# Alcohol poisoning

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [November 11, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563 "2003-11-11T06:10:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fushj00mang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@fushj00mang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fushj00mang)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/21 "2003-11-12T05:33:56Z")

</div>

Well, the bottle is gone. After dropping the post, we both got completely sloshed and as I didn’t have duty today, that’s an ok thing.

Soon to be Mrs. Mang asked me this morning “Did you really enjoy what I did to your whiskey?”

I smiled then said “It was ok. But babe, next time if its a bottle in a box, ask first, ok?”

She seemed both saddened and relieved as I think it finally dawned on her exactly what she’d done. In any case, it was a lovely evening with many movies watched and lots of popcorn and drinking.

(BTW, half of her half of the bar IS Pucker brand imitation schnapps. Good guess.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrot)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/22 "2003-11-12T06:00:22Z")

</div>

Somehow, **fush** , hearing that story, I don’t think the Pucker comment was much of a guess. **Juniper** read her like a book.

– **carrot** , wearing mourning black

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Palewriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@Palewriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palewriter)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/23 "2003-11-12T06:10:44Z")

</div>

Jeez. We’re talking about booze here. Nothing important.

“She seemed both saddened and relieved”

That’s so sweet. Precious little know-nothing thing that she is.  
By the way, do you have an alcohol problem? This could be an issue later on in the relationship.

- PW

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/24 "2003-11-12T06:19:03Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Palewriter \*  
> \*\*Jeez. We’re talking about booze here. Nothing important.
> 
> “She seemed both saddened and relieved”
> 
> That’s so sweet. Precious little know-nothing thing that she is.  
> By the way, do you have an alcohol problem? This could be an issue later on in the relationship.
> 
> - PW \*\*

This is where you are wrong I think, its not ‘just booze’ some drinks are very expensive and special. If someone added something to a vintage bottle of red wine, or aged whiskey it ruins what it is. Why does being upset that someone has effectivley destroyed an expensive drink equal an alcohol problem?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/25 "2003-11-12T06:30:29Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Palewriter \*  
> \*\*Jeez. We’re talking about booze here. Nothing important.
> 
> “She seemed both saddened and relieved”
> 
> That’s so sweet. Precious little know-nothing thing that she is.  
> By the way, do you have an alcohol problem? This could be an issue later on in the relationship.
> 
> - PW \*\*

You’re being an asshole. The OP was very kind and sensitive in his response. A lot more than I probably would have been when confronted with such an egregious crime against spirits.

Did you not get the part about the bottle being a birthday present from his father? So in addition to it being a very fine and expensive rare bottle, it had considerable sentimental value as well. And he didn’t even offer the mildest reproof. He actually _drank_ the hideous stuff and pretended to like it!

Your sarcasm and insinuations are uncalled for and obnoxious.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/26 "2003-11-12T12:11:19Z")

</div>

Good show on not killing her even in the throes of sloshedness, **fushj00mang**. I’ll change my tune; that’s Wesley and Buttercup-Level True Love if ever I saw it.

Hell, I’ll admit to a liking for Pucker, especially the grape kind. Rationale: It tastes like Dimetapp, and that’s connected to childhood memories of being pampered while home sick from school. It’s not alcoholism, folks. It’s _therapy_.

Now that you’ve weathered the Bourbon Catastrophe of Aught Three, you can have cozy, intimate evenings wherein you teach her to appreciate booze that’s not yummy but still oh-so-delicious.

Start slowly. **Very** slowly.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CherryBomb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@CherryBomb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CherryBomb)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/27 "2003-11-12T12:38:41Z")

</div>

I’m so sad for your loss there, **fushj00mang** , but definitely applaud the way you handled it. Very tactful.

