QandAs: Food

What is Alcohol?

Answer:
Alcohol, from the Arab "al kohl"

meaning the essence, is essentially a chemical blend of hydrogen, oxygen and carbon created through a process called fermentation. Living yeast cultures consume sugars or starches in such ingredients as corn, grains, grapes, berries or potatoes and the resulting product is a drinkable ethyl alcohol or ethanol.

There are a number of other fermented products which are considered to be alcohols, such as methanol and butanol, but only ethyl alcohol is considered safe enough to consume as a beverage. Fermented ethyl alcohol by itself is extremely potent, sometimes approaching 190 proof or higher in the form of pure grain alcohol or "moonshine". For most purposes, pure alcohol is diluted with water or other ingredients to add a pleasant intoxicating effect but not stupor-inducing alcohol poisoning. A typical serving of wine, beer or mixed drink generally contains a small percentage of pure alcohol relative to its volume. Alcohol is measured as a percentage by volume, or "proof". A strong whiskey may be 86 proof or so, where a malt beverage or wine cooler would have a much lower proof.

Alcohol provides a noticeable but not entirely unpleasant burn, along with a feeling of euphoria as the consumer's bloodstream carries the alcohol to the brain. Eventually the alcohol should dissipate back into the consumer's bloodstream and be processed for elimination in the liver. Sometimes an excessive amount of alcohol temporarily overwhelms the liver and bloodstream, resulting in a morning-after condition known as a "hang-over". Once the alcohol from a bout of heavy drinking has been processed by the liver and eliminated from the body, most alcohol imbibers should recover quickly.