From the moment Palcohol became public knowledge, it was only a matter of time until someone would try to snort powdered alcohol.

Palcohol creator Mark Phillips really tried to discourage people from snorting his product, launching a full blown powdered alcohol PSA, before the stuff has even gone on sale. In his informative video, he said snorting the product would "hurt. A LOT."

Regardless, here we are, a mere two weeks later with the first documented powdered alcohol snorting. River Donaghey over at Vice decided to try it for himself, and put the entire experiment on the Internet for our enjoyment. 

While Palcohol has not yet hit the shelves, there are recipes online for making your own powdered alcohol. Donaghey used a Popular Science recipe to make his version, which he thinks came out much stronger and more pure than what Palcohol will offer. Before he snorted it, Donaghey ate it straight, put it on pizza, and set it on fire. 

As for the actual snorting, it lived up to Phillips unpleasant description:

"Somehow, the powder turned straight into glue when it hit my sinuses. I was immediately plugged up. The fumes burned inside my nose, but only for the first minute or so. After that came an uneasy numbness. Maybe all the nerve endings were dead. There was no one left to sound an alarm.

"The headache was still present—a throbbing pressure at my temples—but the powder drunk was giving me a weird, out-of-body feeling. If you like headaches and gummed-up sinuses and numb, dissociative drunks, you're going to go apeshit for powdered booze."

At some point after snorting, eating and lighting it on fire, Donaghey passed out. He woke up at 4:00 a.m. with his "face caked with blood from [his] nose." Overall, it sounds like a pretty heinous experience. Again, The Wire strongly, strongly discourages the snorting of Palcohol or any other powdered alcohol. Instead, we urge you to read Donaghey's tale in full and avoid all white powdered stuff. 

Thank you for taking one for the team and trying it, River. Now we don't have to. (Neither should anyone else.)

Update, 12:09 PM: Actually, two people have documented their snorting experiences. Jeremy Glass over at Supercompressor was first to the powdered alcohol snorting game. He had a similarly terrible experience:

The bit that I pounded up my smell-hole burned like the time I snarfed Goldsclhäger at the 13th Step. I ended up with a righteous headache that made the proposition of a second round extremely unappetizing.

Thank you, Jeremy, for paving the way for powdered alcohol snorters everywhere. 

Seriously, don't do this. It's a terrible idea. 

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Two guys walk into a bar. After they’ve been sitting for a while, one makes an innocuous comment, and the second responds with an eruption of anger, telling his acquaintance in no uncertain terms that he had better watch his step. “It’s the alcohol talking,” the other patrons murmur.

In fact, the man who got triggered may have been nursing a ginger ale all night. Newly published research suggests the mere thought of alcohol — which would be unavoidable in this scenario — can heighten physical aggression.

The study confirms and expands upon a 2010 study from France which came to a similar conclusion. It specifically finds that responses to ambiguous provocations typically turn more aggressive if one has been exposed to the idea of drinking.

A research team led by psychologist William Pedersen of California State University-Long Beach, describes its findings in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Its primary experiment featured 168 students, who began by spending five minutes writing an essay about abortion. They were told that another student would evaluate their work.

After writing the essay, they participated in a word-detection task in which strings of letters — some of which formed actual words — flashed briefly in front of their eyes. For half the participants, the words that flashed for 34 milliseconds apiece included “beer” and “wine”; for the others, they included “milk” and “water.”

Afterwards, most of the participants received their evaluation (those in the control condition were told they would receive it later). Some received a negative response beginning: “This is one of the worst essays I ever read.” Others read an ambiguous response that began: “I don’t even know where to begin.”

Finally, all participants held their hand in a bucket of ice water for five seconds — a preview of the punishment they were free to give the peer who evaluated their work. They then indicated how intense a dunking that student should receive.

The results: “When their partner’s feedback was clearly hostile, participants responded with relatively high levels of aggression” regardless of which set of words had flashed in front of their eyes. But when the feedback was ambiguous, those who had been exposed to the idea of alcohol were “much more aggressive” than those who had not.

A second experiment, which featured 276 students, replicated the first, except that after receiving the negative evaluation, some of the participants spent either seven or 15 minutes on an unrelated task (drawing a map of the campus from memory).

The researchers found the increased-aggression effect held steady at seven minutes, but diminished dramatically after a 15-minute delay. They conclude that the biased perception (that is, the belief that an ambiguous message was actually hostile) wore off relatively quickly.

Of course, if you’re in a tavern and reminders of alcohol are everywhere, that tapering off would not occur until you have left the building.

So if you find yourself at a bar, party, sporting event, or some other alcohol-rich environment, these results “seem to suggest caution,” in the researchers’ words. In such surroundings, a neutral-sounding remark can come across as fighting words — even if the aggrieved person has yet to wet his whistle.

When you say Budweiser … you may be unwittingly provoking a heated confrontation.

SEE ALSO: Why Humans Evolved To Like Alcohol

DON'T MISS: One Chart Shows How Much Americans Love To Drink

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"Welcome to the mixed bag that is life after AA."

That’s the text I received from my friend Chris after I’d sent him one saying that I’d had my first drink in nine years. Chris is a friend I’d met early on in sobriety. We’ve remained relatively close even after he left the program a few years ago.

His sentiment was well-intentioned and honest, but it bummed me out. I wanted news of primrose and smooth sailing. I wanted to be sure my decision was the right one. Chris’s text didn’t put any of my misgivings to rest.

My decision to leave AA was conscious and deliberate, probably not best described as a relapse. I had essentially stopped going to meetings a few months earlier and in mid-August of 2013 I had a single beer while visiting my brother and his wife in Chicago. It was delicious—a grapefruit-infused concoction that had been invented in my decade away from drinking.

In my early days, I was a bit of an AA poster-child. I went to a meeting every day for a couple of years, had a sponsor and service commitments, blazed through the steps and was all too eager to reach out to others who needed help.

But over time, I grew aware of an anti-intellectual, anti-scientific undercurrent to the program. It began to lose its appeal.

When I was about six years sober, I remember reading an article in Wired attempting to explain some of the neuroscience behind the "spiritual experience" central to 12-step recovery. It mentioned certain drugs that might induce a change in consciousness that would make alcoholics more amenable to seeking help. For those familiar with the 12 Steps, this would be like a Third Step—"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him."—in pill-form.

When I excitedly shared the news with my AA friends, most reacted with disinterest, anger, or even open contempt. More than one person even suggested that I was headed for a relapse for entertaining such notions.

I was floored by this kind of dogmatic thinking. How could a recovering alcoholic whose stated primary purpose was to help others to recover from alcoholism not be thrilled at the idea of a scientific solution that could help improve recovery rates? It seemed like some people in AA were less interested in alcoholism recovery than preserving the traditions of the program.

I also began to feel that some of the principles practiced in AA might not be a great fit for a personality like mine. The AA steps and literature encourage members to practice humility, take responsibility for their actions, and check their egos. Though I do see the value in these principles, they also exacerbated my natural tendency towards self-deprecation. I tend to feel guilty and take blame for most things on my own.

Ultimately, though, the reason I left AA was that I became convinced I didn’t need it anymore.

