We went up to my dad's house in upper Michigan for Xmas, and spent the whole time basically snacking on party food and pounding cocktails. But by the time we got to the second round of martinis on Xmas night, Emily and I had killed nearly an entire liter of vodka -- there was just enough left for one drink. I can't stand gin, so I was about to switch to rum when we remembered a discovery we'd made a couple years ago. In the back of my dad's liquor cabinet, for reasons unknown, was an ancient bottle of 190 proof vodka that we figure my grandpa (on the other side) bought at least a couple decades back.

As far as I know, this kind of thing is now illegal in both Wisconsin and Michigan, and based on the label designs, we guessed it probably came from the mid 1970's or so. The back bore no distillery information, just these warnings:

Already pretty buzzed, I decided to take the plunge. We figured a gimlet would be the most drinkable option, and my dad made it super limey -- three parts lime juice to one part vodka, as opposed to the normal ratio of one to four. I chopped up an orange to further mask the taste after smelling the freshly opened bottle. You know how bottom-shelf vodka smells like paint thinner? This stuff smelled like paint.

Can you guess which is mine?

The first thing I noticed was that the ice in my chiller (from my dad's new cubist martini set) was melting faster than everybody else's. When I took a small first sip, I found it surprisingly drinkable -- limey, but sweet, and with little bite from the booze. This is OK, I thought, and all of a sudden I could feel it in my eyes. That warming sensation you get down your esophagus from a strong drink was going both ways. So, it was a sipper.

I figured that at 190 proof, it was really just like two drinks at 95 proof, so I took my time with it while everyone else had another round. Every once in a while I took too big a sip and felt my tongue burning, but other than that it was a good buzz sustainer. It didn't even really get me all the way drunk, actually, and I did wind up switching to rum afterwards.

Next time we're up there I'm going to try mixing some flavored shots with it.