What Is The Strongest Alcohol You Can Drink?

Distilled spirits come in varying degrees of strength, oftentimes hovering around the 40% alcohol by volume (ABV) mark. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're limited there, because ABV per spirit can vary widely from the low end, 20% to 25%, to cask-strength whiskeys, which can hang out between 50% to 60% ABV. Learning about the spirit world (beverages, not ghosts!) can be fascinating, because as you can imagine, drinks can get way more intense than that. If an alcoholic beverage can reach 60% alcohol levels, then how strong do you suppose the strongest liquor in the world is, and what on Earth can it be?

Though I can hear a lot of you shouting the name right now, it's not the American product Everclear, which clocks in at an alarmingly strong 95% alcohol. Notably, the brand Everclear itself doesn't suggest you drink its product straight, but rather use it for other purposes, such as cooking, cleaning (yep, it disinfects), and creating tinctures and fortifications for bar purposes. But there is in fact a stronger product out there called Spirytus Rektyfikowany by Polmos Warszawa, from Poland, otherwise known as a "rectified spirit," which, incredibly, inches past 95% to come out on top.

If you think an alcoholic product can't get much stronger than Everclear's 95% ABV, you're right, because Polmos Warszawa's Spirytus Rektyfikowany ekes past that by a single percent. Like Everclear, you're technically not advised to drink it straight, but rather use it for liqueurs, solvents, tinctures, perfumes, and in cooking. Be careful too — any alcohol at that concentration is extremely flammable. And even if you haven't heard of it, it's commercially available in the United States.

Considering this spirit is pretty much pure ethanol and a little water — twice as strong as your standard shot of whiskey, tequila, or vodka — use this for cocktails and mixers. I once tried the tiniest sip of Everclear straight just to see what it was like, and I immediately regretted it (seriously, it was just a tiny taste), because I felt the caustic burn all the way from my mouth down to my stomach. I can't imagine that drinking Spirytus Rektyfikowany straight would be any different. 

One of the drinkable things you can make from spirits like Spirytus Rektyfikowany or Everclear include things such as limoncello (Everclear even provides a recipe), so technically you can drink it, just in a significantly diluted form, and arguably much more palatable. And speaking of, we have some pointers on the best ways to drink limoncello, in case you want to try making your own with a high-octane spirit like Spirytus Rektyfikowany.