# Does pure ethanol have a taste? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 6, 2013, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-pure-ethanol-have-a-taste/655004 "2013-04-06T10:46:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qwertol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Qwertol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertol)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-pure-ethanol-have-a-taste/655004/1 "2013-04-06T10:46:42Z")
When you’re drinking vodka or other similar alcohols the taste comes mostly form contamination. But does a pure ethanol (like in laboratory pure - 99% or more) have a taste itself? ---
**Author:** ![abel29a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@abel29a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abel29a)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-pure-ethanol-have-a-taste/655004/2 "2013-04-06T11:25:24Z")
How could one tell? 99% proof with be so strong that the bruning sensation in your mouth would probably override any taste. ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-pure-ethanol-have-a-taste/655004/3 "2013-04-06T11:39:23Z")
It tastes (or smells, as apart from basic sweet/salty/sour/bitter/umami gustatory sensations most of the taste experience derives from the olfactory senses) of alcohol - try adding different amounts of pure alcohol to pure water. You certainly can sense the difference when blind-tasting the resulting mixtures, although I don’t know how well you would do with your nose closed. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-pure-ethanol-have-a-taste/655004/4 "2013-04-06T13:00:00Z")
Been there, done that, with lab grade ethanol for herbal medicine making (we thought it might make the math easier, but it was a pain in the ass to order and to store, so we went back to Everclear and our ratio calculators). No, no taste. But yes, quite a strong odor, like rubbing alcohol only more so. Taking the lid off the tank was a giddy experience. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-pure-ethanol-have-a-taste/655004/5 "2013-04-06T14:34:52Z")
with 99% alcohol in your mouth you get a definite sensation due to the damage caused to your cells. it has an odor. but not a taste. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-pure-ethanol-have-a-taste/655004/6 "2013-04-06T14:42:37Z")
It tastes like…burning. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-pure-ethanol-have-a-taste/655004/7 "2013-04-06T15:16:09Z")
Try adding some pure ethanol to pure water. It’s certainly detectable well below the mouth-burning level. Not that I was sampling the lab supplies or anything. Although if I were going to do something so foolish, I’d shoot some on the GCMS first. ---
**Author:** ![amused\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@amused\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amused_j)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-pure-ethanol-have-a-taste/655004/8 "2016-01-22T01:06:43Z")
Yes, it has a taste. Always a bitter component, sometimes a sweet or sour one too, depending upon the person > **[Bitter and sweet components of ethanol taste in humans - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10940547/)** > > This study examined taste descriptions elicited by ethanol and by other tastants in humans. All subjects described 10% ethanol as bitter and approximately 30% of the subjects described it as sweet and/or sour. Highly significant correlations were... ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-pure-ethanol-have-a-taste/655004/9 "2016-01-22T01:24:53Z")
> [@Qwertol](#): > > When you’re drinking vodka or other similar alcohols the taste comes mostly form contamination. But does a pure ethanol (like in laboratory pure - 99% or more) have a taste itself? Vodka has almost no contaminations; what you’re tasting is pure ethanol diluted with water. It has a slightly sweetish taste (at least, that what I sense). More concentrated alcohol might dumben your taste-buds and leave you with nothing but the burning sensation you would get from other stuff like acetone. ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-pure-ethanol-have-a-taste/655004/10 "2016-01-22T14:01:16Z")
Also been there and done (or dumbed) that. I agree: Slightly sweet, slightly, and what I can only best describe as “chemically”. A curious thing I noticed is that if you take just a small sip, which is your initial self protective instinct, or as my mom futilely said, common sense, the liquid evaporates in your mouth before you can swallow it. It just sort of disappears and you swallow nothing. If you up the sip volume enough to have a residual gulp, the burning takes over. ---
**Author:** ![Distillingdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Distillingdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Distillingdude)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-pure-ethanol-have-a-taste/655004/11 "2019-09-18T17:18:02Z")
People are using vodka as an example of “pure” ethanol. It is not. By US law it must be distilled to 190 proof (95%) or more. Distillation has a limit of 194ish proof so it is not possible to be pure from distillation. Medical grade ethanol is “dried” to remove the remaining water. But here is the thing with vodka- the law allows for the addition of small amounts of both sugar and citric acid to vodka. So you can’t drink vodka and expect it to have no taste. The taste is from either the 5% OTHER things remaining and/or the citric acid and sugar. That being said there is a difference between sensing alcohol and tasting it. Also the “smell” certainly burns the nose but that is not the same as an odor. For certain things we have a difficult time distinguishing between the sensation and an odor or taste. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-pure-ethanol-have-a-taste/655004/12 "2019-09-18T20:11:47Z")
> [@Distillingdude](#): > > But here is the thing with vodka- the law allows for the addition of small amounts of both sugar and citric acid to vodka. Can you please provide a cite for that ? I always understood that Vodka, per US laws required to be distilled till it had no flavor : Cite : From (Bolding mine) : [27 CFR § 5.22 - Rules regarding certificates of label approval (COLAs) for distilled spirits bottled in the United States. | Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/27/5.22) > [@](#): > > Class 1; neutral spirits or alcohol. “Neutral spirits” or “alcohol” are distilled spirits produced from any material at or above 190° proof, and, if bottled, bottled at not less than 80° proof. > > (1) “Vodka” is neutral spirits so distilled, or so treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be **without distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color.**