This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Jonny D: This trope seemed to have slipped off YKTTW so I took it upon myself to launch. The main text is lifted straigth from Schol-R-LEA 's origonal posting of the idea on YKTTW.
Seth: Would the massive steak from Uncle Buck count? It isn't alcohol but it has the same "Hushed silence when ordered" "Are you sure" thing to it.
Jonny D: I would say that the steak would count if it had, for example, hot sauce on it that was so hot it set your head on fire. I think a key part of a Gargle Blaster is that it's powerful. So if the awed hush is just because the steak is very large, then I don't know if it would count. You may have a related trope there, for outlandishly large food portions, steaks the size of hubcaps, sundaes the size of the matterhorn and so on.
cg12345: Does this trope count for incredibly spicy food as well? I proposed a food version of this trope called "Guatemalan Insanity Peppers" on YKTTW a while ago, but it seems to have died.
Uknown Troper: Moved Akihiko's jam to Screwball Serum.
- * In Quebec you can buy alcool, 97% alcohol. A double shot is enough to put most people into a coma.
Lies. I've had a double shot of 192-proof grain liquor (it's available in Oregon too, and actually fairly cheap); if you do the math, it comes out to about five and a half shots of ordinary vodka. Goes down surprisingly smooth, too.
Falchion: Battle Tech's PPC. Two shots of Everclear with your choice of either a shot of peppermint schnapps, tequila, bourbon, plum wine, sake, or MORE Everclear. A Gargle Blaster indeed. Heh, I'm turning into a Single-Issue Wonk...
Mike Rosoft: Removed Natter:
- Actually the "proofing" that was originally used to measure degrees proof in the days before accurate determination of alcohol content measured how much of a drink you would need to mix with gunpowder so the powder would burn, but not explode. A watery drink like beer damps the powder quickly, letting it burn without exploding after a tiny amount of beer is added and so has a low proof. A strong liquor would require more, and originally rum at 57.15% alcohol by volume was defined as 100 degrees proof. 300 degrees proof, in fact anything over 175 degrees or anything with negative proof would likely mean that the drink would happily explode without the gunpowder.
- Been there, done that, lost the eyebrows.
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Mike: I'm going to cut the below. I've done some searching and have yet to find any such laws, although I have found that alcohol is a good solvent for capsaicin. Also, I haven't been able to figure out WTF "catalyzed alcohol" is. Or which country "the country" is. If it must go back, those things should be clarified.
- For the confused, pepper spray is essentially refined capsaicin (the chemical "heat" of red pepper and most chilis), which is illegal to mix with alcohol in half the country due to its catalytic properties. That is to say, the drink is nothing more or less than catalyzed grain alcohol.