When I first got sober, it was a different story. I needed help. I was never a daily drinker, but my life had become an exhausting series of lost weekends followed by increasingly demoralizing hangovers. When I added cocaine and meth into the mix, the hangovers got worse. I wanted to clean up for a bit and get off some of the harder drugs. So I decided to give AA a try—only intending to stay for a few months.

Most people in AA seemed to have a deeply volatile relationship with alcohol. I related on some level, but not entirely. When I quit, I didn’t experience withdrawal and cravings. I remember realizing I had half a six-pack in my fridge a month after I got sober and wondering why I wasn’t tempted by it.

My main challenge in early sobriety was figuring out what to do with my time and how to have fun. Until that point, I’d gotten wasted virtually every weekend of my adult life.

The fellowship of AA taught me how to socialize and fill my time without booze and drugs. I loved the people I met and the kind of self-discovery they were engaged in. I may not have identified with some of the specifics of alcoholic pathology, but many of the feelings and experiences I heard about struck me as universally human.

Neuroscientist and humanist Sam Harris defines spirituality as the efforts some people make to overcome feelings of separateness. I had been incredibly lonely and the fellowship of AA made me feel connected in a way I’d never experienced before.

So I stayed. For nine years.

Now that I’m gone, I miss the fellowship the most. There’s nothing like being able to walk into a room at pretty much any hour of the day and find a group of people you share a common purpose with, and who are generally happy to see you.

These days I have to work much harder to seek out that kind of connection. But now that I know how important it is to my well-being, I put in more effort to remedy my loneliness.

After leaving AA, I tried to be as direct as possible with my friends. The first few admissions were terrifying and reminded me of my Ninth Step (making amends). My biggest fear was that I would lose these friendships—which incidentally was the same fear I had when I got sober. In both instances my fears were unfounded.

Just as my non-alcoholic friends had supported my decision to quit drinking, my AA friends supported my decision to start drinking again.

There were a few awkward moments, of course. I was served drinks by bartenders I knew from AA meetings, and ran into an old AA friend for the first time in a year while holding a beer in my hand. But over time these situations got easier. Eventually I stopped having to notify people of the change—the social network of AA, with some help from social media, did most of the work for me.

Some people did express concern—mainly that I might be in denial about my drinking. But most seemed to trust my decision. And nearly everyone let me know that they would be there if I needed help. I’m grateful for that.

I guess the big question now is: How’s the drinking?

It was all a little strange at first. I took my time easing back into it, testing the waters. It was about a month before I drank enough to get drunk. At first, I felt a little sheepish about the fact that things weren’t going horribly awry—an odd form of survivor’s guilt.

Since then I’ve had a few rough mornings and even taken a couple of breaks from drinking. If I’m to go by the DSM-5, I’d say I’m somewhere on the spectrum of addictive disorders—and thinking of alcohol problems in terms of a spectrum, rather than a black-or-white question, has come to make sense to me. In my case, moderation seems to work. People in AA often talk about an extreme physiological reaction that makes it impossible for them to stop drinking once they start. But I haven’t experienced that. Also, I don’t obsess over alcohol when I’m not drinking.

When you’re in AA you rarely hear from people who’ve left. It’s a widely held belief in the program that once you’re an alcoholic you’ll never be able to drink safely again. I’m sure that’s true for many and I respect the purpose and power of holding to that idea, but my own experience—and that of a few fellow moderate-drinking ex-pats I know—offers evidence to the contrary.

It isn’t my intention at all to tempt anyone away from AA. This is simply my experience. And while I didn’t leave AA in a vacuum of influence, I left of my own accord and after a great deal of reflection.

My history in AA still helps me today. I was able to quit smoking, which I don’t believe I could have done without a significant period of abstinence. I learned how to have fun without getting fucked up. And in nine years sober, my priorities were reordered. A decade ago, my list of favorite things included whiskey, cigarettes and good jukeboxes.

These days I’m a marathon runner and a full-time student. I invest a lot of time, energy and finances in my health and personal growth. I see a talented mental health counselor and try to stay in the middle of my life instead of the edges. I still struggle with things like depression and anxiety and have days where I’m plagued with negative thoughts, but I see these as symptoms of being human.

I respect and admire those who choose AA as their path. But I’m happily for now on the other side. Life after AA is indeed a mixed bag and I cannot handle it alone—but I have learned how to find my own kind of fellowship.

John Gordon is an undergraduate student at Portland State University where he’s this close to a BS in Psychology. He lives in the lovely North Portland neighborhood of St. Johns with his dog Senator Edward Kennedy.

SEE ALSO: Here's What It's Like To Be An Alcoholic

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Biology for $1000, Alex: An integral part of the cell walls of Gram-negative bacteria, these toxic compounds can trigger inflammation and other immunological responses after a single episode of heavy drinking.

Answer: What are endotoxins?

The outer membranes of gram-negative bacteria contain toxic elements known as endotoxins, or lipopolysaccharides. An endotoxin is released when a bacterial cell wall is breached, allowing virulent proteins to enter the bloodstream. When endotoxins engage with the immune system, the result is inflammation—a necessary part of healing, yet potentially damaging to surrounding cells and tissue. When you come down with a cold, those aches and pains come are caused by your immune system inducing inflammation to fight the virus. Chronic inflammation is not a good thing. Higher levels of circulating endotoxins have been linked to numerous health issues.

Binge drinking: Almost everybody does it now and then, and some drinkers do it every day. So what is binge drinking, anyway? The NIAAA defines it as a drinking pattern that results in a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or above. This means about four drinks for women and five for men over a period of about two hours. "In chronic alcohol use activation of the inflammatory cascade is a major component of organ damage in the brain and liver," according to researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. "Alcohol binge can cause altered immune functions that can also contribute to immunosuppression and reduced immune-mediated host defense to pathogens."

Nobody ever claimed binge drinking was good for you. But the work done by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School on a small group of drinkers shows that a single episode of five drinks or more "can cause damaging effects such as bacterial leakage from the gut into the blood stream," said Dr. George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study "tested the effects of acute binge drinking on serum endotoxin and bacterial 16S rDNA in normal human adults." Led by Gyongyi Szabo, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the study in PLOS ONE documented increases in endotoxin levels in the blood and evidence of bacterial DNA from the gut.

The investigators found that the concentration of endotoxin observed in the serum after an acute binge had significant biological activity, in particular a "significant induction of inflammatory cytokines." In a prepared statement, Szabo said: "We found that a single alcohol binge can elicit an immune response, potentially impacting the health of an otherwise health individual. Our observations suggest than an alcohol binge is more dangerous than previously thought." Fever, hypotension, and septic shock may develop due to endotoxins.

Compounding the harm to internal organs caused by alcohol is "gut permeability," meaning that toxins have a better chance of escaping through the intestinal wall, wandering to other parts of the body, where they do harm. When you combine greater gut permeability with increased levels of circulating endotoxins, you get alcohol-related liver damage and other problems. Binge drinking, the researchers believe they have shown, is a good way to speed up that process.

In short, binge drinking helps gram-negative bacteria break the gastric barrier, escape the stomach, and colonize the small intestine, which puts them into systemic circulation. Bad news. The only bacteria that should be colonizing the small intestine is your neighborhood-friendly graham-positive Lactobaccilus, which aids digestion.

