Would you drink it?
 

So my sister recently sent me a "souvenir" from her trip to Vietnam. It's homemade whiskey. I'm a big fan of whiskey, and love nothing more than a fine Islay scotch, but I'm not so sure about this. Now, I would take a picture, but there's no reason since it looks exactly like this:



Yes, that is a cobra holding a scorpion in its mouth. Two poisonous dead creatures inside a bottle of whiskey. Not quite sure the FDA approves.

So I'm curious, would you drink it? I thought the worm was disgusting...

Re: Would you drink it?
 

I've never heard of this being done with whiskey before, but it's very common to see "snake wine" in China (and I would suppose Vietnam as well).

I'm sure it's safe to consume, but I never would.

Here's the wikipedia page on snake wine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_wine

Re: Would you drink it?
 

I'd keep it.
That's an awesome souvenir to have.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Yeah, awesome souvenir.

Wouldn't drink it though. :)

It's got to be safe, though - it's soaking in alcohol. That will probably kill just about anything dangerous.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Thats pretty bad ass.
Id drink it.
I wonder how they fit those things in there?

btw, the scorpion in there is an Emperor Scorpion, not very poisonous.
So you just got to worry about the cobra. ;)

Re: Would you drink it?
 

I'd get drunk, and then I'd drink it.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

As I told you last night, I would try it.

No one died from the website we found.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Chemistry wise the the alcohol should fuck the poison.

I don't know what kind of venom cobras have, but think it's a neuro-toxin. Either way think it should fuck it. The Alcohol should denature the snake venom. HOWEVER, I wouldn't drink it at all because that shit sounds nasty.

Actually had a discussion similar to this in Chemistry class one day. It was the only day chemistry class was awesome.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Meh. In Vietnam they also drink liquor with the heart of a snake in it. That is to say, you swallow the liquor AND the heart. At the same time.

We Vietnamese consider that to be kind of a backwoods hick drink, though. I've never had it and neither has anyone else in my family.

Also, there's no practical health code in Vietnam. Oh there's probably a government agency that's supposed to be in charge of that kind of thing, but whatever power they have is gutted by corruption. I've seen restaurants keeping a block of ice on the ground next to the bathroom door and then chipping pieces off of it to put into drinks. You can be reasonably certain that something produced in the US won't be blatantly poisonous. You can't be so sure in Vietnam.

So no, I wouldn't drink it. For all you know, it might be methanol instead of ethanol.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Oh that reminds me I was reading about in China they mix like snake's blood with alcohol and serve it as a drink. I was highly disgusted.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Dudes, you need to watch more Steve Irwin.

Snakes and scorpions aren't poisenous. They're venemous. Poison hurts you when you eat it, venom hurts you when it's injected in your flesh. Something like that.

Other than that... I guess I'd keep it. Probably prettier than it is tasty.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

So your saying that if I drank a cup of snake venom id be completely fine?
Time to test this out myself.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Well, I'm not too sure of that. But the venom might be digested...

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Interesting question: If you ingest venom, is it still "venomous", or is it now "poisonous" since it is not injected by the animal?

I'm no chemist, but I believe venom is essentially a poison. It's just usually injected by an animal, so it's venomous, not poisonous.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Venoms are usually biological agents that get denatured by acid, so I guess it's plausible that your stomach would kill venom before it enters your bloodstream and does any damage. I wouldn't want to wager on your tongue coming out very well from the experience, though.