# What is the worst alcoholic drink you've ever had? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897 "2014-07-24T01:51:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/21 "2014-07-24T02:40:58Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’ve never had a lambic from SA, … We’re going on 10 years later and I’m just now deciding that I should probably revisit my ‘I don’t do IPA/PAs’ rule. With the explosion of IPAs during that time it seems like, if I do actually like them, it’ll be a long road ahead of me to catch up… First, do not try the cranberry lambic. Second, may I recommend a Ranger IPA from New Belgium? And there is no catching up involved. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/22 "2014-07-24T02:44:06Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Hell, that was funny! I’ve never tried Malort… now I must. [Just don’t](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nluKEy0qYEg) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/23 "2014-07-24T02:48:48Z")
I’ve tried ouzo and rhubarb wine. Not together. There is not enough brain bleach in the world to eliminate what that might taste like. Each is worse than the other. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/24 "2014-07-24T02:55:25Z")
_Chínguere_. It’s a sugarcane-based homemade firewater from the mountains of northern Oaxaca, Mexico. It has a slight greenish tinge, and tastes like rancid, burning jet fuel. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/25 "2014-07-24T02:55:40Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’ve tried ouzo and rhubarb wine. > > Not together. There is not enough brain bleach in the world to eliminate what that might taste like. Each is worse than the other. I kinda like ouzo, though I admit it’s suitable for mixing with literally nothing. ☹ Rhubarb wine, on the other hand, sounds absolutely horrible. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/26 "2014-07-24T02:56:43Z")
Ever tried an [Old Spanish](http://www.avclub.com/article/emmad-menem-made-a-pretty-sly-reference-to-em30-ro-96864)? ---
**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:** [July 24, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/27 "2014-07-24T03:03:56Z")
The original “Kulminator” that was in the Guinness book of records as the strongest beer. 13.5%, IIRC. Looked, smelled and tasted like purple vomit. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/28 "2014-07-24T03:20:32Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Jumping Jesus on a fucking pogo stick, if I EVER drink [Malort](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeppson's_Mal%C3%B6rt) again it will be because someone is slowly tearing the flesh from my body with vise-grips. So, one day, about seven or eight years ago (just before this Malort stuff became a “thing” in Chicago), I took my then-girlfriend, now-wife to a bar on Montrose. I noticed they had malort on offer. Oooo…I gotta try this, I think. So I ask her if she wants to take part in a Chicago “old man’s drink.” She accepts. We get a shot each. She downs it, and I’m expecting the typical scowl, cough, vomitous look, whatever, and I get nothing. “Eh…not bad,” (or something similar, it’s hard to remember as I was so surprised by the lack of reaction) she says to me. I knew at that point she was the woman for me. 🙂 My mom and dad love it, too, but they’re Polish-born, where they have a similar drink called piołunówka (meaning something like “alcoholic wormwood infusion”) and there’s a drink for upset tummies we drank as kids that had the same bitterness and flavor of malort, minus the alcohol. For me? Worst alcoholic drink? This really is a tough one. I tend to like the really rough and bitter stuff, so that’s all out. I might have to go with something like Busch Lite. That’s one of the few alcoholic drinks I’ve had that I couldn’t finish. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/29 "2014-07-24T03:23:04Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic. I’ve made a lot of mistakes multiple times in my life, that’s one I only made once. I wouldn’t put it that low on my list, but though I’m a fan of Sam Adams in general (and they make my favorite American lager, I will admit), that cranberry lambic was awful and had nothing to do, as far as I can figure out, with lambic. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/30 "2014-07-24T03:38:55Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I knew at that point she was the woman for me. 🙂 Yeah, by Chicago unwritten bylaws you pretty much have to marry a girl like that, more or less on the spot. ---
**Author:** ![seodoa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@seodoa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seodoa)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/31 "2014-07-24T03:41:36Z")
Can’t say I’ve had any particularly outrageous drinks. Certainly nothing like the OP. However, I once had a margarita at a gay bar in Tokyo that tasted like paint thinner. Or at least like something which could be used as a paint thinner. With a hint of citrus. