The proof of an alcoholic drink can be defined by the amount of alcohol, containing in it. The lower limit of alcohol content for strong drinks is not strictly pointed and can vary depending on the standards of a single taken country. The alcoholic drinks, produced by the method of fermentation (beer, wine and cider), don't definitely belong to hard liquors.
The strong drinks can be made of distillate or bidistillate (receiving by the method of distillation) or rectificate (receiving by the method of fermented wort rectification). The names of hard liquors depend on various factors, among which are: the country of origin, the raw material used in alcoholic drinks production and the percentage of alcohol.
LIQUEURS make a separate group of drinks.
Regardless of the production methods of strong liquors and their composition, we must remember from now and then – any kind of alcohol takes a toxic effect on the organism. This effect is made by one of the decay products of ethyl alcohol, known under the name of acetaldehyde. This substance is hazardous for human’s health.
Nevertheless, if you have to drink by some occasion, you’d better prefer some famous and expensive brands of liquors, because they are far less harmful, than that cheap and low-grade alcohol. The cheap strong drinks are characterized by low price exactly because their manufacturers don’t pay much attention at the level of their refinement from so-called fusel oils. These substances are able to increase the toxic influence of alcohol on the human organism in many times.
In addition we need to tell the same warning words about homemade drinks. Notwithstanding the high quality of water and excellent environmentally safe fruit and berries, used as raw materials for a domestic wine or a tincture, the homemade drinks will be in any case more harmful, than their qualitative analogues from the store. The main problem here is the impossibility to ensure a high-quality refinement of alcohol at home.
