# Can you really not smell vodka? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2005, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745 "2005-02-07T02:51:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/21 "2011-03-02T05:06:31Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > Laboratory ethanol and methanol both probably have odorants and various chemicals to discourage you from drinking them. methanol doesn’t need additives to discourage from drinking, it is poisonous enough by itself. > [@These are my own pants](#): > > I ain’t no chemist, but surely commerical laboratory ethanol has no additives as they may interfere with whatever the purpose for which the ethanol is required. denatured ethanol is used in the lab for some purposes. when pure ethanol is needed absolute grade is used. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/22 "2011-03-02T09:19:33Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > I already Google searched it and it was clouded by Yahoo Answers type schlock of teenagers asking what alcoholic beverages are odorless so they can go get drunk and not get caught by their parents. Most of the cites that I found were the ones I listed along with the ones listed in the OP. > > Honestly, this doesn’t seem like a well-researched area (most of food science isn’t, really). The papers that I could find both seemed way over my head and I couldn’t access full text anyways. If you want to take a stab at it you’re [welcome to it](http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=ethanol+chemesthesis&hl=en&btnG=Search&as_sdt=1%2C33&as_sdtp=on). Yeah, I concur. All the sites I found while Googling this topic were either DUI-related and talking about how you can’t reliably tell if someone’s drunk from smelling their breath and just repeated the “alcohol is actually odorless” refrain without any kind of citation or explanation, or just straight-up repeated “alcohol is actually odorless” without any kind of citation. There were other sites that said alcohol **does** have an odor; Wikipedia’s [alcohol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol) article, for instance, says > [@](#): > > Alcohols have an odor that is often described as “biting” and as “hanging” in the nasal passages. The first link you posted is a DUI link, and the second one is an ethanol fuel link that doesn’t seem very credible: > [@](#): > > There are two types of ethanol. What is known as denatured alcohol is actually pure ethanol. And I also couldn’t find anything about alcohol’s very clear “smell” not really being a smell but an anesthetizing effect. You can definitely detect a sharp, “biting” odor from pure ethanol, in my experience. So I’m very interested to find out if it’s really true that it doesn’t have a true “smell.” Hey, do other chemicals that anesthetize the olfactory nerves result in an “alcohol smell!” sensation? ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/23 "2011-03-02T11:22:01Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Finally, as far as I can tell, most vodkas (except for the bottom-of-the-barrel stuff, the rotgut sold in plastic jugs with the built-in handles for $6.99 per half-gallon) are all about the same, with not enough difference in taste or effect (hangover or lack thereof) to justify spending an additional 15 or 20 bucks per bottle on the high-end labels. Alton Brown says the only difference between a $30 bottle of vodka and a $85 bottle of vodka is $55! ---
**Author:** ![Redfishhunter930](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Redfishhunter930](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redfishhunter930)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/24 "2011-03-02T11:41:10Z")
Once while in College at a football game hint Geaux Tigers 😉 I accidentally left a flask of vodka in my hip pocket. When the deputy asked what was in the flask I said water. He unscrewed the cap smelled the flask handed it back to me and said “Have a nice game”. So yeh it smells like water ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/25 "2011-03-03T03:19:36Z")
> [@These are my own pants](#): > > I ain’t no chemist, but surely commerical laboratory ethanol has no additives as they may interfere with whatever the purpose for which the ethanol is required. Yeah, there are MANY grades/types of “laboratory” ethanol out there, mostly based on how pure they are, and how many tests the producer ran to certify the purity. Some are denatured, some aren’t. Small sample [HERE](http://www.fishersci.com/ecomm/servlet/Search?keyWord=ethanol&URL=WCSLogon&restrictedCategoryId=&N=0&Ntk=all&rpp=&suppCatNoOnOff=&imagesOnOff=&highlightOnOff=&teaserOnOff=&store=Scientific&storeId=10652&type=&showAdvanceOptions=). My lab used ACS certified spectrophotometric grade (95%) as it’s bread-and-butter, which is probably more “clean” than anything you can buy for human consumption. We also used 200 proof anhydrous ethanol for certain uses, and food-grade 95% (basically everclear that came in a 5-gallon carboy) for preserving plankton samples. They all smelled like alcohol to me, and none of them contained denaturants. ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/27 "2011-03-27T20:27:13Z")
> [@imortonsteint](#): > > [url=http:l Reported the spam! ---