I have just recently developed a taste for fine cognac, which is something I thought I’d never enjoy. The more expensive the bottle, the better the brew that’s for sure. The only thing I would ever sully my cognac with is fresh cherries left to soak for a couple months with a touch of sugar. Makes for great cherries jubilee! Yum!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Creative\_Munster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Creative\_Munster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creative_Munster)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/28 "2003-11-12T17:13:31Z")

</div>

Your fiancee doesn’t sound too bright. Hopefully she was really drunk when she did that. If not, I would be questioning marrying someone who is a bit, to say the least, on the dim side.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/29 "2003-11-12T17:36:01Z")

</div>

I don’t know whether to be more appalled by her actions or your response to them.

She deliberately destroyed what she must have known was a very expensive and fine bottle of bourbon–a gift, no less–just because she doesn’t like your taste in booze. This sounds like a very passive-aggressive move on her part. If she doesn’t like the bourbon, why couldn’t she just drink something else?

I’m sorry, but how you handled this (IMHO) makes you sound like a total doormat. She sounds more manipulative than dim to me.

I’m not into liquor, but I’m into perfume–expensive French stuff. My sister, who lives with me, doesn’t like most of them. She likes fruity stuff, I like spicy. And if she poured her Bath and Body Works Grapefruit Barf Body Splash (retails ~$10) into my Vol de Nuit by Guerlain (retails ~$100), I’d know she was committing a deliberate act of sabotage–no matter how cute she tried to act when I confronted her.

I feel like a jerk telling you this, actually.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![beergeek279](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@beergeek279](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beergeek279)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/30 "2003-11-12T18:27:20Z")

</div>

Hmmm…that is just so wrong on so many levels. 20 year old bourbon is MEANT to have that heavy taste, and if someone can’t appreciate it, then let em stick to their damn foo-foo drinks.

Now, I have a bottle of 1975 Thomas Hardy’s Ale coming over from England, and though I can’t see how any one could want to doctor an 11.7% barleywine that’s been cellared nearly 30 years, but if they did…well, there’d be hell to pay! (Fortunately, the brother who I’ll probably split it with is looking forward to the Hardy as much as I am!)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![fushj00mang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@fushj00mang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fushj00mang)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/31 "2003-11-13T04:30:04Z")

</div>

Creative\_Munster,

My little lady isn’t slow in the least, simply ignorant of fine alcohol (save for wines, she knows her wine.) Hell, I’ve tried to ‘help’ her with her homework once (biology, specifically.) She ended up teaching me about Krebs cycles and cellular resperation. If anything (and please, take this which ever way y’all want to) I’m the ‘slow’ one in the relationship. 🙂

Q.N. Jones,

I thought about that too, but I really doubt it. She’s seen that bottle opened once (the day I sewed on Staff Sergeant) and had some of it. It was (and this is something I do regret) her first experience with bourbon. As far as passive agressive, she doesn’t play that. She yells at me all the freakin’ time about things around the house, and yes, I do take it like a doormat (we’ve even gone to using coasters on the dinner table!) And as far as you feeling like a jerk, don’t. Its your humble opinion, and I value it like I value everyone elses here. Thanks!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/32 "2003-11-13T05:35:02Z")

</div>

So, does a $300 bottle of bourbon taste less nasty than a $20 bottle? If so, is it directly proportional? That is, does the pricey stuff taste exactly 15 times less nasty than regular Jim Beam?

Suffice it to say, I’m mystified by liquor snobs. I guess I can understand it a little better than the idiots who pay $1000 a foot for speaker cable, but not much.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/33 "2003-11-13T06:17:23Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by neutron star \*
> 
> So, does a $300 bottle of bourbon taste less nasty than a $20 bottle?

Honestly, you may think a $300 bourbon tastes even nastier. It’s a matter of the taste’s complexity, the warmth, the nose, the finish and the “buzz.” Often omitted from the appraisal, the bourbon high is quite distinct and is different throughout the various grades of liquor.

This particular bourbon is smooth and sweet, like the small of the back of the woman you met on the elevator at work. Its high is like the gloaming, in the desert. This bourbon should never touch a solitary cube of ice.  
His name is **mang**. **_fushj_ mang**. Agent 00.

