Seasonal Chemicals:

'Tis the season to be jolly.

And why not? There's little to feel jolly about in the midst of a most efficient culling of the human herd.

So we do what we can. In the privacy of our homes we can indulge in whatever makes us happy. Usually, it's food and drink.

So. If you're among those who like to enhance the mood with a few libations, here's some advice..

If it's food, it might include wine. That's because wine is a food. 

Beer is a food, too. It is especially useful if there are a few teenagers in the group. Not too dangerous for inexperienced drinkers. They'll probably throw up and go to sleep before becoming obnoxious and unruly.

Distilled liquor is the way to go for adults who can handle it. This includes scotch, rye, bourbon, gin, vodka, and the liqueurs. All of these have had the impurities removed through distillation. Very few headaches left to ambush inexperienced drinkers who tend to overindulge.

Take Scotch for example. Apparently barley grows well in the Highlands. The Scots convert it to malt, add yeast and make beer out of it.

But they don't drink the beer. They run it through a still to make scotch.

But, not so fast. Those canny Scots know from experience that a small fraction of that distillate that evaporates just before ethanol is poisonous. They isolate it and dump it. 

Every responsible distiller does the same thing. That is why there are fewer headaches in a bottle of profesionally distilled liquor than in either beer or wine.

Now that you're aware of this, keep it in mind when you're doing your best to cope with Covid, and have a merry Christmas, Hannukah, or whatever.