What is Hooch
- Hooch is a commonly used term for poor quality alcohol, derived from Hoochinoo, a native Alaskan tribe that was known to produce very strong liquor.
- Unlike branded liquor which is produced in factories with sophisticated equipment and rigorous quality control, hooch is made in more crude setting without any quality checks.
- It is near impossible to tell whether hooch is safe to consume before actual consumption.
Science of Creation
- Alcohol is produced using two basic processes: fermentation and distillation. When heated, yeast reacts with sugar to ferment and produce a mixture containing alcohol.
- Distillation is key to make anything stronger than beer or wine above 14-18% ABV or alcohol by volume.
- Distillation is the process of physically separating the alcohol from the rest of the mixture using evaporation and condensation.
- In Hooch production firstly they heat water, locally available yeast, and sugar or fruit (often fruit waste) to produce a fermented mixture in a large pot.
- Once sufficient fermentation has occurred, they distil this fermented mixture to produce concentrated alcohol using a rudimentary setup.
Why is Hooch Dangerous
- The fermented mixture which is to be distilled contains more than just consumable alcohol (ethanol). It also contains methanol, a different form of alcohol which is highly toxic for human beings.
- During the distillation, both ethanol and methanol are concentrated. Thus, if done wrong, the end product can have a high concentration of methanol instead of ethanol and thus be poisonous.
- It is crucial to maintain a temperature of above 78.37 °C but below 100°C (the boiling point of water) to obtain potent liquor. Commercial distillers have sophisticated equipment and multiple checks to maintain the accuracy of the process.
- Hooch-makers have no temperature control. This basically means that the process of distillation lacks the accuracy that is crucial to make it safe and effective.
- Adulteration Risk: adulterants like organic waste, battery acid, and industry grade methanol are added to compensate for watered down distillation product, all of which are highly toxic.
- Adulteration can make hooch far more intoxicating, producing effects such as blackouts, memory loss, and high drunkenness even on consumption of low quantities of liquor. If methanol is present in high concentration, liquor is unfit to drink and can be deadly.
Effect of spurious liquor and its treatment
- Methanol or methyl alcohol can cause impaired vision, high toxicity and metabolic acidosis, a condition in which the body produces excessive acid that cannot be flushed out by kidneys.
- The treatment is to administer Fomepizole and ethanol. However, fomepizole can be expensive and unavailable in many parts of India.
- In such cases, doctors administer a mixture of ethanol and water (1:1 ratio). Ethanol inhibits methanol’s conversion into toxins and helps in flushing it out of the body either naturally or through dialysis.
Laws to stop Hooch Production
- Gujarat is the only Indian state with a death penalty for the manufacture and sale of homemade liquor that results in fatalities. The legislation is titled the Bombay Prohibition (Gujarat Amendment) Act, 2009.
- The Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act, 1995 banned sale and consumption of alcohol effective from 20 February 1997.
- The Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act, 1989 (NLTP Act) banned the sale and consumption of alcohol in 1989.
- Over 3.46 lakh people arrested in the last five years and close to 150 lakh litres of country-made and Indian Made Foreign Liquor being seized.
Measures to avoid Tragedies
- Increase Awareness especially in states where prohibition regarding sales of liquor exists.
- Provide psychological counselling to people not able to come out of alcohol consumption.
- 3.Blanket Ban can’t be a solution to reduce alcohol consumption, instead a nuanced approach needs to be followed to gradually reduce consumption.
- Stop bootleggers and mafia groups to sell spurious liquor, since their aim to make quick money having no regards for people health.
- There are many laws in the statute books of state governments with regard to illicit distillation and sale of spurious liquor. Their effective implementation calls for commitment on the part of those in authority.
- A mandatory code for alcohol retailing and implementation of tough measures, which would curb irresponsible ways of expanding retail outlets.