Nice yarn. Even _Rebel Yell_ won’t dissolve a Jolly Rancher.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CherryBomb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@CherryBomb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CherryBomb)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/34 "2003-11-13T09:21:05Z")

</div>

Most people that drink Jim Beam do so to get smashed.

Other people (possibly even the same from the first sentence) drink fine liquor to enjoy the distinct flavors and the smooth warmth down the back of the throat (boy does that sound bad if taken out of context!) It really gets down to whatever floats your boat.

Of course this all comes from a brandy/cognac/beer snob, so take it as you will.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/35 "2003-11-13T09:29:11Z")

</div>

Well, I’m glad you didn’t take offense. And while you do know your girlfriend and the situation, whereas I don’t, I’ll point something out: just because someone occasionally yells, doesn’t mean they aren’t necessarily passive-aggressive or manipulative. Just something to think about.

But man, whatever you do, don’t be a doormat! It’s hazardous to your (mental) health and it’s not very unattractive to women. 😉

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/36 "2003-11-14T04:29:14Z")

</div>

This thread reminds me of what happened when my mother and two buddies decided that since they were in Kentucky and none of them had ever tried a Mint Julep, they needed to make some. so my Mom found a recipe and they made Mint Juleps. The three of them tasted the drinks and decided that they were missing something. A quick check of the fridge revealed Sprite. splitting a can of Sprite 3 ways between the three glasses made the drinks much more enjoyable. Even though no lover of Mint Juleps would find it a desirable outcome. (And yes, I know many lovers of good bourbon think that Mint Juleps themselves are a bad use of good bourbon. ) The bourbon used was hardly an expensive bourbon but that which was not used for their drinks was uncontaminated for the next time that someone wanted bourbon.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/37 "2003-12-19T22:38:13Z")

</div>

The OP is a gentleman in the truest sense. Had it been me there would have been a 5 minute lecture on not ruining an expensive and classy drink with candy. Its like adding a spray painted border around the mona lisa to liven it up.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/38 "2003-12-20T16:31:29Z")

</div>

I’m VERY surprised and impressed by the way **fush** handled it given many of his opinions here on the boards.

To the rest of you who were ready to have her tarred and feathered.

She. Is. TWENTY ONE.

@#!Q%!!! Give the girl a BREAK, she’s not “stupid” or “selfish” blahblahblah, she’s young, inexperienced and untrained.

Not everyone grows up drinking and learning about alcohol. Not to mention, not developing a taste for certain things, be they caviar, fine liquor, coffees or whatever does NOT mean that that person is lacking in taste or has “immature” tastebuds or whatever.

What a bunch of snobs!

Some things just don’t appeal to some people no matter HOW long they give themselves to “develop a taste” for it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/39 "2003-12-20T16:58:52Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mr. B \*  
> \*\*His name is **mang**. **_fushj_ mang**. Agent 00.

Nope, still don’t get it. What does that _ **mean** _???

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563/40 "2003-12-20T21:48:31Z")

</div>

While that’s true, Shoes, by the age of 21, you should know the difference between an expensive bottle of fine whiskey and the cheap stuff, and regardless of that knowledge, putting jolly ranchers in someone ELSES bottle of hooch ought to be a no no, simply as a matter of respect.

Give the girl a break? I think he did. He was far more understanding than I would have been.

**Some things just don’t appeal to some people no matter HOW long they give themselves to “develop a taste” for it.**

Ok, taste is subjective, but respect is not. If you don’t like something some one else has, you do not change that thing to suit your tastes, you stick with what you like.

She made a major league boo boo, and despite what anyone might think of him, the OP reacted like a gentleman of the highest order (or a huge schmuck of a doormat). In either case, i’m sure she knows not to ‘liven up’ his Johnnie Walker Blue.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563.md?page=1)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alcohol-poisoning/212563.md?page=3)