Unfortunately, the study also added to the growing mountain of evidence showing the ways in which alcohol effects women differently than men (See my report on gender-specific alcohol treatment in Scientific American.) Binge drinking showed a greater effect on women with respect to both endotoxemia and bacterial DNA levels.

According to the report: "Compared to men, women showed a slower decreased in blood alcohol levels (BAL), and even 24 hours after the alcohol binge BALs were higher in women than that in men…. Serum endotoxin levels were also higher in women after alcohol intake and a significant difference in endotoxin level was observed at 4 hours between men and women."

Bala S., Marcos M., Gattu A., Catalano D. & Szabo G. (2014). Acute binge drinking increases serum endotoxin and bacterial DNA levels in healthy individuals., PloS one, PMID: 24828436

SEE ALSO: The Real Reason Sam Adams' Founder Can Drink Without Getting Drunk

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Alcohol is one of the most dangerous substances on the planet. Someone dies from alcohol use every ten seconds, and one night of binge drinking can take a huge toll on your immune system.

Dr. Samuel Ball of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASAColumbia) reveals the myriad effects alcohol has on your brain and body.

Produced by Will Wei

NOW WATCH: The One Big Problem With Legalizing Marijuana

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In prehistoric Eurasia, drugs and alcohol were originally reserved for ritual ceremonies, and weren't used merely to satisfy hedonistic motives, a new study suggests. What's more, given the sacred role of the substances, their use was likely highly regulated and only available to elite citizens.

Many Eurasian cultures are known to have an ancient history with psychoactive substances, as evidenced by early written documents. The Greek historian Herodotus, for example, once described the Scythians' (Iranian equestrian tribes) post-funeral purification ceremony involving hemp, which dates back to the fifth century B.C.

But written records aren't the only indication of early drug and alcohol use.

"It is generally thought that mind-altering substances, or at least drugs, are a modern-day issue, but if we look at the archaeological record of prehistoric Europe, there are many data supporting their consumption," said study author Elisa Guerra-Doce, a prehistory expert at the University of Valladolid in Spain. "Apart from the presence of macrofossil remains of plants with these [mind-altering] properties, there are artistic depictions of opium poppies, for instance, and some designs in megalithic tombs may have been inspired by altered states of consciousness." [Trippy Tales: The History of 8 Hallucinogens]

Despite numerous indications, archaeologists have largely overlooked the use of mind-altering substances in Eurasian prehistory. So Guerra-Doce decided to sort through the scarce and scattered information in the scientific literature, in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the history and context of ancient drug and alcohol use.

She reviewed four lines of evidence: macrofossil remains of psychoactive plants, residues from fermented alcoholic drinks, psychoactive alkaloids (chemical compounds) on artifacts and skeletal remains, and artistic depictions of psychoactive plants and drinking scenes.

Widespread use

In prehistoric sites throughout Europe, archaeologists have found the remains of numerous psychoactive plant and fungi species, including opium poppy, deadly nightshade, hallucinogenic mushrooms and ergot fungus. However, it's not always possible to determine how people used the substances, if they did at all.

For instance, at a Neanderthal burial cave at Shanidar, in northern Iraq dating to around 60,000 B.C., researchers discovered the remains of many medical plant species, suggesting the grave belonged to a shaman. But other scientists argue that a gerbil-like rodent called the Persian jird may have brought the plants into the cave after the Neanderthal there had died.

Yet many archaeobotanical finds provide strong evidence for the prehistoric use of mind-altering substances. In particular, at an archaeological site near Bucharest, Romania, scientists found charred Cannabis seeds from plants in some tombs. The main psychoactive compound of marijuana is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is most abundant in the female plants (Cannabis plants are typically either male or female, with male plants producing pollen that pollinates the seed-producing flowers of the female plant)."The presence of burnt seeds in these tombs proves that the prehistoric societies of eastern Europe were aware of this, and consequently, they burnt female plants," Guerra-Doce told Live Science. [Image Gallery: 7 Potent Medicinal Plants]

Alcoholic residues suggest many prehistoric Eurasians drank fruit wines, mead, beer (from barley and wheat) and fermented drinks made from dairy products.

The discovery of alcoholic fermentation appears to date back to about 7000 B.C. in China. By 5000 B.C., people in the Zagros Mountains of northwestern Iran drank wine instilled with pine resin (for its preservative or medicinal properties). And at a site in southeastern Armenia dating to 4000 B.C., scientists unearthed a fully equipped winery — they think the wine was made for mortuary practices, considering there were 20 burial graves, which contained drinking cups, next to the winemaking facility.

Importantly, though some pottery fragments containing residues of beer and wine come from settlements, most actually come from burial sites. "Many tombs have provided traces of alcoholic drinks and drugs," Guerra-Doce said. "I think these substances were used to aid in communication with the spirit world."

Some artistic representations also hint at ceremonial drug and alcohol use in prehistory. One of the most revealing items may be a 30-inch-tall (76 centimeters) terracotta figurine known as the "Poppy Goddess." The figurine, found in an almost 3000-year-old cult chamber in Crete, depicts a bare-breasted woman with upraised arms and a head bearing three movable hairpins shaped like poppy capsules. Certain features of the capsules suggest how opium may have been extracted, and the figurine displays a serene facial expression, which some experts interpret as depicting a trancelike state gained from inhaling opium fumes.

Only for the elite?

Guerra-Doce's analysis further suggests that psychoactive substances may have been reserved for the elite. "The main evidence to support that idea is the archaeological contexts where they have been found: tombs of high-status individuals and restricted ceremonial places," she said.

For example, at a Bronze Age cemetery in southeastern Spain, archaeologists have found psychoactive alkaloids of opiates in tombs of the upper class. Similarly, a luxurious tomb in another area of Spain contained evidence of the hallucinogenic alkaloid hyoscyamine, which comes from the nightshade family of plants.

Alcohol also seems to have been mainly for the upper class. One of the most impressive examples comes from the so-called Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave in Germany — a Celtic burial chamber for a 40-year-old man that dates to around 530 B.C. In the princely tomb, researchers found an enormous bronze cauldron from Greece that contained 350 liters (92 gallons) of mead.

"I think that prior to a large-scale production, [alcoholic drinks] were reserved for special events, and they played a similar role as drug plants," Guerra-Doce said.After large-scale production became possible, alcohol likely became available to many people (not just elites), and its use shifted from ritualistic to hedonistic in nature, she added.

Drug plants, on the other hand, were never cultivated on a large scale. And though they were also eventually consumed for hedonistic purposes, this use is difficult to observe in the archaeological record, Guerra-Doce said. "Interestingly, the common names of some of these plants refer to madness, to evil spirits, to harmful effects, so I think a taboo was imposed in order to avoid their use for hedonistic purposes," she said.

Follow Joseph Castro on Twitter. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on Live Science.

• 7 Ways Alcohol Affects Your Health
• The Awa: Faces of a Threatened Tribe
• The 7 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth

Copyright 2014 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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The day after California Chrome won the Kentucky Derby, earlier this month, no one was drinking mint juleps at the Magnolia Bar & Grill, a neighborhood mainstay on the corner of two tree-lined streets in the stately Old Louisville neighborhood.

