A rum said to be stronger than vultures’ stomach acid and a vodka labelled with 13 health warnings – online entertainment site Pokies reveals 10 of the world’s strongest sips.

Earlier this week, Canadian authorities reportedly recalled hundreds of bottles of Georgia Bay Vodka after inspectors discovered the spirit was 81% abv – more than twice the amount stated on the label.

In the case of this particular spirit, the batch was bottled before it had been diluted with water, but elsewhere in the industry producers are purposefully experimenting with the alcohol volume in their products in pursuit of higher quality or depth of flavour.

Interest in the cask-strength expressions, for one, has been renewed across the dark spirits categories in recent years as the sector premiumises, and a wide array of brands have introduced such bottlings as permeant additions to their stable.

Other hangover-inducing liquids find their function in cocktails – an absinthe rinse, a spritz of poitín, or simply a high-strength vodka for flaming – adding complexity, depth, and showmanship to bar menus across the globe.

Click through the following pages for 10 of the world’s strongest spirits bottlings. 

The Spirits Business always promotes responsible drinking and does not necessarily endorse the consumption any of the spirits in this feature.

Spirytus Rektyfikowany – 96% abv

Available in: Poland
Ingredient: pure grain

Although used mostly for medical and industrial purposes (in solvents, literally “paint stripper”) it is also drunk neat in small shots as a toast to the dead at Polish funerals

Everclear – 95% abv

Available in: US
Ingredient: corn

It was awarded the Most Alcoholic Drink in the World by the Guinness Book of World Records in 1979

Bruichladdich X4 Whisky – 92% abv

Available in: Scotland
Ingredient: malted grain

Aged in new oak casks to enhance flavour, the X4 can also, as proven by a pair of BBC journalists, power a sports car at speeds over 100mph

River Antoine Royale Grenadian Rum – 90% abv

Available in: Grenada
Ingredient: distilled fermented sugarcane juice

Produced using the centuries-old tradition of pot stilling; a method of slow-distilling used for maximum flavour

Pincer Shanghai Strength – 88.8% abv

Available in: Scotland
Ingredients: vodka, wild elderflower, milk thistle

Intended to be used as a concentrate, a single bottle supplies 65 shots as compared to the usual 26. Elderflower and milk thistle are used in Chinese medicine as a liver support

Balkan Vodka 176 – 88% abv

Available in: Poland
Ingredient: grain

The vodka is so strong that the packaging contains 13 health warnings (one in braille!), and people are said to have died of alcohol poisoning after consuming a lot in short periods of time

Sunset Rum – 85.5% abv

Available in: West Indies
Ingredient: sugarcane juice

It is advised against drinking Sunset Rum straight, as it can cause burns

John Crow Batty Rum – 80% abv

Available in: US
Ingredient: sugarcane juice

So-named because it’s supposedly stronger than the stomach acids of ‘John Crow’ vultures, which eat decaying meat. It’s said that if you can drink to that, you can probably drink to anything

Stroh 80 – 80% abv

Available in: Austria
Ingredient: fermented molasses

Available in five variants: Stroh 38, Stroh 40, Stroh 54, Stroh 60 and Stroh 80 (number representing the alcohol by volume)

Bacardi 151 – 75.5% abv

Available in: Puerto Rico
Ingredient: fermented molasses

Bacardi 151 is the only rum in the world sold with a stainless steel flame arrester attached to the bottle. In 2002, a woman in Miami sued Bacardi after suffering horrific burns during a stunt involving flaming rum at a promotional event in a nightclub