# How is vanilla extract NOT an alcoholic beverage? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2022, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457 "2022-01-08T21:37:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2022, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/81 "2022-01-11T22:57:28Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > But that’s weird that a kid would be drawn to eating straight salt [Pica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_(disorder)). I have always had the raw potato version [and am autistic, apparently we are prone to pica, mrAru eats ice] I have also been known to eat the salt out of the bottom of a pretzel bag. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2022, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/82 "2022-01-11T22:58:50Z")
The Poison Control Centres are staffed with knowledgeable pharmacologists and are generally located at major children’s hospitals. A lot of their calls are about coffee beans or random pills or esoterica, from worried parents. I doubt they would discuss animal ingestions, if only for legal reasons, and doubt very much they get more animal calls. ERs use them often too, usually for documentation, but also since they sometimes directly follow up on people for days. And sometimes people swallow odd things. I heard a fake country song on comedy radio. It was about a trucker who wanted to buy a bottle of whiskey two minutes after sales stopped. He considers his options in song. “What about mouthwash? What about huffing paint?”. As a kid, my buddies and I had contests where we would sprinkle as much salt as we could on crackers and see who could eat the most. But it’s been _months_ since I’ve done that! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2022, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/83 "2022-01-11T23:11:16Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > have also been known to eat the salt out of the bottom of a pretzel bag. I don’t think that’s particularly unusual. I do it sometimes. My wife would salt salt if she could. Same with ice. I like to crunch down on ice, and it’s not terribly uncommon from my observation. I’ve never linked that with pica. I didn’t know eating raw potatoes was a sign of anything. I’ve never had the desire myself (beyond tasting them), but it seems like a logical enough thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2022, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/84 "2022-01-11T23:16:07Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Back in college, when people would have out-of-state friends coming up to visit, they’d always be surprised to see everyone have two or three beers in preparation for heading out to the bars. Start the buzz on cheap bulk bought beer. Then (since after the 2nd or 3rd most stuff tastes the same) drink the cheapest swill at the bars where the prices were too high on any good stuff.I think that was the M.O. throughout the US. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2022, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/85 "2022-01-11T23:17:40Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I don’t think that’s particularly unusual. I do it sometimes. My wife would salt salt if she could. Same with ice. I like to crunch down on ice, and it’s not terribly uncommon from my observation. I’ve never linked that with pica. I didn’t know eating raw potatoes was a sign of anything. I’ve never had the desire myself (beyond tasting them), but it seems like a logical enough thing to do. Hm pink himalayan on black hawaiian salt? I actually like good raw taters - if they are bitter it means they have too much solanacian whatever, exposed to sunlight tends to bring out the production of whatever toxin it is. Makes ones tongue tingle a bit [so can celery] I suppose they are healthier than fried or loaded with butter =) [thin sliced, about half inch slices, light sprinkle of salt, and nomnomnom.] ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2022, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/86 "2022-01-11T23:26:56Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Hm pink himalayan on black hawaiian salt? I’d go for South Asian kala namak (sulfur-rich, eggy salt – but I think you already know that). I love that stuff. (Or is hawaiian black salt like that? Or maybe pink Himalayan salt? I think I’ve had the latter, but I don’t remember it being eggy.) ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2022, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/87 "2022-01-11T23:33:10Z")
When I was at Safeway I worked with a guy who, whenever we divided up the aisles for the night, he always insisted on stocking the baking aisle. A few years later he was caught in the bathroom with a pocket full of empty vanilla extract bottles and fired on the spot. He had been getting drunk on them every night for years. Honestly it was the theft they were pissed off about; if he was just bringing in his own booze and drinking that on the job, as long as he was still getting the work done, nobody would have cared. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/88 "2022-01-12T01:55:42Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > and doubt very much they get more animal calls. I don’t doubt it. Animals get into all kinds of potentially bad, common stuff that kids wouldn’t think to, or that wouldn’t be harmful to a human (chocolate). Dogs chew open things a kid can’t open. They eat plants on walks. Plus lots of people have pets and no children. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/89 "2022-01-12T04:53:41Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Lots of places prohibit package sales or taverns but I was surprised when I learned that some places in Alaska have criminalized possession of alcohol. A lot of Native Reserves in northern Canada are officially dry. They don’t want the hassles of people bring in alcohol in quantity with the associated problems. I remember flying into one location in Nunavut and the RCMP were intercepting luggage that the airport Xray people (down south) had notified them contained bottles. Since I was just a visitor, they did not bother me. IIRC there were a few communities (mainly Mennonites?) on the prairies and some places I vaguely recall in eastern Ontario that were officially dry until a few decades ago. Same logic, far enough from other authorized alcohol sales to keep the community effectively sober… supposedly. It helped that hard liquor sales were only in government stores. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/90 "2022-01-12T05:21:21Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > > [@Joey\_P](#): > > > > Back in college, when people would have out-of-state friends coming up to visit, they’d always be surprised to see everyone have two or three beers in preparation for heading out to the bars. > > Start the buzz on cheap bulk bought beer. Then (since after the 2nd or 3rd most stuff tastes the same) drink the cheapest swill at the bars where the prices were too high on any good stuff.I think that was the M.O. throughout the US. This. People still do that, not just going to bars either. Ball games, Summerfest, State Fair. Booze is outrageously expensive at places like that. Back in the day bars would have deals on tap beer. Ten ounce glasses were a dime until midnight. Some places had a 16 ounce hard plastic cup you could buy for $2-$5 (depending on the place) and then on certain nights if you brought that cup in you got 25cent tappers in that cup. A disco in Fond Du Lac sold 12 ounce glass bottles for a nickel. Of course, the beer in those deals were always the lowest, el-cheapo brews one could get. Meister Brau, Red, White, & Blue, Walters Master Brew, Kingsbury, etc… All stuff they don’t make anymore. But when you’re a broke ass 18 year old you didn’t care. You could get trashed for under two bucks! ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/91 "2022-01-12T05:57:06Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > IIRC there were a few communities (mainly Mennonites?) on the prairies … Not the Mennonites. I’ve defended more than a few in court, when they were charged with DUI. A few years ago, one who was extremely drunk turned a local Tim Hortons into a drive-thru–he just didn’t use the drive-thru lane. No, instead, it’s the Mormons. Cardston, Alberta, which is the home of a Mormon temple, is officially dry. You can purchase alcohol elsewhere (Lethbridge, most often), and bring it into Cardston for private consumption in your own home, but there are no liquor stores or licensed restaurants in Cardston. Often, though, certain “nod nod wink wink” exceptions are unofficially made. I don’t live in Cardston, so I have little other experience, but I have played golf there. Its golf courses cannot be licensed, but players bring their own, usually in a pocket of their golf bag, and the golf course marshals and pro shop staff look the other way. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/92 "2022-01-12T14:46:41Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > … on certain nights if you brought that cup in you got 25cent tappers in that cup … I used to go to a place here in Chicago that had a cheap beer night like that. _Gets up, checks cabinet, finds 25 year old mug with name of place printed on it._ Hey, found a cool website with a decent description of the joint! > **[Parkway Tavern in Memoriam: Chicago Bar Project](https://chibarproject.com/reviews/parkway-tavern/)** > > Chicago Bar Project Review I was hazy on the details before reading the article above but it was 50¢ refills on Mondays, this would have been the late 90s, early 2000s. I don’t remember how much the quality glass mug was, probably 5 or 10 bucks. It’s hard to believe I used to go out drinkin’ on Monday nights. I have a distant memory of going with a friend of a friend who used a wheelchair. When we got inside, she realized she’d lost a shoe which was later found near the car. Uncontrollable laughter. Ugh, that mug rolled around in my trunk for longer than I’d care to admit. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/93 "2022-01-12T15:09:21Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > It is possible, in various pharmacies in South Africa, to purchase 2 litres of 90% pure ethyl-alcohol, without them needing a license to supply, nor myself being asked for ID. Just a normal OTC transaction. Pure ethanol is available for purchase in the US, but IME, when you are purchasing it you need to sign a statement confirming that you will not use it for beverage purposes. Years ago my employer purchased a 55-gallon drum of the stuff (for IC engine research), and somehow was able to take delivery without having signed/returned that form. Within a few days the vendor was calling and very urgently wanted to get that form from us, lest he end up on the hook for the beverage tax. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/94 "2022-01-12T15:20:19Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > I think that was the M.O. throughout the US. I was going to say, I didn’t think there was anything particularly Wisconsin about it. We’d call it “pre-gaming” (and I believe that’s how it’s known in a lot of places. It didn’t require going to an actual game, just getting a couple of drinks in ya before heading out to party. I guess we would also call it “pre-partying.”) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/95 "2022-01-12T15:24:06Z")