**Author:** ![bigjay5980](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@bigjay5980](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigjay5980)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/28 "2012-10-21T04:39:23Z")
Hey there new guy here with some opinions on this subject i don’t believe have been mentioned. 1st of all there is a difference between an odor and fumes or vapor although vodka may not have a desirable odor there is a vapor or fume detectable by our noses to me it reminds me of perfume to sniff a bottle of vodka or take a straight shot…I suppose that is because perfumes are made with alcohols to evaporate quickly… when hand sanitizer first came out People would use them after using our company’s hand scan punch out clock…For awhile i was sure that I could smell a drinker in our midst…but no…turns out it was just hand sanitizer. ``` Anyway speaking from experience.(don't judge) ...drink 1/2 a mickey of vodka= 90% chance you will get away with it ,if you can hold your alcohol ``` . Drink 2 shots of rye, bourbon, scotch, ect… the odds drop by half… ``` If you want a drink to relax, go with vodka.then buy some burn your mouth gum to increase your odds...best advice... regularly apply hand sanitizer...you may be considered neurotic but at least any alcohol aroma coming from you will be attributed to the sanitizer... ``` ---
**Author:** ![bizzwire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/958977/32.png) [@bizzwire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizzwire)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/29 "2012-10-21T04:49:36Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > Pure alcohol does not have an odor. Rather, it has an anesthetizing effect on the nose, but that is a chemesthetic effect (in the same family as hot, cold, astringent, etc), not an olfactory one. As for alcohol breath, it is possible that the alcohol interacts with chemicals in the mouth to produce detectable odor compounds. Horse hockey. I work with the stuff every day (chemistry lab). It smells just like Ethyl Alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/30 "2012-10-21T05:09:57Z")
Wikipedia says that ethanol has a “slight odor”, and since (good) vodka is just water and ethanol, Vodka will have a slight odor. It wouldn’t surprise me if some people couldn’t detect any odor at all. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/31 "2012-10-21T05:14:18Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > It wouldn’t surprise me if some people couldn’t detect any odor at all. Well, there _is_ this superhero I know of; but he’s kinda lame. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/32 "2012-10-21T05:51:09Z")
> [@bizzwire](#): > > Horse hockey. I work with the stuff every day (chemistry lab). It smells just like Ethyl Alcohol. Yep. Mind you, cheap vodka does have more of a real smell. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/33 "2012-10-21T06:00:10Z")
As it happens, I’m sitting in a bar right now and the barmaid is incredibly patient. I ordered a shot of vodka and a shot of water and had no trouble smelling which was which. The odor is very faint, though, and I could probably fool someone with a cold into thinking a shot of vodka is actually water. This was a major plot point in a Paul Newman movie, _The Philadelphia Lawyer_. ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/34 "2012-10-22T21:26:17Z")
Double zombie! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/35 "2012-10-22T21:53:52Z")
I didn’t see this in the thread anywhere and thought it was worth tossing in: Under the glass countertop at a tool rental store, I once saw a little card reading, _“If you must drink on your lunch hour, drink whiskey, not vodka. We want the customers to know you’re drunk, not think you’re stupid.”_ ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/36 "2012-10-22T22:56:34Z")
Years ago, the Mrs. was in labor, and they wanted to slow it down. They gave her an IV drip of alcohol. It wasn’t long before her breath smelled like she had been downing shots. That, my friends, was the smell of alcohol on the breath. Also, open a bottle of vodka and take a whiff. If you smell absolutely nothing, then vodka has no smell. If you smell something, then it does. No wonder it’s taken so long to fight ignorance. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/38 "2013-07-25T12:00:29Z")
Does embalming fluid have an odour? Anyway, count me as another lab chemist who says pure ethanol definitely has an odour. I used to work with chromatography-grade ultra-pure stuff (more than a little of which went in our drinks) and if you stick your nose over the flask and inhale, believe me you can smell it. Personally I’d find it pretty hard to believe that a highly volatile organic liquid _wouldn’t_ have a noticeable odour. Our noses are pretty well equipped to pick up organic molecules like that. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/39 "2013-07-25T14:10:51Z")
This zombie was started in Feb 2005, and then revived three times: in Feb 2011, Oct 2012, and July 2013. Does that set a record? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/40 "2013-07-25T14:41:14Z")
zombie or no ethanol does have an odor. there have been other three resurrection zombies. i recall a four or fiver but have no cite. ---
**Author:** ![rock\_party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/41 "2013-07-25T17:20:11Z")
We had a guy in our carpool a few years back who might have been an alcoholic. When he’d get in the car in the morning, you’d get a boozy smell. He drank only vodka, he wasn’t drinking in the morning, and he had showered. (We quizzed him on all this on the way to work, and I believe him). Vodka definitely made him smell like, well, like he had alcohol in him. And from a distance. ---
**Author:** ![FrostedPony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee59a6/32.png) [@FrostedPony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrostedPony)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745/42 "2013-08-22T09:12:53Z")
No stereotyping intended, BUT… On the day after certain holidays, i.e. days when people might be imbibing in their chosen type of alcohol, I can actually smell the fumes from vodka. Don’t know whether the many, many Russians in my neighborhood have drunk enough of the stuff that it’s spraying from their pores or what. All I know is this – Vodka does, indeed, have a distinct, unmistakable odor; it is a chemical, after all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-really-not-smell-vodka/288745.md?page=3)