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What is it about alcohol?

It is quite amazing how little knowledge of beverage alcohol exists among those who would seek to regulate its consumption. Journalists who report and comment on the topic seem to display little knowledge either.

We read or hear comments about “masking the taste of alcohol” when alcohol is practically tasteless. We hear about “designer drinks”, as if only one sector of the alcohol beverage “designs” drinks. Some beverages are described as “hard”.

Until all understand how alcohol drinks are produced we are never going to have any perspective nor common sense in the discussion about “binge drinking”, whether by youth or their parents.

All alcohol is fermented

Let’s understand the basics. Alcohol is one of the easiest products to produce – just take a bunch of grapes, crush them with their skins, and place in a jar, and wait a day or two. Voila! An alcoholic beverage!

Alcohol is the result of the natural process of fermentation of a sugar by a yeast. This process is one of the earliest organic reactions employed by humans. The intoxicating effects of ethanol consumption have been known since before recorded history.

Source your sugar from malted barley or wheat – you produce a beer. I wonder how many people know that an important process in making bread, letting the yeast rise, is fermentation and that alcohol is produced during this stage of bread making? Of course, all the alcohol is burned off in the oven so we don’t end up with alcoholic bread!

Source the sugar from grapes, we end up with wine; from apples, cider, from pears, perry. You can ferment any fruit. Indeed, one of the first so-called “alcopops” on Australia was actually made by fermenting lemons.

The result of this natural process is a mixture of flavours from the original fruit or grain and the yeast, alcohol (CH₃CH₂OH), and carbon dioxide. It doesn’t matter what the source sugar is – the alcohol produced is the same: CH₃CH₂OH.

Spirit producers then use a process called distillation to concentrate the flavours and the alcohol. Essentially, the distillation process removes water. The alcohol remains the same. Distil wine – you produce brandy. Distil beer (yes, a beer) and you produce a whisky. There is no magic change to the alcohol – it is still CH₃CH₂OH. And the effect on the body is the same whether you consume beer, wine, cider, spirits, or ready-to-drink beverages.

That police breathalyser does not discriminate between drinks – just the total amount of alcohol that has entered the bloodstream.

Just imagine that conversation:

“The reading shows your BAC to be 0.08 which is above the legal limit of 0.05!”

“But officer, I have only been drinking red wine.”

“Ah. In that case, best be going along your way then.”

We all agree that driving a vehicle (a car or motorcycle) is potentially dangerous. There is the risk of accidents, injury, and sometimes death.

But for many people it is an essential part of their lives, although many choose not to drive but to use public transport.

For millennia societies around the world have known that drinking alcohol is potentially dangerous, with increased drink of accidents and disease the more one drinks, sometimes with fatal results.

But for many people, drinking alcohol is an essential and enjoyable part of their lives, helping them to relax, reduce stress, enjoy a meal, socialize and so on. Although many choose not to drink at all.

Modern society has recognised that both pursuits, driving a vehicle and drinking alcohol should be regulated – and both should be a pursuit reserved for adults.

Indeed, we can go back to Plato for the first admonition against young people drinking*.

Yet, in many countries, including Australia, Society adopts entirely different approaches to preparing our young people for these adult activities.

Let’s have a look at the gauntlet that a young person needs to negotiate before he or she can set out onto the road with hands on a steering wheel (this applies to NSW, Australia, I appreciate different states and countries have different requirements)**.

1. To receive a learner’s licence (at the age of 16) one must first pass a theory test. This licence has Photo ID and allows the holder to drive under supervision according to strict guidelines.
2. After a minimum period and a certain number of supervised driving hours under the belt, one undergoes a practical (driving) test.
3. If successful, one is issued with a P1 Licence allowing one to drive unsupervised – but with severe restrictions (such as maximum speed, number of passengers, etc)
4. After a successful period of driving using a P1 Licence one can then graduate to a P2 licence – as per a P1 licence but with sightly less serve restrictions.
5. A young person is around 22 before they are a fully licensed driver and “graduate” from the P2 licence.