Plants Like Vodka, Too: A GAP Guide on Alternative Ways to Use Your Booze
Have you ever wondered what else you can do with your favorite alcoholic beverages?
Of course drinking these brews and spirits is the ideal form of enjoyment, but there are many other uses for these wonderful liquids. Below, the GAP team has compiled our top alternative uses for beer, wine, gin, vodka, and rum. Are you brave enough to venture into this unknown territory of liquor?
1. Shampoo Hair: Boil a cup of beer in a saucepan over medium heat, until it is reduced to ¼ cup. Now that the alcohol has been removed, let it cool and mix with a cup of shampoo. Wash and rinse per usual to give your hair that hoppy shine.
2. Stain Removal: Spill a little wine on your carpet? Try some beer instead of a chemical cleaner! Pour a little beer on the stain, let it sit for a bit, and then dab with a cloth. Clean thoroughly with soap and water to get rid of the stain.
3. Spruce up Wooden Furniture: Using a soft cloth, massage flat beer into wooden furniture to restore its original color and luster.
4. Firefighter: Put out fires…small fires.
1. Fruit Fly Trap: Finally, a use for that half-drank glass of wine from the previous night’s soiree. Toss it in a cup, cover with some plastic wrap, and poke some holes in the top for entry. Flies will check in, but they won’t check out.
2. Clean Your Veggies: Spraying wine onto fruits and veggies can remove unwanted bacteria better than water can. Just put in a handy spray bottle for easy E. coli extermination.
3. Grease Lightning: White wine can help rid you of those grease stains in your driveway or garage. (You know, from working on your 1948 Ford De Luxe Special). Mixed with some baking soda, it can be a cleaning staple in your shop.
4. Seeing Red: Use wine to dye your favorite white shirt pink, your brand new white rug maroon, and your friend’s annoying white Shih tzu red.
1. Mouthwash: If you are sick of the peppermint burn in your current mouthwash, try gargling a bit of gin in the morning. The alcohol will kill the bacteria in your mouth from last night’s cocktail party. Gin, mixed with some flavored oil, can add some flavor and kick to your morning. Just don’t swallow.
2. Arthritis Cure: Soak some golden raisins in a bowl of gin for up to a week. Eating 10 of these a day is said to rid some of the pain associated with arthritis. Although it may be an old wives’ tale, it is thought that the relief is attributed to the juniper berries’ anti-inflammatory characteristics and the sulfur dioxide in golden raisins.
3. Foot Wash: If you have any gin lying around, combine with some thyme oil for a foot odor remover. Soak for a few minutes to give your feet an herbal cleanse.
4. Brine Time: Add gin to a jar of pickles to let everyone know you mean business.
1. Poison Ivy: If you are itching to use some of that 100 proof vodka you’ve been saving, use it to get rid of that uncomfortable poison ivy. Pour the 100 proof vodka on the affected area to wash away the itchy oil.
2. Preserve Flowers: Mary Poppins® forgot to tell you that a spoon full of sugar and a few drops of vodka help the flowers stay fresh. Change daily for best results.
3. Shine Your Fixtures: To achieve that brand-new look, use a soft cloth with some vodka to polish your chrome, porcelain, and glass.
4. Stain Remover: Spray vodka on vomit stains, scrub with a brush, and then blot dry.
1. Cooking: Rum Balls.
2. Helping with Upset Stomach: A little rum is said to help ease stomach pain & nausea.
3. Where Has All the Rum Gone?: If you are a pirate, and you suffer a parrot or snakebite, use rum to clean out the wound.
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