, because it’s been bugging me for years and none of my friends know the answer. ☹ \*\* Sounds like you’ve heard wrong. Everclear, which is pure alcohol, is 200 proof until you open it. Then it sucks enough water out of the air to become roughly 190 proof. ---
**Author:** ![TheThill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheThill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheThill)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/6 "2001-08-30T13:36:18Z")
[hijack] So what _is_ the point of using and mixing Everclear? I never could figure that one out. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/7 "2001-08-30T13:45:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheThill \* > **So what _is_ the point of using and mixing Everclear? I never could figure that one out.** Why, to get ridiculously drunk really quickly, of course. ---
**Author:** ![TheThill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheThill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheThill)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/8 "2001-08-30T14:37:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ultrafilter \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by TheThill \* > > **So what _is_ the point of using and mixing Everclear? I never could figure that one out.** > > Why, to get ridiculously drunk really quickly, of course. \*\* And doesn’t that work with twice as much vodka and less mixer? (This is starting to be a real GQ again! Should have started a new thread.) ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/9 "2001-08-30T14:40:12Z")
Twice as much vodka and less mixer still means that the alcohol percentage of your drink is no higher than the alcohol percentage of straight alcohol. Everclear, at 190 proof, is as high as it comes. Some people use it to spike the punch for a faster drunk, some people use it to intoxicate someone else at a party to take advantage of them, and some people foolishly take a shot of it as they tell themselves, “It can’t be THAT bad.” Yes, it is that bad. [sub]What’s worse is doing it a second time on another occasion, after telling yourself “It couldn’t have been THAT bad.”[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![beerchick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@beerchick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beerchick)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/10 "2001-08-30T16:43:05Z")
Everclear and cherries are great. Down at the Jersey Shore they’re called cherry bombs and sell in a bar for fifty cents each. MMM MMM good. bc. ---
**Author:** ![g8rguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@g8rguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/g8rguy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/11 "2001-08-30T16:45:37Z")
Question: how do they make the stuff to begin with? At some point, you can’t distill an ethanol/water mixture any further; I think it’s at the high 90’s in percent. You can add a third substance to the mix, and then distill both the water and whatever else it was out, but what do they use? ---
**Author:** ![Caldazar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Caldazar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caldazar)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/12 "2001-08-30T18:27:48Z")
No clue on how Everclear is manufactured, but there are a couple of ways to break the ethanol/water azeotrope. Besides adding a third component (an entrainer), you can use molecular sieves (typically pellets of a zeolite that have an affinity for water. Another alternative is to separate ethanol and water using reverse osmosis by employing a membrane. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/13 "2001-08-30T18:45:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ultrafilter \* > \*\*Everclear, which is pure alcohol, is 200 proof until you open it. Then it sucks enough water out of the air to become roughly 190 proof. \*\* Really? I’ve never heard anything like this before. Based on the equation that proof=2(alcohol) how does everclear lose 5% of its alcohol? ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/14 "2001-08-30T18:57:53Z")
I don’t know if [hydrophilia](http://www.ultranet.com/~jkimball/BiologyPages/H/H.html) has anything to do with it; I remember reading somewhere that sulfuric acid is highly hyrophilic and “sucks in” water in one way or another. I’d WAG Everclear operates on the same principle. My understanding of **ultrafilter** ’s assertion is that Everclear doesn’t lose its alcohol content; it just sucks up water until the resulting mix is 95% alcohol, 5% water. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/15 "2001-08-30T19:22:51Z")
fang- what you might have heard was someone referring to “overproof” rum. That is rum that is around 156 proof - that’s about 78% alcohol. It’s potent, ok, but not over 100%, of course. And, from my point of view, it is repulsive. But, when you come back from Jamaica, mon, you want to bring a bottle with, since rumor has it that that’s what the natives there drink. So, you brings de bottle bock and you make de trink, mon, and before you knows it, you on you back, spinnin. An sick. I been dere, mon. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/16 "2001-08-30T19:25:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Olentzero \* > \*\*I don’t know if [hydrophilia](http://www.ultranet.com/~jkimball/BiologyPages/H/H.html) has anything to do with it; I remember reading somewhere that sulfuric acid is highly hyrophilic and “sucks in” water in one way or another. I’d WAG Everclear operates on the same principle. > > My understanding of **ultrafilter** ’s assertion is that Everclear doesn’t lose its alcohol content; it just sucks up water until the resulting mix is 95% alcohol, 5% water. \*\* Yeah, that’s what I meant. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/17 "2001-08-30T19:40:41Z")
All the Everclear I’d ever bought was always labeled 190 Proof. I think if it were pure alcohol it couldn’t be sold without a special permit and/or prescription. Here in Virginia, you can’t buy the 190 proof stuff without a prescription now. (We’ve got some real backwards alcohol laws, but no more so that some other states.) ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/18 "2001-08-30T19:44:25Z")
The question regarding equilibrium at 190 proof was posed to a coworker of mine with a chemistry degree: > [@](#): > > A mixture of 95% ethyl alcohol (also refered to as ethanol or grain alcohol) and 5% water is thermodynamically more stable than 100% ethyl acohol. There is water in the air so pure ethanol exposed to our atmosphere will absorb water until it reaches thermodynamic equilibrium. Why it is more stable is hard to describe in a short paragraph. It has to do with the way the molecules fit together. I’ll pester him for more detail if necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/19 "2001-08-30T20:00:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Olentzero \* > \*\*I don’t know if [hydrophilia](http://www.ultranet.com/~jkimball/BiologyPages/H/H.html) has anything to do with it; I remember reading somewhere that sulfuric acid is highly hyrophilic and “sucks in” water in one way or another. I’d WAG Everclear operates on the same principle. > > My understanding of **ultrafilter** ’s assertion is that Everclear doesn’t lose its alcohol content; it just sucks up water until the resulting mix is 95% alcohol, 5% water. \*\* Okay, work with me here. My ignorance is teeming with common sense and the above is wrecking havoc. I was always under the impression that alcohol evaporated easily, if the above is true, than my assumption is wrong. If the alcohol is absorbing water out of the air, wouldn’t it be enough to notice the difference in the bottle? I mean, 5% change should be noticeable in a 750ml bottle. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898/20 "2001-08-30T20:45:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by adam yax \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Olentzero \* > > \*\*I don’t know if [hydrophilia](http://www.ultranet.com/~jkimball/BiologyPages/H/H.html) has anything to do with it; I remember reading somewhere that sulfuric acid is highly hyrophilic and “sucks in” water in one way or another. I’d WAG Everclear operates on the same principle. > > > > My understanding of **ultrafilter** ’s assertion is that Everclear doesn’t lose its alcohol content; it just sucks up water until the resulting mix is 95% alcohol, 5% water. \*\* > > Okay, work with me here. My ignorance is teeming with common sense and the above is wrecking havoc. > > I was always under the impression that alcohol evaporated easily, if the above is true, than my assumption is wrong. If the alcohol is absorbing water out of the air, wouldn’t it be enough to notice the difference in the bottle? I mean, 5% change should be noticeable in a 750ml bottle. \*\* Not really. Assuming that I haven’t screwed up the math, it would increase to about 790 ml. That’s not really noticeable (I think). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-and-proof/78898.md?page=2)