The hungover, seersucker-and-hat-clad Derby-watchers had skipped town, and the locals were celebrating their departure with shots and glasses of what has emerged as one of the hottest spirits in the United States: whiskey, particularly American bourbon.

The surge of interest in whiskey has been a boon for distillers, but it has also led to a shortage of many brands and varietals that has been dubbed a “whiskey crisis” by the media.

Over the past year, bourbon sales increased 5 percent overall, but premium brands experienced a 20 percent rise in growth, according to the Frankfort, Kentucky.-based Buffalo Trace Distillery.

And over the past six years, sales of premium whiskeys costing more than $15 per bottle at wholesale have grown by 97 percent, according to the Distilled Spirits Council. That has led to a series of distilleries reporting that they have been unable to produce enough whiskey to fulfill consumers’ growing desire for the brown liquor.

The increase in demand has driven prices of many premium whiskeys upward, and some have gone through the roof. Bottles of Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 23-Year-Old Bourbon have skyrocketed from about $175 each in 2000 to as much as $1,000, according to AskMen.com.

A slew of new whiskeys with per-bottle prices in the multiple hundreds of dollars has hit the market in recent years.

Fred Minnick, a Louisville whiskey expert and author of the book “Whiskey Women: The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch, and Irish Whiskey,” says that the whiskey industry is unique because it takes several years to distill good whiskey, and that makes it difficult for companies to keep up with demand spikes.

“The whiskey shortage is very real. The demand is so strong that they can’t meet it. Why is that? The reason is because this whiskey that they’re bottling and putting on the shelves today was conceived at a time when demand wasn’t that high. It was coming off the still in about 2005,” Minnick said.

“It’s very difficult for distillers to forecast -- in the case of Maker’s Mark, six years out, or Elijah Craig 12-Year-Old, back in 2002 -- what the demand will be when it comes out of the barrel. “

The “whiskey crisis” storyline first attracted widespread attention in February 2013, when Maker’s Mark announced that it would water down its whiskey as demand rose and its reserves of bourbon dropped. The company later reversed the decision when backlash from consumers reached a fever pitch.  

A number of other distilleries have made decisions over the past couple of years to raise prices, reduce proofs -- water down their product, that is -- or remove age labels from bottles in an attempt to make up for the growing appetite for bourbon and other whiskeys.

The whiskey shortage was back in the news again this month, when Buffalo Trace announced that the company has had trouble keeping up with a “recent surge in demand” for its bourbon.

“We’re making more bourbon every day. In fact, we’re distilling more than we have in [the] last 40 years,” Harlen Wheatley, Buffalo Trace’s master distiller, said. “Still, it’s hard to keep up. Although we have more bourbon than last year when we first announced the rolling blackouts, we’re still short and there is no way to predict when supply will catch up with demand.”

The booming popularity of bourbon is a result of a combination of factors, experts say, as large numbers of drinkers make the shift from beer and wine to cocktails. International demand for whiskey has skyrocketed in recent years, and craft whiskey in particular has taken off as consumers increasingly look to know more about the provenance of what they eat and drink.

The public perception of whiskey has shifted as well, according to Meredith Grelli, co-founder of Wigle Whiskey, a Pittsburgh distillery that opened in 2011.

“Data show that beer sales are down except for craft beer, and those people are in fact shifting into spirits,” Grelli said. “When we started brainstorming this distillery we saw whiskey as something that we wanted to make accessible for a demographic that goes beyond the older gentleman sitting in his leather chair with a cigar. That’s something that’s hard to even remember now that the people we see coming in the door are younger, and they’re curious and adventurous and not necessarily driven by habit.”

Cultural trends have also played a role in whiskey’s exploding popularity, though it could be chalked up to a renewed appreciation for a once-ubiquitous spirit, said Matthew Anderson, assistant manager of Baltimore-based Bin 604 Winesellers. The boutique wine retailer has started holding whiskey tastings as the liquor’s reputation has grown.

“Trends are often cyclical -- "Mad Men" reigniting the cool in whiskey and rye -- mixed with national pride for our one true alcoholic beverage,” he said. “Or maybe people just got wise to what's been in front of them all along.”

Not everyone buys the narrative of the whiskey crisis, however. Rodger Roeser, owner and CEO of Eisen Agency, a marketing firm based in Newport, Ky., said that though he has no proof to back up his assertion, he believes the whole thing is more than likely “a publicity stunt” on behalf of the spirits industry aimed at raising prices while interest in whiskey is high.

“To me it seems like the marketing guys and the production guys are going, ‘Hey, we might be a little bit short. Let’s see if we can raise the price,’” he said. “I promise you there will be plenty of bourbon to go around.”

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New Hampshire is the drunkest state in America, according to a new report from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The study calculated alcohol consumption per capita for each state using beverage sales as well as tax receipt data from 2012. Because the amount of ethanol varies among beer, wine, and spirits, researchers used a conversion to estimate average ethanol content.

The findings show the typical New Hampshire resident, age 14 or older, consumes 4.65 gallons of ethanol every year. That translates to 1.9 gallons of beer, .86 gallons of wine, and 1.89 gallons of spirits. 

New Hampshire's numbers sit well above the national average of 2.33 gallons of ethanol per year. Residents in the District of Columbia, which came in second place, only consume 3.89 gallons of ethanol per year. The state with the lowest amount of consumption, 1.37 gallons per year per resident, is Utah. 

As the map shows, the Northeast (and D.C.) and states in the Heartland and Mountain regions tend to imbibe more the rest of the country. 

Visit this link for the full data, ranked below in our own spreadsheet. 

Healthy People 2020 has set the national objective for alcohol consumption at 2.1 gallons. While 2.3 seems relatively close, per capita consumption would need to decrease 1.3% nationally every year for eight years to reach that goal, according to the report.

Americans' consumption in 2012 actually increased 2.2% from 2.28 gallons in 2011. Only seven states' consumption decreased, including New Hampshire. 

The study also analyzed long-term data. Americans' consumption steadily increased since post-Prohibition 1934 and peaked in 1980 and 1981 at 2.76 gallons. Since then, consumption has fluctuated. 

Here's a breakdown, considering specific type of alcohol, since 1977. Needless to say, modern Americans love their wine. 

h/t Esquire

SEE ALSO: Here Are The Drunkest Countries In The World

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Stopping drunk drivers may have just got a whole lot easier after scientists from the Military University of Technology in Warsaw unveiled a laser system capable of detecting alcohol in moving cars from the roadside.

Researchers from the university's Institute of Optoelectronics created the device in 2013 and have had their experiments detailed in the open access study "Stand-off detection of alcohol in car cabins", published in SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics journal.

Scientists used a car with a system to simulate an intoxicated driver and generated alcohol vapours inside. The external laser device was able to detect the presence of alcohol vapours in the car, simulating an occupant with a concentration of alcohol in their blood exceeding 0.1%.

Stand-off Detection

The concept of using stand-off detection, a chemical and biological compound identification method, is nothing new. The difference now is that it is possible to build such a device with advancements in lasers having led to the development of "eye-safe" microchip lasers.

