BlazeBall
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Why does alcohol taste bad?
I was wondering what part of the ethanol molecule (and other poisons) is responsible for it's bad taste, does a certain chemical chain bind to bitter
taste receptors?
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ScienceSquirrel
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Pure ethanol in deionised water at a concentration of around 10% has a slight sweet flavour to me,
As the concentration goes up it develops the characteristic nature of strong spirits but it still has some sweetness.
Ethanol is not a poison in small amounts, it is normally metabolised without long term harm by most people. It is a normal constituent of very ripe
fruit and we consumed it naturally at low levels before we developed the technology to make alcoholic drinks and foods.
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BlazeBall
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Well sure it's not harmful in small amounts, you can consume small amounts of almost any poison without harm and more toxic chemicals like GHB are
even present in fruit. But I'm talking about concentrations high enough to pose an intoxication risk, where you can start to taste it.
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ScienceSquirrel
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It depends on what you describe as a poison.
Sodium chloride or common table salt is very poisonous at the same tevels as alcohol is tolerated.
A normal adult could drink a pint ( 500ml ) of beer at 5% ABV without much in the way of harmful effect, try drinking the same amount of 5% saline and
see how you feel!
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Saerynide
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Pure ethanol doesnt "taste" like anything so much as it just burns. As I've always been told, good vodka (ethanol and water) should not be bitter,
maybe just a little sweet. Lick your finger after dipping it in some expensive vodka or Everclear and youll see what I mean (if you drink it, itll be
too strong and you'll be "feeling" it and not "tasting" it). It'll taste almost like water, cept maybe a tad sweeter.
If you taste bitterness in your ethanol, either your vodka is too crappy (don't drink that $9.95/handle charcoal filtered junk!) or you are tasting
the denaturing agent in ethanol that isnt sold for human consumption 
According to this study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10940547
10% of the subjects said ethanol tasted bitter and 30% said it tasted sweet/sour. So I'm assuming that at least 60% do not think it tastes bitter nor
sweet/sour.
[Edited on 4/17/2011 by Saerynide]
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BlazeBall
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That study says all subjects found alcohol tasted bitter.
| Quote: | | All subjects described 10% ethanol as bitter and approximately 30% of the subjects described it as sweet and/or sour. |
[Edited on 17-4-2011 by BlazeBall]
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Saerynide
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Oh ok, mis-read. My bad
But regardless, a good vodka should not be bitter  http://www.russianlife.com/vodka/howto.cfm
So how does that work... if all subjects described a 10% EtOH soln as "bitter" but quality vodka (40% EtOH) is not...? There must be differing
definitions of "bitter" being used here
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hissingnoise
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Alcohol only tastes bad to people who haven't drank enough of it . . .
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ScienceSquirrel
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But people do not generally drink solutions of alcohol in water.
Most alcoholic drinks contain a lot more materials like sugars, organic acids, aromatics, etc that modify the taste.
Beer is generally bitter and some beers are very bitter but people choose to drink them, the bitterness from roasted grains and hops far exceeds that
from the alcohol.
Chilli peppers are hot and some are very hot but people choose to consume something that is distasteful initially.
It is quite easy to come up with plenty of delicacies that are pretty yuk if you are not culturally accustomed to them.
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IndependentBoffin
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This one takes the cake though (excuse the pun)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu
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Mixell
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Oh, I've been wanting to try that for quite some time.
Just of curiosity, anyone knows if there is a relationship between the taste of an acyclic alcohol and the size of its R group?
Anyone ever tasted some methanol or isopropyl alcohol? 
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Ephoton
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you dont drink enough I love the shit
my life though does not
e3500 console login: root
bash-2.05#
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Hades_Foundation
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your life? Do you mean your wife?
[Edited on 18-4-2011 by Hades_Foundation]
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Ephoton
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ye probably both 
e3500 console login: root
bash-2.05#
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Sedit
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Its largely mental effect but im not really a hard alcohol drinker, I love beer.
However to the point shall we.... When I drink hard liquor I must hold it in the back of my mouth for however long until my brain says go else it
comes back up. On the same note if I attempt to do the same in the front of my mouth it burns and gags me. It seems evident to me that the receptors
suseptible to the nastyness of EtOH must lay somewhere in the front or more then likely the mid areas of the tounge.
Its ancedotal evidence but I hope this helps. Next time I drink ill try to gather more information but as stated I find beer to be the beverage of
choice so it could take time before I feel the need to .... um..... experiment
Knowledge is useless to useless people...
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fall of the ruling country, the people who think they can do whatever they want without anybody else's consent. I've seen this story
before."~Maynard James Keenan
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Ephoton
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pure alcohol has no taste only a burn.
it will also burn your skin if you put enough of it on you for long enough.
the tounge is very sensative.
thats my honest thoughts but still alcohol to me has no taste or smell when pure well
at least to me.
e3500 console login: root
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Saerynide
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Quote: Originally posted by Mixell  |
Oh, I've been wanting to try that for quite some time.
Just of curiosity, anyone knows if there is a relationship between the taste of an acyclic alcohol and the size of its R group?
Anyone ever tasted some methanol or isopropyl alcohol? |
Oh dearl Lord! I almost puked when I read that  (the cheese that is) I love
cheese, dont get me wrong, but cheese with live animals is too much And they
larvae jump??
On another note, I would imagine MeOH to have less taste than ethanol? (not about to try). IPA tastes very bad (tastes just like how it smells, I
tried).
Does anyone think acetaldehyde smells like fruity heaven? Does anyone suppose it tastes as good as it smells? Every time I open the bottle of
acetaldehyde, I cant help enjoying the vapors that escape from the fumehood
(Everyone at work seems to be afraid of it and thinks its extremely hazardous to health, but seeing how much acetaldehyde my body processes from all
the alcohol I drink, Im sure sniffing a bit more at work isnt going to make a difference )
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atomicfire
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Taste, in my opinion, is completely subjective. What 'tastes' good to one may not 'taste' good to another.
If you are using actual 'spirits' so to speak, then I don't think it's the alcohol that is tasting 'bad'.
I mostly agree with another poster that pure ethanol itself actually tastes slightly sweet. What makes beer so bad (for me) is the other products in
it. I can't stand beer, way too bitter.
ban DHMO
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GreenD
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"Has anyone tasted methanol?"
Really? Has anyone tasted Potassium Cyanide?
Methanol will do damage to you - shit makes you go blind.
I personally think 20% ethanol in water is somewhat sweet. It's sweet at the start, but bitter after taste. Taste and smell are very complicated
senses - actually, all of our senses are fairly complicated. But nobody truly understands why things taste and smell bad or good.
Google miracle fruit for an interesting idea, it makes veggies taste like chocolate and chocolate taste like carrots.
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Mixell
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I wasn't serious about the tasting part, although I don't think one drop of methanol (0.05 ml) can damage a persons vision, when about 4ml of pure
methanol can cause permanent blindness. But I would not recommend to anyone to taste any amount of methanol.
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Sedit
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Ill taste it tommorow.
A single drop and a couple glasses of water to wash it out will do me absolutely no harm at all. You more then likely ingest more MeOH then I would
get from a single drop on the tounge after a night of Whisky drinking for the average Joe so I have no fear at all in doing it. Im under the
assumption however that it will burn and taste like shit.
Knowledge is useless to useless people...
"I see a lot of patterns in our behavior as a nation that parallel a lot of other historical processes. The fall of Rome, the fall of Germany — the
fall of the ruling country, the people who think they can do whatever they want without anybody else's consent. I've seen this story
before."~Maynard James Keenan
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