I think most people would know everclear...especially if they'd been crazy teenagers at one time in their lives...

moonshine is often equated to everclear.

Strangely enough, everclear is not consistent depending on state law. I was shocked in '89 to learn that Iowa allows nothing over 151 proof, and so their everclear was 151. Illinois everclear is 180 proof. I use an invention of distilled mushrooms called Marlbrew in much of my fiction. It is essentially 100-180 proof with either fermaldahide or psillocyben to augment it as an hallucingen as well as an alcoholic beverage. Pure grain ETOH can go under any name you wish to give it. Dwarven spirits are as likely distilled from fungus as from fruit and/or grain. Though fungus as we know it does not ferment appropriately due to its high water and low sugar content. Moonshine is usually pure grain whiskey distilled multiple times. As is everclear. Also, distillation processes vary depending on charcoal, salt, copper, and other factors in the distillation process. Dwarves might be likely to use wormwood in distilled liquor such that they would have ultra-high proof forms of absynthe, which would give hallucagenic benefits like highgrade absinthes from the mountainous European regions. Depending on whether they add the wormwood before or after distillation, it would give it more a kick and more hallucinative qualities. Also, the water matters. Certain kinds of tequilla are more devastating because they use fermaldahyde as well as water in the process, and fermaldahyde is an hallucinegen as well.

According to urban legand, Jeagermeister was mixed with hart-blood to make it more potent. It was flavored with anise and, depending on local tradition, may or may not have contained wormwood (the herb responsible for the mild hallucinagenic qualities of absinthe). One of the factors in some of these is the dissociative effect of the combinations of ETOH and hallucinagenic herbs; sometimes the mix could encourage the savagery necessary for 'berserker' rages, and the subsequent downside of memory loss with the benefit of projection of guilt on an 'otherness' that came over them during 'battle rages' enhanced by ennebriation.

Is that any help?

BTW: 'whiskey' is from the welsh/scot/celtic tradition for the word 'water' as is the word 'vodka'. That's where we get the term 'firewater'.

Everclear can burn the skin off your lips. It's something you shoot or mix. It's more commonly used for mixing than anything else.

Takes a serious idiot to drink it straight. Too easy to OD and die of ETOH poisoning on Everclear - or B'cardi's 151 for that matter. In my estmation, anything over 101 proof is just an invitation to poisoning. And I know a little about it . . . In my younger days I was the kind of idiot that bolted everclear. That bottle of Iowa everclear was something someone had in a dorm room over at WIU, and I insulted it because of its 151 vs. 180, which of course led to a challenge. I bolted a third of the bottle in one pull and winked at them all. We spent twenty minutes shooting the bull to prove that it wouldn't knock me out, and then I went straight to the stairwell and walked about 90 flights of stairs (several trips from the 16th floor to the Mez and back) to clear my head. But . . . back in those days I drank about a liter of silver rum every day - more when there was actually something going on. If I wasn't sipping rum out of a brandy snifter (or in class, of course, being at college and all), I was usually bolting orange juice out of quart bottles - two to three a day.

If I tried that now . . . I'd last maybe an hour, tops. And that's just the rum. The everclear . . . I simply would not do it.

Strangely enough, I tend to expect a higher tolerance for the average person and am often quite surprised to find other drunk on what seems to me a moderate amount.

How many of us have "eaten the worm" in the Mexicali tradition?

Everclear can do strange things.

I had a friend who shot a capful of it, and broke out with bright splotches on his face.

I've seen folks do the same from a strong martini - gin or vodka (if you'll condescend to call a vodka drink a martini . . .) ETOH is, after all, a mild poison. That's why it makes us feel funny. But some poisons are beneficial in low doses: arsenic, ETOH, salacilic acid, LSD, caffeine, nicotine, etc.

Chemistry is what makes life (biologically speaking) . . . and what makes it fun!

It was a twelve-hour marathon. I didn't do much chugging. Just drinking. It was hot, and I was working through the first case (clearing sandbags, which is how I slipped a disc). Then we went to a graduation party for a friend. Thankfully, it was outside . . . I ambled over quite often to the shadows behind an evergreen . . . wee wee wee . . .

I can't eat that much. I can drink a lot because I have a) the bladder retention of a four-year-old; b) I have 25 years of practice from varsity to Olympic level; c) genetic predisposition for tolerance [remarkably, without addiction]; d) I'm constantly thirsty.

Having said that, I would like to state that I no longer go on ridiculous binges and never recommend it for anyone who cares to live a normal life. And I strongly recommend against beer bongs! Also, I insist on either drinking at home or having a designated driver - not to be PC, but to be responsible. AND I honestly think the legal drinking age should be changed: 23 for women and 25 for men. This I base on a bit of research I've done on the phisiological harm alcohol can do and the fact that the human brain is not fully formed, physically, until those ages. Heavy drinking or binge drinking can seriously damage any brain, but it can seriously destroy the quality of life for anyone underage. [And, yes, this is an opinion greatly changed over time due to further education on the matter; I previously was of the opinion that 17 or 18 should be the legal drinking age because you can join the armed forces and die for your country at that age, so you may as well be able to drink. But then, I think induction age should be moved up . . .]