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.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

gekko, question: Did your sister drink any of the same while there?

Re: Would you drink it?
 

I'm not a bio major.....My understanding is that venom is a neurotoxin and when injected into your bloodstream it travels through your blood (it probably crosses the blood-brain barrier: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood-brain_barrier) and causes neurological issues which effect your respiratory system, etc.

I assume just digesting something reduces the chance of the neurotoxin from crossing the blood-brain barrier. And my understanding is the alcohol breaks down the proteins that make the neurotoxin harmful to humans thereby eliminating any of the side effects.

Drink up and enjoy. :D

Re: Would you drink it?
 

I'm just googling around on this topic and it looks like some snakes have both Neurotoxins and Hemotoxins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemotoxin
-destroy red blood cells
-prevent blood from clotting
-cause organs to shut down

Also, death by Hemotoxin is apparently slow and painful vs. death by Neurotoxin.

Damn nature, you scary!


Also, some interesting facts.....
-Rattlesnakes are not immune to rattlesnake venom. I wonder (or would not be surprised) if the same is true to other species of snakes.

And again....my belief is that you can ingest most snake venom on the basis that digestion does not result in the venom going through you blood the same way. Numerous sites say you can eat rattlesnake without worrying about the venom. So soaking the thing in alcohol can only help as I am 99% sure the alcohol breaks down the proteins that make the venom a neurotoxin.


Do save the bottle though, in case you need to take it with you to the hospital. :p

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Here is the definitive answer! So don't start eating poisonous shit because if you eat the wrong spider or something you will die!

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

So snake venom is not a poison, but some snakes have toxins that could be harmful when ingested.

Anyway, I figure I can supplement my 3 tangenty posts with some fucked up shit!

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Unknown. Haven't had a chance to talk to her since receiving the gift.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Haha, for all you know, I put that on wikipedia. :)

Re: Would you drink it?
 

I confess the source is not dynamite but all-in-all I think evidence is on gekko's side here...which is that if he did drink this concoction he would probably live to tell about it.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Did you end up drinking it?

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Yeah did you? Inquiring minds want to know!

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Nope! Sitting on the fridge.

Re: Would you drink it?
 

Bah, what a boring ending.

You can't drink it any anymore, it's probably gone bad by now :p

Re: Would you drink it?
 

I was suddenly wondering, is every poison also a venom? Because if it's harmful when you eat it, it's probably harmful in any way it gets into your body.