"We are already familiar with laser instruments used by the police for speed-limit enforcement," said Marco Gianinetto of the Politecnico di Milano, an associate editor with the journal.

"Now these researchers have demonstrated how a laser device could be effectively used for detecting drunken drivers and thereby helping to reduce the number of accidents caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol.

"In the future, a similar technology may be developed to detect different chemical compounds, enabling the detection of drivers under the influence of other intoxicants."

The scientists' system makes use of two lasers – a monitoring laser and a pilot laser, two detectors, two reflecting mirrors, a spherical mirror, a dichroic mirror and a chopper.Even if the driver of the car is not intoxicated, the laser device is able to detect alcohol fumes coming from other passengers in the car.

Fooling The Laser System

Of course, the researchers admit that it would still be possible to fool the laser detector."From the practical point of view, there seem to be some countermeasures, such as driving with windows open, solar screens on the side windows, etc, that can be applied by drivers to deceive the system," authors Jarosław Młyńczak, Jan Kubicki, and Krzysztof Kopczyński wrote in the paper.

"However, such situations are very easily detected by the system, which sends this information to the policeman indicating that the car should be checked."Before commercializing their invention, the researchers will first attempt to cheat their laser system by testing out a series of countermeasures, in order to make sure that the lasers achieve a high accuracy of detection.

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Every summer, we face the same dilemma. We've got vacations booked, grills cleaned, air conditioners precariously installed, but the most important question remains: 

What are we going to be drinking? In order to declare an official Cocktail of Summer 2014, we sometimes need a little creative boost. So we sent  food editor Dawn Perry over to the bar at Reynard, Andrew Tarlow's restaurant at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, to see how they tackle the problem of a summer cocktail, and to get inspired for our own.

Rustin Nichols has some experience with this dilemma. As the bartender at Reynard, Rustin is tasked with creating and serving summer libations for winter-weary regulars and hordes of summer tourists alike. And for his summer drink, he lets us in on a secret ingredient: genepy.

"I love genepy," Rustin tells us, as he pours the aptly named "Summer Babe" cocktail—genepy shaken with gin and lemon—into a coupe glass. "It's a flower grown in the Alps, like chamomile." Rustin discovered genepy by way of Chartreuse, and if you like Chartreuse, he affirms, you'll definitely like genepy—both also known as, in Dawn terms, "those secret monk elixirs."

"How would you describe it to someone who's never had it?" she asks.

"Herby, lightly viscous," Rustin says. "Some might say medicinal, but…" he shrugs and lets us draw our own conclusions from the bright, elegant cocktail on the bar.

The cocktail is just as Rustin describes it: "a really nice refreshing summer drink." Light, herbal, restorative. As Dawn chimes in, "It's just grown-up lemonade!"

"I'm not even usually a gin person," she exclaims, "but the herbaceousness really takes this to a new place."

Rustin tells us that the cocktail is named after the 1992 Pavement song, and there's definitely a summer-crush vibe going on, but one that has you crushing on the slightly exotic Euro girl who's around for just a few months.  It's both exotic and comforting, and Dawn's into it. The creative juices are flowing.

Genepy is like the "original" small-batch artisanal liqueur, Rustin explains, with each town and local restaurant in the Savoy region producing their own. He brought back a regional variety from Italy for his and his wife's wedding anniversary, a bottle he's very excited to try, and as great for everyday drinking as this cocktail is, there's definitely some of that "special occasion" vibe. 

Génépy des Alpes, produced by Dolin, is the most widely available option, and is the best for cocktails, while Rustin recommends saving the "good stuff" for sipping. "Bartenders just like drinking genepy on their own," he says, as he pours us each a taste of said "good stuff."

"Whew!" says Dawn, taking a sip. The flowery, herby nose on the liqueur is powerful, but restorative. "Nothing wrong with this at all."

You look to a hotel like the Wythe, one that brings an Old World elegance to the heart of Williamsburg, to offer something as alluring as genepy on its cocktail list. But the great thing about getting inspired by bartenders' creations is that restaurant-level cocktails and home-cook cocktails are for the most part exactly the same.

Where restaurant recipes need downsizing, the ingredients, measurements, and process for a single cocktail remain the same behind the bar or in your kitchen. All you need is a shaker, some ice, a little bicep power, and the inspiration to try something new. Rustin is essentially making a case to Dawn, and by proxy the home cook, to seek out genepy for drinking at home, and she's sold. "Yes, it can be annoying to buy some esoteric, specialty liqueur," she admits, "but this cocktail is so refreshing, so easy — just three ingredients! You could easily make this for a crowd, or just for one."

The other component of the drink is much closer to home, though the production is similarly redolent of tradition. "I really love Steven [D'Angelo] over at Greenhook Gin," says Rustin of the guy behind the gin in “Summer Babe.""He's just one of the nicest people, and part of the company-wide thing is that we're really all about connections with people. Knowing whom we're getting things from is really important." 

Greenhook Ginsmiths distills its American Dry Gin in a copper pot still in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, just down the street from the Wythe. The delicate botanicals in Greenhook's gin—juniper, coriander, elderflower, and chamomile—go perfectly with the chamomile and herbs of the genepy. Rustin loves Greenhook because Steve's his buddy, but the drink will go down just as well with the gin of your choice (though if you have buddies who produce gin, please do verify that it’s in an accredited copper pot and not, say, the neighbor's bathtub).

Say you've gone out and found this New, Cool Digestif of Summer 2014 and made your Summer Babes. "What would you recommend doing with the rest of the bottle?" Dawn asks.

"Genepy with tonic is really refreshing," Rustin suggests "You want some bitter to balance out the sweetness. And you’re always going to want a little tartness with it."

"Would you use lime juice?" Dawn suggests. "I think it pairs better with lemon," Rustin responds. "Lime can be too—"

"Astringent," Dawn supplies. It's a good sign when Reynard's bartender and BA's editor are so on the same level that they're finishing each others' sentences; the drink has certainly hit the right spot.

Dawn's wheels are turning as she imagines the possibilities: "I might add a sprig of mint or rosemary, whatever's growing in my friend's herb box that week. That'd be great on the nose, and would pick up on the wonderful herbal notes." She adds, "Plus, it's such a great looking bottle, I might even keep it when it's done and put flowers in it."

Needless to say, summer drinking is a serious concern among our editors. Our own Andrew Knowlton recently declared the unofficial Summer of Suze, and he's been spotted sipping cocktails made with this herby French apéritif in more than one state. There's rosé, whether in a spritzer or in a magnum, and of course, we'll always have negronis, but when we look forward to summer to be even better than the last, there needs to be an even better drink to usher in just how great 2014 is going to be.

And when our Test Kitchen needs some fresh ideas, there's no better place to look than in a bar that comes alive in summer, on the rooftop, with a cocktail of genepy and gin. It's 1 pm, and we have to head back to the office, but before we say goodbye to Rustin, Dawn takes another sip. "I plan on making this all summer long."

Summer Babe
Makes 1 

The bartenders at Reynard, in Brooklyn, use Greenhook Ginsmiths’ botanical American dry gin in this citrusy cocktail, but feel free to make it with your favorite.

