A big stash of booze is important, since you can use it for nearly everything.

Every normal household should have a mother a father and some bottles of hard liquor. Now it’s perfectly normal that either the first or the second is missing for whatever reason, but a lack of booze is unacceptable. And not just to poor yourself or your guests a nice glass every once in a while. Through the centuries hard liquor has been used for all kinds of stuff. Here are some alternative purposes for your scotch, vodka or rakia.

Aftershave: drinks with a high alcohol percentage were used in many countries to disinfect the skin after shaving. Plus which woman can resist the sweet smell of booze around a man’s neck?

Painkiller: well we’re back to drinking, but let’s say you break your leg and the pain is unbearable. You better have a bottle of hard stuff laying around to ease the pain.

Pets remover: little creepy animals like leaches or ticks can’t stand alcohol. Especially ticks should always be numbed with alcohol first before you remove them from the skin.

To disinfect open wounds: a perfect alternative for those little bottles in your medical cabinet. Forget ethanol, ethylalcohol, isopropanol and antibiotics. All you need is alcohol!

Kitchen ingredient: Especially when preparing meat it’s great to use alcoholic beverages as an ingredient. You wil lose the alcohol in the pan since it has a lower boiling temperature than water, but it does give a chemic reaction that brings out all the other flavors in the pan.

Medicine: if you got a cold or a sore throat there is no better medicine than a good glass of hard liquor. Whisky, brandy or rakia will help you back on your feet in no time. You can even slip some in a cup of hot tea. Another good way to use it in case of a cold is to rub it on your chest.

Fuel: if you are out of gasoline or spirit, liquor does a great job to start a fire. If it’s strong enough of course. So next time you can’t get your barbecue to burn, you know what to do.

Micky Bumbar