h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm reliably informed that Vodka can be frozen. It doesn't freeze solid but turns in to a gloopy jelly that can be swallowed whole. Freezing it makes it no less alcholic, and, because you can't taste it as well any more, you can swallow gallons of it very quickly. I imagine that would probably be fatal.

Vodka can be made into a fruity-flavoured jelly by using it in place of some of the water you would normally use. Do not use all vodka as the jelly will not set, it takes ages anyway. This, if done properly, results in a sweet treat that will get you extremely trolleyed, bypassing the dodgy taste part of vodka. This does not work with Tequila.

Frozen vodka blobs can be dropped into lager or other long alcoholic drinks where they lurk like proto-sapient sludge until you drink them in or they dissolve. Extremely scary. Especially when they have food colouring in them.

That sounds really appetising! Bet they'd go well in a Guinness.

I've only had my vodka blobs straight and I think the most common name for them is Jelly Shots. These are very popular in New Orleans and I saw a lot of very drunk college type people scoffing them down on the way from one bar to another. Jelly shots also have to compete with alcoholic squishys. These are drinks like Margarhita's, Blue Moon etc that are blended with ice in a big machine like you get in 7-11 (or Quickie Mart!) stores. Bar people will then squirt them into a cup when you order.

Why in a country where the legal drinking age is 21 are such sugary kiddy drinks popular?

I read somewhere that the U.S.A. as a nation consumes more sugar per capita than just about any other country, so it doesn't surprise me that we have more sugary alcoholic drinks. I doubt if the legal drinking age is a factor, but that's just me.

I've been told by a few different people that freezing vodka actually make it stronger in alcohol...I'don't know how true this is or if its actually possible. Maybe its because you can drink it easier?

See the entry http://www.h2g2.com/A245206 for the details...

We have a joke in Russia about this subject:
Father drinks vodka in the kitchen. His little son comes and asks:
- Daddy, can I taste it?
- Here you are, sonny!
- Ouae-e-e-.. It's not tasty at all!
- And what do you think with your mother, I am drinking honey here ??


Joke

If you're able to freeze the vodka, I don't think it's alcoholic enough! But if you do freeze alcoholic drinks (e.g. wine), the alcohol doesn't freeze so you are left with a (dangerously) refined alcohol. I'm told that this is illegal in some countries.

In one of Martin Cruz Smith's novels, he tells the tale of someone in Siberia who didn't warm the vodka properly by the fire before drinking it. Because the temperature away from the fire was so extremely low (this tale occurs outdoors on the tundra), one drink of the super-cooled (but still liquid) vodka was enough to stop the drinker's heart. Does anyone know if this is technically possible?