2 oz. gin
3/4 oz. Génépy des Alpes
3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
Lemon twist (for serving)

Combine gin, Génépy des Alpes, and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake until outside of shaker is frosty, about 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with lemon twist.

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My friends in recovery and I can laugh over our similar past adventures and mishaps with weed and booze. Pissing the bed? Waking up next to strangers? We’ve all been there. But who chugs a bottle of Vicks Non-Drowsy cough syrup to get high minutes before ballet class?

I did.

I’m an alcoholic and an addict and I worshipped booze, weed and any painkillers or mushrooms I could get my hands on. But I loved cough syrup most of all.

I grew up in suburban Michigan in a traditional “all-American” nuclear family. My childhood was pretty privileged. We had a yard, a dog, a nice house. My parents applauded my earning almost all As and nabbing lead roles in community theater shows. As a young overachiever, I believed this was how to prove my worth. I thought I needed to be “perfect” to be loved.

My obsessive goal-setting mostly kept me clear of drugs and alcohol in high school. I knew I couldn’t nail my two arias for the choir festival, memorize lines for the school play and ace my AP US History test if I got stoned. I did drink too much at homecoming and pass out on my friend’s bathroom floor. But I just chalked it up to rum, and being 17.

I got into my dream college, one of the most prestigious acting schools in the country, and moved to NYC. A maelstrom of insecurity and self-perceived failure followed. “All of my classmates are so talented,” I thought. “I must be the worst.” I felt like a fraud.

My drinking and drug use really took off. Freshman year, I would often drink until I blacked out. The following summer I fell in with a gang of misfits who smoked and dealt weed around my suburban town in Metro-Detroit. Their lifestyle, which consisted mostly of working at Jet’s Pizza, smoking pot, and playing Halo, helped nurture my growing drug habit. By sophomore year, I was a full-on stoner. Plus, there were bars that didn’t card near my dorm.

But I still didn’t let go of my obsession with perfection. I still tried to get straight As while projecting an image that everything was fine — that I was a typical, overachieving theater major living it up in the Big Apple.

During second semester I got a nasty cold. I bought NyQuil and drank twice the recommended dosage before I went to bed. As I drifted off to sleep, I felt like I was tumbling down inside a warm, dark, quiet cave. When I woke up I realized cough medicine could get me high if I drank enough.

So I did it again. And again. And again.

Tripping on cough syrup was like being stoned, but I didn’t feel lethargic or have any food cravings. It was like being drunk, but without the room spinning or the urgent need to pee in inappropriate places. I didn’t reek of booze or weed, and I could get my fix — legally — on any block in New York City.

I’d found my perfect high.

I started planning my drug use around my school schedule: I’d duck into the bathroom in the middle of my last class, chug a bottle of Vick’s 44 Dry Cough, and know that by the time I left class, the high would set in. An hour later, I would smoke weed and listen to Nick Drake on my iPod. I had it down to a science.

The key to my high, I now know, is dextromethorphan (DXM). It’s a chemical that goes straight to the brain where it turns on some brain chemicals and turns off others. When taken in doses 10 to 50 times greater than the as-prescribed spoonful of syrup, DXM envelopes you in a velvety cocoon way beyond feeling-no-pain (one of DXM’s street names is “velvet”).

I would go to any lengths to get my fix. I knew which drug stores had my favorite brand, which would do in a pinch, and how to shoplift at all of them. My main spots were the CVS’s on Bleecker Street and Christopher Street. When I thought no one was watching, I’d peel off the label so as to not set off the security alarm, slip it into my jacket pocket or purse, and walk right out the door. I did this almost every day.

During the day, while sober, I was still working myself to the bone. But once I was done with the day’s responsibilities, I would head straight to oblivion. Like Glinda the Good Witch in her bright pink bubble, the drug took me away from reality, away from the expectations I placed on myself. It quieted that critical inner voice that told me I was a fraud and a failure.

I was continuing to drink and party, and the alcohol and cough syrup combo led to almost-instant blackouts. This put me in a lot of unsafe situations I’ll never fully remember, often involving walking home with a stranger or stumbling around the city at night, alone. Sometimes I’d chug the wrong brand and get violently sick to my stomach. The habit fed my burgeoning eating disorder, since staying high for most of the day made it easier to starve myself.

I’m lucky I didn’t hurt myself. There are plenty of dangers in chugging cough syrup that have nothing to do with DXM, since most over-the-counter formulas contain antihistamines, expectorants, decongestants and a host of other chemicals that, when taken in “recreational” amounts, can cause who-knows-what negative effects. Adding booze to this toxic brew can wreak even more havoc on your system.

By the end of sophomore year, I was spiraling. I started chugging a bottle before some of my classes, just to get through the day. The professor’s voice would fade into the background as my mind floated on a soft pillow of bliss.

I was losing control.

The summer after my junior year of college, I was working in a New Hampshire-based Shakespeare company. I found decent cough medicine in the tiny town and would stow the empties in my desk, afraid to be caught by the other resident actors.

At night, I would often get so drunk I cried, alarming the other actors. Sometimes I got so high I could barely perform. Everything on stage would spin, I’d forget lines, and sometimes slur my speech to the point that I’m sure people thought I was having a stroke.

I made it almost to the end of the Shakespeare residency when I got fired. While tripping on cough medicine, I found out my family dog had died. I coped the only way I knew how, by getting wasted alone in my room. I don’t remember much after my third drink. But suddenly it was dark and my artistic director was shoving a bottle of water in my hand.

“We found all the cough medicine bottles in your desk,” she said, flatly. “Either you drink as much water as you can until you throw up, or I’ll be forced to take you to the hospital.”

Terrified of my secret getting more exposed, I opted for water. They fired me the next morning. I tried to explain that the empties weren’t all from one night. It didn’t help.

When I got back to New York, I spent my first night sober in my new Brooklyn apartment. I had no furniture yet, so I slept on the floor. After I told my mom what happened, she suggested I check out a 12-step program. The next day, I went to my first AA meeting.

I didn’t experience physical withdrawal symptoms–only emotional ones. I learned to deal with these through a combination of recovery and therapy. Thankfully, I haven’t a drink or drug ever since. Not even cough medicine.

Today, I still avoid the cough and cold aisles in drug stores if I can help it. But then agan, I don’t voluntarily meander through liquor stores, either. My boyfriend, who is not an alcoholic or addict, has kept NyQuil — and even sexy prescription cough medicine, which I never tried — in our apartment. But luckily, by that point I’d had enough recovery under my belt to not be tempted.

Some people in recovery from alcoholism or drug addiction can use cough medicine as prescribed without relapsing. But I know myself better. I don’t even have an excuse: I haven’t had a bad cough since I got sober.

Grace Kemeny is a pseudonym for an actress and writer based in New York City. She performs onstage regularly in the New York City area, and can also be seen on various cable TV shows. She lives with her boyfriend in Brooklyn and loves to eat dessert, lift weights and go to comic conventions.

SEE ALSO: Marijuana Is More Addictive These Days — Here's Why

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CLINTON HILL — It's a bar menu that might stir things up.

A Myrtle Avenue Mexican restaurant's menu organizes cocktails by gender, serving up higher-alcohol drinks "for men" and lighter libations for the ladies.