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/32 "2014-07-24T03:42:45Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > First, do not try the cranberry lambic. Second, may I recommend a Ranger IPA from New Belgium? And there is no catching up involved. I don’t intend to, I like Boston Lager and don’t waste my money on the rest of their beers, honestly, they all taste like Boston Lager to me. My beer rep gave me a Capital Ghost Ship IPA (which is what started this) and I was surprised at how drinkable it was. Over the past few years, during the IPA invasion, I’d have sips here and there of other people’s beers. Trying ridiculously overly bitter beers like Hopslam didn’t really make me have any interest in giving IPA’s a shot. The only other experience I’d had was one or two Sierra Nevada Pale Ale’s which, to me, were not bitter at all and with how popular it is, I assume it’s the Bud Light of the Pale Ale world. Checking BeerAdvocate, I’m surprised it’s an American Pale Ale. I’d rather have a beer where I can taste the flavor and not prove that I can drink a beer that’s more bitter then a beer you can drink. Just like I’d rather eat food I can taste and not just prove how much spice I can handle as I sit there with my nose running and my eyes bloodshot and not enjoying my food. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/33 "2014-07-24T03:47:40Z")
After my grandmother died, we took home the contents of her liquor cabinet. Most of it was pretty old, so it was fairly potent. She had some pretty good stuff, too – I especially liked the blackberry brandy and the creme de menthe (not together, of course!) But there was a melon liquor that was extremely nasty – it was like someone melted a watermelon lollipop and mixed it with cough syrup. Ugh! I think that went down the drain. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/34 "2014-07-24T03:58:36Z")
[Midori?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midori_(liqueur)) That shit is barely drinkable right off the shelf. As a mixer it’s passable. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/35 "2014-07-24T04:02:00Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’d rather have a beer where I can taste the flavor and not prove that I can drink a beer that’s more bitter then a beer you can drink. Just like I’d rather eat food I can taste and not just prove how much spice I can handle as I sit there with my nose running and my eyes bloodshot and not enjoying my food. I’ll be honest: I’ve been a bit burnt out on the craft brew fixation on IPAs for the last five years or so. (I’ve mentioned this several times on this board.) But I also like IPAs. It’s not about “proving” anything of the sort. Like with spicy food, many of us really enjoy the taste of hops. It’s actually what really got me seriously into beer, turning it into a true hobby, or one may call it an obsession. The first time I tasted Dreadnaught, an Imperial IPA from Three Floyd’s (in 2004), I was hooked. I had no idea beer could taste like that: so floral, so fruity, so herbal, so wonderful. Seriously, there’s pretty much no other beer I can tell you exactly where I was, what the circumstances were, what time of day it was, what bar it was, etc. That’s how fucking much I was blown away by it. That said, no Dreadnaught since has equalled my memory of it. But that was my first experience of a true hoppy beer. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/36 "2014-07-24T04:05:43Z")
Ferengi Punch: Blue Raspberry Cisco, Blue Raspberry Jolt Cola. How doth my head hurt? Let me count the ways. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/37 "2014-07-24T04:17:37Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’ve tried ouzo and rhubarb wine. > > Not together. There is not enough brain bleach in the world to eliminate what that might taste like. Each is worse than the other. Someone gave me a shot of ouzo once. It was absolutely awful. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/38 "2014-07-24T04:28:42Z")
As a two fisted drinker in Chicago, I happen to adore Malort. It used to be pretty hard to find but is now widely available for $10/shot. It is a fun bottle to bring to a party. In general, though, I like the Central European rough stuff. Slivovitz, rakia, pelinkovac (great!), bottoms up! My worsts list are probably all due to sweetness. I’m highly sweet adverse and, in particular, those dyed rum tiki-type drinks are wretched. Midori is indeed pretty awful. And get that nasty Pucker crap out of my face. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/39 "2014-07-24T04:33:20Z")
Potato wine made in someone’s basement was the absolute worst. Tied for 2nd are all light beers except for the 3rd worst, Michelob Light. Zima was also just plain awful. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/40 "2014-07-24T04:46:40Z")
> [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](#): > > Zima was also just plain awful. Before I started drinking beer I was drinking Smirnoff Twisted, Smirnoff Triple Black and those little [Jack Daniel’s flavored things](http://www.weblungs.com/houstonliquors/liquor-large/082184055168.jpg). Then I started drinking beer and a while later I was at a party and someone offered me a Smirnoff Ice, never had one, tried it, it was like drinking Simple Syrup. Soooo sweet. I couldn’t finish it. One of the reasons I don’t drink soda is because they’re too sweet, but after moving from ‘girly’ drinks over to beer, I had lost my taste for those things. Also, Smirnoff Ice is much sweeter than Smirnoff Triple Black. Never had a Zima, I assume it’s the same as all those other drinks that are just alcoholic sugar water. Might as well just have vodka and sprite. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897.md?page=3)