# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/41 "2014-07-24T05:05:37Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > 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. I had a Zima once at a picnic. It tasted sort of like what beer would taste like if it didn’t taste like anything. ---
**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, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/42 "2014-07-24T05:06:24Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > I had a Zima once at a picnic. It tasted sort of like what beer would taste like if it didn’t taste like anything. Coors Light? ---
**Author:** ![troubledwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@troubledwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troubledwater)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/43 "2014-07-24T05:16:32Z")
Naxos citron. I had bought it entirely on the basis of considering it a tribute to Mr. Scott. (“It’s green.”) This was during a summer mostly spent in pursuit of the cheapest wine in Europe that was still drinkable (somewhere in Spain, approximately $1US/liter). This Naxos citron was another thing entirely, and neither the Aussie nor the sturdy English midlands guy I was hanging out with would have anything to do with it, either. We wound up pouring it down a toilet in Naples. > [@seodoa](#): > > …Or at least like something which could be used as a paint thinner. With a hint of citrus. I had been sitting here trying to remember what it was called and what exactly was wrong with it. This triggered my memory, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/44 "2014-07-24T05:17:54Z")
Ratzeputz. It’s like licking an ashtray and washing it down with gasoline. With urine in it. It was a right of passage where I was stationed first in Germany. One shot of it. No prob, says I. I wanted to die. I don’t think I drank alcohol for a month. Which is a crime in Germany. Some say it has the essence of ginger. Not in my universe. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/45 "2014-07-24T06:09:24Z")
While in college, a friend and I threw together a primitive kitchen still to distill some party-leftover Budweiser that we both had turned our noses up at. The still worked, but, trust me, raw, concentrated Budweiser is _not_ better than the regular stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/46 "2014-07-24T06:55:43Z")
Some friends brought something seriously nasty back from Korea once. I don’t remember what it was called. It was just awful but very potent. We kept it for ages thinking we could use it as a mixer but it was so bad it ruined everything it was mixed with ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/47 "2014-07-24T09:12:49Z")
I find Underberg to be exceptionally vile tasting ([Underberg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underberg)), but it works amazingly well as a digestif. Someone once wrote that it sets off a bomb in your stomach that frees you from the agony of over-indulging. So the trick is to hold the bottle between your teeth, throw your head back and get it into your stomach without it touching your tastebuds… Worst drink I ever mixed (but didn’t drink myself) was Pernod & Aquavit. Some guys used dice to decide which numbers on the menu they wanted to try together. After this concoction, they went back to using common sense. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/48 "2014-07-24T10:25:04Z")
As a straight out of the bottle drink it is hard to beat Ouzo or Green Chartreuse. Both are rank. However, the worst drink I ever had was what is called (charmingly) in the US an “Irish car bomb”. It is a shot of Jameson and Bailey’s dropped into half a pint of Guinness. I don’t know whose idea it was to combine three palatable enough drinks into that abomination but they should probably be at some UN tribunal in the Hague for crimes against humanity. Actually thinking about it now the car bomb wasn’t even the worst drink I’ve ever had. Aged about 17 I was broke so scabbed a few drops of everybody’s drink at a party. The rocket fuel was just about drinkable until I added some Bailey’s and the whole concoction congealed. I am sad to say I drank it anyway. Bleh. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/49 "2014-07-24T11:41:11Z")
I like rauchbier. Triumph brewpub in New Hope PA had a batch made up a few months back. Very interesting. I tend to be not very adventurous with hard liquors (because I am a pathologically cheap bastard and booze is expensive) so I do not have many stories about trying something nasty. However, I did not like Sam Adams’ Maple Pecan Porter. Much too sweet for my taste. I am also not a big fan of any of the pumpkin ales that are foisted on us every Fall. Beer should taste like beer, not like pie. ---
**Author:** ![Drummond\_Bays](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@Drummond\_Bays](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drummond_Bays)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/50 "2014-07-24T11:55:51Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Drinking out of the beer can that others have been using for an ashtray. God, I swallowed a pretty sizable cigarette butt that way… Could barely keep my stomach intact. Probably should have puked it out, but I loath puking. Once upon a time, around the giftsmas holidays, someone accidentally poured a couple shots worth of Crown Royal into a mug of milk on the table. As the night wore on, the milk separated more and more. By the end of the night, when we had run out of liquor, a friend and I began coercing ourselves to drink it. (Hey, I was 17.) We did. It was absolutely awful, like gritty Laban or Baltic yogurt on top of whisky. Mezcal. Specifically Gusano Rojo Mezcal. I’m no big fan of tequila to begin with, but this #!& should be illegal. Apparently it's made to fool gullible and cheap tourists into thinking they're buying Tequila. Vile. It tasted like some Mexican dude drank nothing but tequila for four days, and then pissed into a half jug of paint thinner. What makes it worse is it's weak as #!