The science of drinking all you like and not getting drunk

[Borg 386]

Jim Koch, co-founder of the Boston Beer Company, says there's a way to drink as much as you want and not get proportionately drunk.

Still, Koch says his method is very simple. All he does is swallow some Fleischmann's Dry Yeast before embarking on a severe session of beer-drinking.

This isn't the finest-tasting thing with which to adorn one's mouth. So Koch told Esquire that he mixes it in with some yogurt to make it more palatable.

"One teaspoon per beer, right before you start drinking," he said.

Here's the science part, if you can bear it. Active dry yeast is blessed with alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH). This is an enzyme. ADH operates a little like your liver. It breaks down alcohol into carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.

So, if you have it inside you before you take your first sip of alcohol, it attacks your beer, wine, or spirits before they enter your bloodstream and begin to make you believe that you are far more attractive, witty, and interesting than you really are.

The science of drinking all you like and not getting drunk - CNET

 

[Fantail]

 

[cyanna]

I am going to take a shot in the dark and conclude I am not the only one subscribed to Digg.
Yeah, I can totally see myself at the pub regularly ingesting a spoonful of some white powder while downing beer after beer.

 

[Stephanie]

Think I will just stick to my Cold Stella

 

[Ranger4]

If the yeast removes all the effects of enjoying an alcoholic drink, you may as well drink water & save the horrible taste of the yeast & the cost.

(d)

 

[ShamrockRig]

I think im one of the few who actually despise the taste of alcohol even though i love it, weird right?
I drink to get drunk, not to drink and not get drunk, but this is a good method for those who perhaps are working the next day of purely cant deal with the hangover that usually occurs for 1+days.

I wish someone could come up with an alcoholic drink that tastes nothing like alcohol, i know that sounds a bit unusual but it would be great!

I tend to drink alcohol that i consider "Bearable" purely because the taste is horrific.

Some drinks i like? Maddog 20/20 seams to be my favourite, especially the red one. I also have a love for Dragonsoop, quite strong but tastes more like an energy drink and has some really juicy flavours.

Steph i advise you try some Maddog or DragonSoop !

 

[clunkfish]

Hardly know where to start with this story!

First off, stomach acid and digestive enzymes would probably destroy most of the alcohol dehydrogenase, ADH, so there would be little of it left to have any effect.

Second, the pH in the stomach is very low, well outside the pH optimum for yeast ADH, so any that wasn't destroyed would have low activity.

Third, ADH does not break alcohol down to carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. It converts it to acetaldehyde, which is pretty nasty stuff and is potentially responsible for many of the unpleasant effects of a hangover.

That said, it would be interesting to hear if anyone's actually tried it, and what effect it had!

 

[Britton30]

I think all that yeast would cause LOTS of gas. Yeast cells release CO2 while doing their work of either fermenting or breaking down the alcohol.

Alcohol is tasteless, it's the way it's produced that gives it its flavor, such as spending years inside a charred oak barrel. Grain sugars and residue along with hops flavors beer. Now Vermouth I think ages in the bottom of an outhouse for its flavor.

 

[Layback Bear]

Yep, me and a friend drank a bottle of Vermouth one evening.
Absolutely a horrible tasting wine I ever drank.
My friend and I found a fix for the problem. Mix the Vermouth with Gin.
The more Gin the better the Vermouth tasted.
Olives or a twist of lemon will also help with the bad taste of Vermouth.
To our surprise we discovered that other people for a long time new about this cure for the bad taste of Vermouth.
I think the first person to discover this little cure was Mr. Martini.
The Martini family are a strange family. People speak so well of them in the evenings yet curse them in the mornings. A hardship the Martini family endures to this day.

 

[bigmck]

Still, Koch says his method is very simple. All he does is swallow some Fleischmann's Dry Yeast before embarking on a severe session of beer-drinking.

http://www.cnet.com/news/the-scienc...=nl.e703&s_cid=e703&ttag=e703&ftag=CAD090e536

Or you could drink a shot glass of vinegar before every beer. You wouldn't drink many beers that way and thus, no hangover.