Yep. Used to do that a lot in my partying days. Now it’s mostly limited to pouring myself a celebratory drink when I arrive in Vegas, before heading down to the casino. Cocktails may be “free” to players, but service can be very slow sometimes. Best to pre-game, just to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/96 "2022-01-12T15:39:33Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > We’d call it “pre-gaming” In my youth we called it a roadie, and consumption would occur on the way. Then again, I remember stopping to buy a case of beer driving home in the summer of ~1984 and the guy asked me how many I wanted opened (they weren’t twist offs). Two. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/97 "2022-01-12T18:23:43Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Pure ethanol is available for purchase in the US, but IME, when you are purchasing it you need to sign a statement confirming that you will not use it for beverage purposes. While it’s not 100% ethanol, you can walk into most liquor (or grocery) stores and pick up a bottle of Everclear, which is 95%. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/98 "2022-01-12T18:40:41Z")
192 proof Spirytus is widely available here. > **[Polmos Spirytus Rektyfikowany 192 Proof 750ML](https://www.theliquorbarn.com/polmos-spirytus-rektyfikowany-192-proof-750ml/)** > > Polmos Spirytus Rektyfikowany 192 Proof Grain Alcohol 750ML ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/99 "2022-01-12T18:57:15Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > While it’s not 100% ethanol, you can walk into most liquor (or grocery) stores and pick up a bottle of Everclear, which is 95%. Sure, but you’ll be paying the alcohol beverage taxes on it. The OP started this thread by wondering why tax and ID requirements don’t apply to vanilla extract. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457/100 "2022-01-13T13:15:31Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’d go for South Asian kala namak (sulfur-rich, eggy salt – but I think you already know that). I love that stuff. (Or is hawaiian black salt like that? Or maybe pink Himalayan salt? I think I’ve had the latter, but I don’t remember it being eggy.) I would say the black salt isn’t eggy so much as a distinct sulfur taste but not any odd side flavors like char or that funky dirt taste you can get from licking something like one of those stone cubes they sell to keep in your freezer to get a really cold drink without watering it down. > [@DCnDC](#): > > Honestly it was the theft they were pissed off about; if he was just bringing in his own booze and drinking that on the job, as long as he was still getting the work done, nobody would have cared. Back in my management days in my shops we allowed 1 beer lunches at the closest bar to the shop - it had really good subs, so my guys would get a 12 inch sub, a packet of potato chips and a beer for $3 [this was back in the late 70s, up to about 83] The policy dated back to the 50s. One of my trainees was enough of an alcoholic he didn’t have a car, lived in company housing and would walk to and from a local bar after work, and a substantial amount of his wages went to that bar. > [@pkbites](#): > > Back in the day bars would have deals on tap beer. Ten ounce glasses were a dime until midnight. Wednesdays at Fort Story Enlisted Club was 10 cent wing, 25 cent beer and strippers night. It was one of our common entertainment dates for a couple years. The girls loved it when a new girl would have their first night there and they would prance out to take it off and spot a _girl_ in the audience embedded in about 30 guys =) They did actually make pretty good wings, original Anchor Inn recipe on the sauce, they had guys from western NY bring the Frank’s down [for years I would get in and eat for free because I would bring back 10 1 gallon glass jugs of the stuff. I actually have a gallon of it I need to replace, it is getting low. [we still make wings at home but it shifted to Saturday] > [@Joey\_P](#): > > While it’s not 100% ethanol, you can walk into most liquor (or grocery) stores and pick up a bottle of Everclear, which is 95%. I remember everclear, it got purchased and dumped into punch made of soda and koolaid or soda and hawaiian punch or various bottles of juices. Got snuck into barracks for Saturday pizza and everclear and poker parties back before mrAru moved in with me [mrAru, John, Mike and T13 were barracksmates, John was a nuke, mrAru and Mike were A-gangers and T13 was an ET] on mrAru’s first boat. They lived on the ground floor around to the back of the barracks behind the dumpster and electrical cage by the back parking lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-vanilla-extract-not-an-alcoholic-beverage/957457.md?page=6)