&, so if one does decide to choke it down, it takes quite a bit to hit that “so drunk I don’t care, just give me more alcohol” stage. Smells awful to boot. ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/51 "2014-07-24T12:01:58Z")
Two entries. One was a college “right-of-passage” kind of drink that was given to me by my Freshman dorm RA. It was called a Prairie Fire, and wiki actually says that it is a thing.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prairie\_Fire\_(mixed\_drink)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prairie_Fire_(mixed_drink)). The one I had was a “Mexican Prairie Fire”, tequila + tobasco sauce. Prairie Fire + Tony = instant vomit. The second I had while deployed to Okinawa. Habu-Sake. A dead Habu snake pickled in a big jar of Japanese Sake. Habu snake venom creates an interesting, long-lasting type of headache that ws unique to this Sailor’s experience… ---
**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:** [July 24, 2014, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/52 "2014-07-24T13:00:42Z")
I’ve had many drinks I hated the first taste of, but vowed I’d finish. Then I ordered another. A recent craft IPA aged on orange peels and served cask style (but too warm) is one example. [Carton Panzanella, a tomato/onion/cucumber salad beer](http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/carton-panzanella/275669/) has grown on me. > [@](#): > > COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION > You only have to see so many pumpkin beers showing up on shelves in mid-summer before you do a seasonal reality check. Being from the Garden State we are fully aware the flavors of midsummer are. With Panzanella we play that game. A salted ale built around malts chosen to play croutons, Summit hops chosen for their garlic/onion pungency, dry hopped with tomatoes and cucumbers evoking that classic midsummer salad. Drink Panzanella at a picnic table and save the gourds for the harvest. But, wondering about Thorogood, I once ordered a shot of bourbon, a shot of scotch, and a draft beer. I drank them in that order and it was awful. I like bourbon. I like scotch. I like beer. But in that order, back to back, it was awful. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/53 "2014-07-24T13:12:54Z")
God help me, my wife LOVES Malort. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/54 "2014-07-24T13:15:25Z")
Jagermeister. I tasted it once and wanted to vomit. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/55 "2014-07-24T13:29:44Z")
> [@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. > [@OneCentStamp](#): > > I kinda like ouzo, though I admit it’s suitable for mixing with literally nothing. ☹ > > Rhubarb wine, on the other hand, sounds absolutely horrible. 😃 A Greek restaurant that my wife and I go to had a drink special one night - Greek margaritas, which were made with ouzo instead of tequila. It tasted like I was drinking a Ny-Quil margarita. ---
**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, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/56 "2014-07-24T13:30:50Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > A Greek restaurant that my wife and I go to had a drink special one night - Greek margaritas, which were made with ouzo instead of tequila. It tasted like I was drinking a Ny-Quil margarita. That sounds absolutely vile. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/57 "2014-07-24T13:38:09Z")
I’m one of those weak-charactered creampuffs who enjoy fruity sweet cocktails, so this probably won’t hold a candle to what’s been posted already (and frankly, some of your descriptions have made me feel sick), but the worst-tasting alcoholic drink I’ve ever tasted is [Fernet Branca](http://www.romefile.com/foodanddrink/fernet-branca.php). Legend has it that it cures cholera, and I can believe why someone would think so. ---
**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, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/58 "2014-07-24T13:42:10Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > I’m one of those weak-charactered creampuffs who enjoy fruity sweet cocktails, so this probably won’t hold a candle to what’s been posted already (and frankly, some of your descriptions have made me feel sick), but the worst-tasting alcoholic drink I’ve ever tasted is [Fernet Branca](http://www.romefile.com/foodanddrink/fernet-branca.php). Legend has it that it cures cholera, and I can believe why someone would think so. That sounds like unsweetened Jagermeister. I bet it was awful. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/59 "2014-07-24T13:46:03Z")
Goldschläger, any kind of Schnapps, Wild Turkey, Southern Comfort, chocolate wine, Moscato… They are not friends of mine I will not drink them like I did that one bad time I’d rather kiss boy cows, poot in the night Lose my pants to a gar, have a water balloon fight ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897/60 "2014-07-24T13:47:06Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > A Greek restaurant that my wife and I go to had a drink special one night - Greek margaritas, which were made with ouzo instead of tequila. It tasted like I was drinking a Ny-Quil margarita. A (now sadly closed) Greek restaurant here offered a Black Cretan - ouzo and Kahlua. It was actually quite good, at least to me, and was always my go-to drink there. As far as the worst, I like to take advantage of our local supermarket’s “make your own six-pack” deal, with all their various single bottle craft and specialty beers. One day I saw something called a smoke beer. It even had a little award mark on the bottle saying it won best smoke beer in some contest. Well … it tasted like pure smoke. The artwork of the brick smokestack on the bottle accurately depicted the taste of this beer. I could handle only two swallows before I dumped the rest of the bottle. Ack. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-alcoholic-drink-youve-ever-had/693897.md?page=4)