All clear for Everclear

Folks were milling around after Thursday's public hearing on Everclear when a bottle of the stuff was somehow bumped, crashed to the floor and shattered. Within a few seconds, the astringent, sinus-clearing smell of 151-proof filled the room.

I wasn't there, but Gazette higher education reporter Diane Heldt told us about it when she got back to the newsroom.

“It reeked,” she said. You can imagine. My nose hurts just thinking about it.

Everclear is a nasty potion, not a drink you'd expect at dinner parties or, come to think of it, the Penn State room of the Iowa Memorial Union - where the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Commission met this week to talk about high-proof alcohol.

They were considering whether or not to ban sales of demon Everclear in an effort to tackle dangerous alcohol abuse, especially by underage drinkers. Ultimately, they decided against it. That was the right move.

There's little question high-proof alcohol can be dangerous. It's popular with some not because it's tasty, but because it gets you drunk - fast. Like, emergency room fast.

Last fall, a Drake University student who had been drinking Everclear showed up at the hospital with a blood-alcohol content around 0.5 percent. That's more than six times the legal limit for drivers, nearly double the amount that causes blackouts, plenty enough to kill you.

It's also why we're talking about it now, but in truth that incident probably has done more to curb Everclear consumption than a ban ever would. For a while, at least. Until drinkers forget again about the dangers of drinking that heavily.

The problem is real. Iowa City Medical professionals say alcohol poisoning involving hard liquor is on the rise.

But high-proof alcohol like Everclear and Bacardi 151 Rum aren't major culprits. Plain-old spirits like vodka are much more popular than more potent brews. Getting rid of a brand or two won't touch the problem.

Nor, I'm sorry to say, will limiting the size of the container those high-octane brands are sold in - the move commissioners agreed on this week.

They plan to kick around more ideas, too, like registration, educational campaigns and heftier taxes.

But education will be the key element to changing dangerous drinking behaviors.

As long as getting blitzed is your mission, nothing's going to work quite like a bottle of 151-proof.

But plenty of other things will work just fine, in a pinch.

Jennifer Hemmingsen's column appears on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Contact the writer at (319) 339-3154 or jennifer.hemmingsen@gazcomm.com