Drinking 4711?

**DMT** · 07-08-2012, 02:59 PM

I was over at basenotes reading some reviews of old school fragrances and one reviewer mentioned that she used to drink 4711 in milk for medicinal refreshment. I thought that was odd, but when I read up on the history of 4711, it was in fact marketed as a miracle water for internal and external use and they only stopped marketing it for internal use after Napoleon made a law requiring secret recipes for internal use to be disclosed. Last time I checked, drinking ethanol was a bad idea, was the original recipe ethanol free? What were its supposed medicinal properties?

**the_edski** · 07-08-2012, 04:26 PM

Many things have been miracle cures at one time or another. Oil, yes, plain old oil from the ground was once touted as a miracle tonic to drink!

**blantyre** · 07-08-2012, 04:28 PM

I imagine that the hangover would be brutal.

**cb91710** · 07-08-2012, 06:36 PM

Ethanol is fine.
Methanol is "wood" alcohol and will blind you.

And whether 4711 was "safe" (relatively) to drink 50 or 100 years ago does not mean it's safe today.
Especially in the US, most alcohol products that are not licensed and sold for consumption are required to contain at the very least, bitterants, and at worst, denaturants to make it difficult or impossible to consume.

**maxman** · 07-08-2012, 07:31 PM

I wouldn't think drinking 4711 would be a good idea at all.
now or then.

**Walter Sobchak** · 07-08-2012, 07:50 PM

I splash a little 4711 on for refreshment in the summer heat, but I would never drink it. Tastes like burning when I get it on my lips.

**TheVez2** · 07-08-2012, 08:54 PM

Read up on aqua velva. Gents in the service (I believe) used to drink it when they couldn't get alcohol. The makers added a bittering agent to discourage consumption.

**the_edski** · 07-08-2012, 08:56 PM

Yep, heard this before. It was originally marketed as a mouthwash when it came out in 1929, hence the drinking of it.

Originally Posted by TheVez2

Read up on aqua velva. Gents in the service (I believe) used to drink it when they couldn't get alcohol. The makers added a bittering agent to discourage consumption.

**Vickers** · 07-08-2012, 08:59 PM

The buzz only lasts 20 minutes.

**Arcadies** · 07-08-2012, 09:10 PM

Originally Posted by Walter Sobchak

Tastes like burning when I get it on my lips.

I'm going to hear Ralph Wiggum saying that for the rest of the night.

**Wildalaska** · 07-08-2012, 10:19 PM

Quite common for the local bums to drink aftershave here, taste doesnt make much of a diff to a hard core street alcoholic last legger

**Lamb Root** · 07-09-2012, 02:06 AM

Originally Posted by Vickers

The buzz only lasts 20 minutes.

That's after I drink a 100ml bottle, after drinking a 800ml one I feel sick for a whole day, and my skin is sore.

**Sapian** · 07-11-2012, 09:19 AM

"For external use only" is what the box of your fragrance really should say. No one wants their $200 Creed purchase sullied by an awkward warning on the lovely box, though. There is a warning about it being flammable, but nothing about it making you blind if you drink it. I'm sure the taste is more than enough of a deterrent so they don't even bother hahaha!

And I heard that about Aqua Velva too, it's crazy!

**Quintar** · 07-11-2012, 11:27 AM

i wouldn't drink it now, if you look at the ingredients:

Alcohol Denatured, Aqua/Water/Eau (Water), Parfum (Fragrance), Limonene, Linalool, Citral, Hydroxycitronellal, Geraniol, Citronellol

the alcohol is denatured (usually 10% methanol added) so not good for drinking...probably 50 years ago it would have been perfectly safe to drink though

**DMT** · 07-12-2012, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by Quintar

so not good for drinking...probably 50 years ago it would have been perfectly safe to drink though

I guess I'll stick to drinking Poitín for, medicinal purposes of course :p

**mandoman** · 07-12-2012, 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by Vickers

The buzz only lasts 20 minutes.

**delamain** · 07-25-2012, 09:25 PM

I knew of an old fella who had been an alcoholic for many years who drank Aqua Velva when his alcoholism had him as low as you can go. He eventually managed to give it all up before it got the best of him.

That must have been before they denatured it because he would've been blind or dead pretty fast. I can't imagine what the aftertaste would be like...

**joshua1970** · 07-26-2012, 07:56 AM

I'll relate a story as my father would (and often does)

He did part of his Medical residency at Yale Medical Hospital in the late 50s/early 60s, and there were two wings -the medical and the 'nursing home' wing (he was in the actual hospital wing).

when the administration determined there was a problem with alcohol abuse in the nursing home wing, they banned it's presence, then 'raided' the wing and left with a 'dump truck' filled with booze. Meanwhile, over at the medical wing they were frantically preparing for a wave of patients who logically would be going through withdrawal (and for those not aware, alcohol withdrawal is the most dangerous save for benzos)

a few days went by... and nothing. a few more and the were all scratching their heads wondering where all the detoxing patients were. Suddenly they were getting multiple cases of acute alcohol poisoning, not withdrawals!

So my father was assigned to the team to investigate and he soon discovered that prior to the alcohol ban, the comissary sold about 1/4 case of Aqua Velva per year at most. Suddenly they were going through 7-8 cases a week!!!

seems they were filtering it through white bread and drinking it.

Same man who, while a Doctor in Vietnam (early '63-'64, he was en route home when Gulf of tonkin incident allegedly 'occured') sent samples of Viet beer to the Philippines for analysis and found that nearly all of them had formaldehyde in it... and since the water was mostly contaminated, he wound up drinking scotch most of the time

...and apologies for another indulgence, but I'm reminded of another pop war story -once when he needed his axle fixed on his personal Jeep the ARVN mechanics simply couldn't figure it out so after waitign a week, he just traded a case of scotch for a brand new ARVN jeep.

ahhh, pop stories. :)

**Prince** · 07-26-2012, 08:09 AM

Never knew white bread was a proper filter. And they say whole grain is the healthiest.

**Go Forth** · 07-26-2012, 08:13 AM

Originally Posted by Quintar

i wouldn't drink it now, if you look at the ingredients:

Alcohol Denatured, Aqua/Water/Eau (Water), Parfum (Fragrance), Limonene, Linalool, Citral, Hydroxycitronellal, Geraniol, Citronellol

the alcohol is denatured (usually 10% methanol added)

There is almost certainly no methanol in it - denaturing of perfumer's alohol is accomplished by adding a substance which makes it unpalatable. I would be concerned about phthalates and other substances added to stabilize the fragrance. However, 4711 is very short-lived, so there may be very little or none of these substances in it.