If, like us, you resemble one of Game of Thrones’ Khaleesi’s dragons after downing a gulp of whiskey (you know, that big exhalation of air you need after drinking a strong spirit?), rest assured that the strong beverage is doing you a heap of good.
A study recently published in the medical journal Springer has found that the only way to kill off the infection-causing bacteria in the ice plonked in your favourite alcohol drinks is to kill it with whiskey.
The research looked at the types of bacteria that can survive in ice and found 31 species of bacteria in bar ice — including infectious Pseudomonas (can cause skin and lung infections), Staphylococcus (responsible for Staph infections), Bacillus (guilty for food poisoning symptoms) and Acinetobacter (can cause pneumonia and meningitis).
As a result, researchers then tested the bacteria’s’ resilience by putting infected ice in common drinks.
Freezing temperatures didn’t kill them.
Vodka didn’t kill any of them either.
And while, Coca-Cola killed Bacillus and Pseudomonas, and tonic killed all but Acinetobacter, whiskey proved to be the mother of all terminators.
Okay, drinking the bacteria won’t make you sick in the vast majority of cases but, given our love of the occasional tipple, we might err on the side of caution for a while and change our gin orders for whiskey.
After all, nothing sounds fancier than an order of Manhattans à la Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw.
From: ELLE UK