Los Pollitos III serves drinks "For Ladies" that have less alcohol, like a glass of wine and Alize — 16-20 percent — while drinks for men contain stronger alcohol like "Mexican Ice Tea" that has Tequila, Rum, Gin, Vodka and Kalhua and "Tequila Cadillac" that has Tequila and Grand Marnier, which is 80 proof.

Ladies' drinks are also easier on the pocketbook — they cost $7 while men's cost $10.

"The idea was to make people laugh," said manager Marcos Merino, who came up with the idea for his-and-hers cocktails. "People get excited about the menu and have fun with it."

Bartender Leo Vasquez added that the categories on the menu, which has been around two weeks, were inspired by women who ask for drinks that are fruity and easy to drink.

"A lot of times ladies don't like to have the strong stuff so this menu is for them," he said. "The drinks for women are sweeter with less alcohol."

There are also drinks "For Kids" that include virgin Piña Coladas and Daquiries and cocktails like Mojitos and Mai Tai are "For Everyone."

But just because the stronger drinks are geared toward men doesn't mean women can't partake.

"Anyone can order anything," Vasquez said.

Some locals think the categories are arbitrary and possibly offensive.

Karin Torres, who owns nearby wine shop Corkscrew, which focuses on female winemakers, thinks it's women who should get the stiff drinks.

"I think it should be the other way around," she said. "I am much more comfortable around drunk women than men."

But Leo Jackson, who works at Salon de Lafayette in SOHO and has eaten at the restaurant many times, thinks Los Pollitos has the right idea.

"It makes sense," Jackson, 34, said. "It's women who get so inebriated that they pass out and stumble around. It's safer for them to have drinks with less alcohol."

The owner was not immediately available for comment.

Los Pollitos III bar menu

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A New York City Republican Party official reportedly tried an unusual excuse for allegedly taking a bribe: He was too drunk to realize what was going on.

According to the New York Post, former Queens GOP Vice Chairman Vincent Tabone's lawyer argued in court Thursday that his client was "so boozed up when he took the cash that he thought he was being paid for legal consulting services."

 "[Tabone] had six or seven vodka tonics without eating," the lawyer told the jury in federal court. "He was hoping to be retained ... as a real estate lawyer or a political consultant."

The lawyer further claimed tapes will show Tabone "could barely talk" when he took the cash.

Tabone is accused of taking part in an unsuccessful scheme aimed at dispensing bribes to get eccentric Democratic State Senator, Malcolm Smith, into the New York City Republican mayoral primary. Smith and other officials are also facing charges.

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It's a bad idea to drink and drive. No rocket science there. But with the goal of reducing drunken driving, researchers have gone high-tech, creating a laser device that can detect alcohol vapor within a moving car, from alongside the road. After the laser is shone through a speeding vehicle, a mirror bounces it back to a detector that can sense small concentrations of alcohol. 

In<the study, published in the Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, the researchers found that it could detect the amount of alcohol exhaled by a drunk person with a blood alcohol concentration above 0.1 percent. There were a number of assumptions that went into that calculation, but the researchers suggest that the device may be even more sensitive than stated, since the temperature of the human lung is higher than the device used in the experiment, and thus breath may contain more alcohol in the real world than modeled in the lab. (That said, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board says you're drunk at 0.05 percent blood-alcohol content.)

The device could be fooled, as the scientists admit, by alcohol exhaled by tipsy passengers, or a spill in the car. Or open windows, or air conditioning or fans... but anything to narrow down the number of cars stopped by police could help, they say. 

As an aside, I was initially thrown off by the suggestion that the device could measure breath concentrations of 0.1 percent and higher, as stated by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics (and publisher of the study journal). But this is wrong--if breath contained this much alcohol, the person would be long dead. A typical blood-to-breath alcohol ratio is 2,100, meaning that the concentration of alcohol in a drinker's bloodstream is about 2,100 times higher than the concentration of ethanol in the breath. You can see for example that this nifty BAC calculator appears to use the same multiplier. 

So if you ever face social pressure to drink and drive, just glance off into the middle distance and say, "I would, but for the lasers. The lasers, man." 

(I also just realized that this is the second post I've written today about sensing chemicals in the breath. Pardon me while I go brush my teeth.)

SEE ALSO: Here Are The Drunkest Countries In The World

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Last night Business Insider got to taste three Scotch whiskys technically old enough to vote in these United States of America — the The Glenlivet 18, The Glenlivet 21, and The Glenlivet 25.

It was a privilege, mostly because these whiskys are absolutely delicious, but also because they're super-expensive. It all depends on where you live, but a bottle of the 18 can cost you a bit less than $100, the 21 a little more than $150, and the 25 over $350.

And it isn't just because they're old, though age makes the whiskys taste better. The wood from the barrels a Scotch (or any whisky) is aged in tends to break down the rougher flavors in the alcohol, leaving you with a smoother taste.

The longer the alcohol is in there, the smoother it gets. And yes, that is lovely.

But that's not the main reason older Scotch is more expensive. The Glenlivet brand ambassador Craig Bridger explained that by the time the 21-year has aged, 30% to 40% of what was in barrels is gone. This is because of "Angel's Share"— the natural evaporation of the liquid into the atmosphere over time.

In other words, old Scotch whisky is expensive not because it's old, but because it's rare. A lot of what a distillery starts with doesn't make it into a bottle.

Stupid, greedy angels.

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Everyone has their own hacks for relieving the symptoms of a hangover, but there's still no single hangover cure that's proven to work.

Sure, people have asked tons of questions about what causes morning hangovers and how we can alleviate that pounding head, I-want-to-puke feeling, but apparently we just don't have very good answers.

"The science behind hangovers is terrible," Adam Rogers, a Wired editor and author of a new book "Proof: The Science Behind Booze, said in a "Top Line"television interview with ABC's David Kerley and Yahoo's Oliver Knox. "Most of the stuff that you got told the first day before your first night at college about how to avoid a hangover is just wrong or at least not proven."

This includes the misconception that brown liquor is worse than clear liquor, Rogers said, as well as other things about how ethanol affects the brain.

An article from The Telegraph written last year had a similar conclusion: "Plenty of research has been done on what a hangover is, what causes it and what you can do about it, and the answers are pretty inconclusive. Studies of hormone levels, levels of dehydration, blood glucose, toxins etc, all seem to point in different directions."

A hangover is “an inflammatory response,” Rogers said, and that can prompt some flu-like symptoms. But in the case of a hangover, the primary culprit is alcohol, not a virus.

In the interview, Rogers also talks about the popular hair-of-the-dog approach, where one consumes alcohol to help after a night of drinking too much alcohol. You're probably already familiar with a class of drinks that he calls pick-me-ups, which were specially created at one point to cure a morning hangover. These elixirs include the bloody Mary, the mimosa, and something called a Corpse Reviver #2, a mix of gin, cointreau, lemon juice, and perond.

These drinks may be delicious and distracting, but Rogers doesn't recommend downing them purely as way to help your hangover.

Head over here to watch the full interview »

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Maureen Dowd, a 62-year-old Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist for the New York Times, had a bad marijuana trip earlier this year. As part of her research into the legalization of recreational cannabis in Colorado, she ate a few too many bites of a pot-infused candy bar, entered a “hallucinatory state,” and spent eight paranoid hours curled up on her hotel room bed.

