A friend of mine is having a party, this weekend … he’s redoing his basement and the carpet is torn up, so the “theme” of the party is lots of red drinks so people can feel free to spill w/o worrying about staining the carpets. Two of the first drinks thought of were grain punch and grain jello shots.
ANYway, I was looking at I believe the Webtender site, and went to the page that listed all the drinks where grain is an ingredient. Right at the top, though, they list the following warning: “Warning: Lethal when substituted for water in Jello shooters.”
Is it really?? HOW? I know grain is a lot stronger than other alcohols so the risk of alcohol poisoning might be greater (which is why we’re not letting people shoot it – mixes only), but how are grain jello shots lethal? Is it perhaps because of the purity of the grain (i.e., 1 cup grain and a small handful of powder to “dilute” it)? Or something else? Has anyone heard this warning before?
I have never heard of that either. I also suspect that it is the risk of alcohol poisoning that makes it dangerous. It is impossible to tell how much alcohol you are getting with a jello shot. And by the time all of the jello dissolves in your stomach and you start to feel tipsy you may have already consumed too much.
We use to always make them with half water and half alcohol or even 2/3 water and 1/3 alcohol. Nobody will know the difference and they are still fun.
I have never made them with grain alcohol though so the above is just a guess.
Grain alcohol, ethanol, CH[SUB]3[/SUB]CH[SUB]2[/SUB]OH, is poisonous, but only when taken to overdose levels. It is in every potable alcoholic drink, no matter if the alcohol was made from grain, sugar, grape juice, or potatoes.
Wood alcohol, methanol, CH[SUB]3[/SUB]OH, is a fatal poison. It’s what’s added to denature (poison) ethanol. It used to be made from distilling wood, but now is made cheaper by heating hydrogen and carbon monoxide under pressure in the presence of a catalyst.
I’m with shiva, but jello shooters is probably an excellent way to buy the farm. All one would have to do is choke down enough of them at once. After the stuff releases its payload in the stomach, see ya.
Grain (in it’s original 190 proof form–which you can’t buy in VA) is really good at killing people because if the mix is strong, a person can drink quickly and voluminously enough to go comatose. Because it is often mixed in non-carbonated punch, onset of effects can be slow, allowing a fatal buildup of alcohol in the stomach. Be careful, and if any of your buddies hit it hard and go under fast, try to make 'em throw up. Better yet, call an ambulance.
Speaking from (unfortunately) personal experience, for the love of Jeebus, mix some water with the Everclear. Otherwise they’re a) dangerously strong-and you can’t tell unless you chew them
and
b) taste like rat’s ass marinated in nail polish remover.
BTW, AWB, I see Gem and Everclear at my ABC stores in Northern Virginia all the time. Ditto DC, but never in Maryland. Then again, Maryland sucks.
That’s the 155 proof version of Everclear. The 190 is not for public consumption in VA. I did find another brand of grain alcohol that was 190 at good ol’ Dixie Liquors in Georgetown, but that was about five years ago.
If I recall correctly, only 6 ounces of 190 proof alcohol ingested at one time can kill a human.
This can be affected by factors such as body weight and stomach contents though.
I’ll say this. I made jello shots out of 190 proof Everclear once.
I took enough that I was pretty drunk, but I have been much drunker.
However, I have <b>NEVER</b> in my life been so sick as I was the next morning.
I think it is because the Jello allows you to consume the extremely potent alcohol, but the alcohol is not as diluted as if you mixed it in many drinks. It causes hell to your stomach.
