Yikes, I just checked, and Captain Morgan's is 35% Alcohol. I'm aware of Bacardi 151 (75.5% alcohol) which is like fire water to me. Can't imagine drinking something so concentrated regularly.
You can't judge from Bacardi. It's bottom-shelf, young, and pretty rough. I find it unpleasant to drink neat even at 80 proof. A high-quality, aged rum at 130 proof will be plenty fiery, but not as bad as Bacardi 151 diluted to 130 proof.
Of course, the sailors probably didn't drink anything terribly high-end.
I concur, I tried to acquire the taste for 151 in college and even after 4 years of earnest and consistent effort it did not get better. Similar experiments with Everclear and overproof grappa were also unsuccessful.
I would not recommend any of these if one is interested in a pleasant drinking experience.
Lately I've been finding Bourbon to be enjoyable. Woodford Reserve and Bulleit are well-priced and good introductions in my opinion.
If the very elaborate still in a neighbours garage is anything to go by, gin, limoncello and various others can be made this way too. 10+ bubble plates and away he goes.
In my high school days, we used it for Jell-O shots and drunk watermelons. Probably should have used vodka but ever clear was more bang/buck. I remember taking a shot of it once as a group “dare” type situation. It was as awful as you would guess
I've never drunk it. I don't like high proof alcohol.
Once I worked in a very informal lab and we were always looking for alternatives to buying industrial chemicals. I was working with optics, and Everclear came up as a good alternative to denatured alcohol or isopropyl alcohol. My friend who ran a microscope lab said it was pure enough to clean optics... however, since it was illegal to buy in California, we had a friend pick it up in Arizona and drop it off with us.
We put it in the flammable storage cabinet with a label saying it was 95% alcohol. Once during a lab inspection we tried to explain, but the inspector just said "yes, I went to college"
Why would everclear be better than denaturated alcohol? Usually (I live in Europe btw) denaturated alcol is cheaper and has same proof of drinkable liquids.
Good solvent for shellac as well, without the nasty smell and headache from denatured alcohol fumes. Costs more though, since it’s sold and taxed for consumption.
I can't practically get everclear since I live in California, where it's illegal. I use 99% IPA for shellac, it's not denatured but you wouldn't want to drink it anyway.
If I remember correctly, the lower ranking navy members weren't even allowed access to the strong stuff. Only the officers who had to dilute it before giving it to the others.
Of course, the sailors probably didn't drink anything terribly high-end.