Dowd used the experience as a jumping-off point to discuss the risks of overdosing on edible marijuana, which has become a major issue in pot-friendly states.

It’s also possible, however, that Dowd just doesn’t handle cannabis very well. While pot mellows most people out, everyone has heard of someone who barricaded himself or herself in a dorm room after a few bongs hits in college. (Or maybe that someone is you.) Why do people react so differently to the same drug?

The question itself may be something of a fallacy. Cannabis is not a single drug—it contains dozens of compounds, and they appear to have varying, and sometimes opposing, effects on the brain. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and cannabidiol, or CBD, have been the subject of some intriguing research.

In 2010, researchers showed that pretreating people with a dose of CBD can protect against the less pleasant effects of THC, such as paranoia. In a similar 2012 study, participants took pills that contained only one of the two chemicals, rather than the combination that you receive in cannabis. The subjects who took THC pills were more likely to suffer paranoia and delusion than those who took CBD.

The researchers went one step further to investigate which specific cognitive effects of THC are likely to lead to paranoia and other symptoms of psychosis. After taking either THC or CBD, participants watched a series of arrows appear on a screen and responded by indicating which direction the arrows were pointing. Most of the arrows pointed directly left or right, but occasionally a tilted arrow appeared. (Researchers called the tilted arrows “oddballs.”) Subjects who took the CBD had a heightened brain activity response to the oddballs. That’s the way a nondrugged person typically reacts—repetitions of the same stimulus don’t interest us, but a sudden change grabs our attention.

The THC-takers had an abnormal response: They found the left and right arrows, which constituted the overwhelming majority of the images, more noteworthy than the oddballs. The researchers’ interpretation is that THC may undermine our ability to ignore routine, unimportant stimuli. Ignoring the ordinary is an important skill—we can’t function if every chirping bird or billboard grabs our attention and refuses to let go. Focusing obsessively on every meaningless detail in the environment may contribute to the paranoia that some pot users experience.

The differing effects of THC and CBD partially explain why some marijuana strains—which differ in the ratios and amounts of THC and CBD—are believed to provide giddy, excited highs, while others are thought to mellow the user, regardless of one’s personal neurological peculiarities.

Although both THC and CBD are present in marijuana, your brain may be more receptive to one of the chemicals than the other. Maureen Dowd’s brain may have a strong affinity for THC, while the mellower smokers may take up CBD more efficiently.

There is probably also a psychological element in addition to the neurochemical explanation. Consider the effects of alcohol. There are mean drunks, loud drunks, amorous drunks, withdrawn drunks, teary drunks, and many more kinds. There are no differences in the drug itself—unlike cannabis, alcohol has only one psychoactive substance—so there has to be another explanation.

There are scads of studies exploring the diverse effects of alcohol, much of it focusing on variations in alcohol-related aggression, but none of the studies are entirely satisfying. Psychological research rarely is. (That’s not a knock on psychologists or psychiatrists—it’s just a very tricky field.)

One theory is that some people don’t care very much about the consequences of their actions, even when they’re sober. When these people drink, they get aggressive, and their lack of foresight means they don’t bother to check their mean-drunk impulses. In a 2012 study, researchers at Ohio State showed that people who ignored consequences when sober got really excited about shocking their opponents in a drunken reflex competition.

The study was widely publicized, but shocking a person in a laboratory setting is vastly different from punching someone in a bar. The legacy of the infamous Milgram experiment is also relevant—anyone participating in a psych experiment allegedly involving shocking other participants may well know it’s just pretend. Several other personality characteristics, such as anxiety levels, have been suggested as explanations for how people behave when intoxicated. Most of these studies are based on laboratory scenarios that don’t mimic well the drinking experiences you get in the wild.

There may a genetic basis for differing responses to alcohol. In a 2010 twin study, researchers attributed one-third of the variation in alcohol-induced aggression levels to genetic factors. The research was based on self-reporting, though, and the ability to estimate our own anger and aggression levels isn’t necessarily consistent from person to person.

Although the research hasn’t settled on simple explanations, it’s clear that some combination of personality traits, genetics, and experience affects how people respond to intoxicants. You can’t blame it all on the drug. Maureen Dowd’s rough night in Denver had something to do with the amount and kind of dope she consumed, as well as her own reaction to certain psychoactive chemicals. But her psychological makeup also likely played a role. I can think of a few people who might accuse her of an inability to consider the consequences of her actions.

SEE ALSO: How Edibles Became The Marijuana Industry's Biggest Headache

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Underage drinkers are very loyal to specific alcohol brands, preferring Bud Light by a wide margin, according to a new study on underage binge drinking.

The study — conducted by researchers at Boston University and Johns Hopkins University — examined the binge drinking habits of people aged 13-20. Binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks in one sitting for males or four or more drinks in one sitting for females.

"The most important finding is that the phenomenon of binge drinking among our youth is extremely brand specific ... For the first time we've found the brands that are most responsible for binge drinking among our nation's youth,"one of the report's authors told The Washington Post.

Although spirits were more popular overall that beer — accounting for 43.8% of binge drinking — Bud Light was the most popular brand out of any drink, with 13.5% of young people having consumed it at least once while binge drinking.

By comparison, the next most popular brand drink was Jack Daniel's whiskey, with 7% having consumed it while binge drinking, and the next most popular beer was Budweiser, with 6.5% of young people reporting that they used it while binge drinking.

While the study does not offer a firm reason for why these are the most popular brands among underage drinkers, the reports authors have one potential idea.

"There could be messages in their marketing efforts that are encouraging the use of these not just by youths but also in excess ... We need to take a closer look at the marketing practices of these larger brands," one author told The Washington Post.

Read more about the underage binge drinking study at The Washington Post >>

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While most high school students know that they're expected to maintain their grades even after they've been accepted to college, there is a lesser known reason why some colleges rescind students' admission.

As several college newspapers have reported in the past few years, colleges sometimes revoke a student's acceptance if they're caught drinking during a campus visit. Colleges say they treat underage on-campus drinking from an accepted student they same way they would one who is enrolled.

We first heard about these policies from George Washington University student newspaper The Hatchet, who publishes a guide for accepted students visiting campus during the university's Colonial Inauguration during June. The Hatchet warns that if any students on campus for CI are caught with alcohol, "they'll be sent to GW's disciplinary office just like any other student."

As one GWU administrator told The Hatchet, "When a student makes a decision to illegally consume alcohol or use illegal drugs ... it calls into question the types of choices the student will make around substance use when they come to campus in the fall."

In a June 2012 article on college-bound students, Duke student newspaper The Chronicle cites a study on overnight college visits that found that 16% of prospective students drank alcohol during their visit, 17% engaged in sexual activities, and 5% used drugs other than alcohol.

According to The Chronicle, Duke makes prospective students spending the night on-campus sign a consent form prohibiting the underage possession and consumption of alcohol and other illegal drugs.

"Teens need to understand the choices they might be faced with and their consequences," one of the study's authors told The Chronicle. "What is their response going to be, and how are they going to make the decision they want to make?"

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