THERE AREN’T MANY things more amusing to me than urban legends.  I’m always fascinated by the things people will believe without ever verifying the facts or challenging the common sense that we were all born with.  We’ve all heard an urban legend before.  Even Santa Claus himself is part of urban lore.  There is one legend in particular that always makes me laugh.  It states that the modern image of Santa that we are all familiar with was created by the Coca-Cola Company.  This hardly makes sense to me, but there are many who believe it.  The image of the Santa that we know is a hybrid, descended from St. Nicholas, whose outward appearance and history were created and shaped by many people over the course of many, many years until he morphed into the familiar jolly old fat man in a red and white costume who lives at the North Pole and delivers gifts to little girls and boys on Christmas eve.  It should make perfect sense that what we know as Santa Claus existed long before Coco-Cola began adorning their cans with his image.

What does this have to do with bartending?  I’m glad you asked.  A friend suggested that I look at some urban legends related to drinking.  You’ve probably heard some of these stories yourself and you’ve probably thought that, taken with a grain of salt, they must be true.  Let’s have a look at a few to find out what is fact and what is fiction.

The first one is probably the most often quoted urban legend with respect to alcohol.  The story goes that one of the ingredients in Jägermeister  is deer blood.  This rumor usually traces back to two facts.  The first is that the label of a Jägermeister bottle has a picture of a stag on the front of it.  The second is that Jägermeister is German for a phrase that loosely translates to master hunter.  Combine this with the fact that Jägermeister boasts having one or two secret spices in the recipe and you could understand how this rumor spread to every corner of the globe.

Jägermeister is made with 56 herbs, roots, and spices.  These ingredients are ground and reduced to macerates by being steeped in cold water and alcohol for approximately three days.  The resulting extract is filtered and then stored in oak barrels for at least a year before being bottled.  If blood were one of the secret ingredients, the brewing process could not be easily or accurately reproduced because it would break down, rendering each batch unusable.  If that isn’t enough to convince you that there is no blood in Jägermeister, keep in mind that there is no way on Earth that the U. S. Department of Agriculture would sanction the sale of a product that has deer blood in it.

Sulfites are another misrepresented entity in the bartending world.  It’s rumored that the sulfites in American-made red wine cause headaches/hangovers.  They are cited as the reason that when Americans drink American wines, they tend to drink white wines because they have no sulfites in them.  This is amusing on many levels.  First, there is no documented medical or scientific study to suggest that sulfites cause headaches/hangovers.  Second, red wines contain lower levels of sulfites than white wines.  Third, although it is not required to be listed on the labels, many imported wines contain higher sulfite levels than domestic wines.

Here are some other facts.  Europeans have been making wine for hundreds of years.  They invented the art of using additives to improve wine.  They spent hundreds of years studying the effects of sulfur in wine.  Most notably, they discovered that you can’t make good wine without using sulfur.  Combine that with the fact that we, Americans, learned everything we know about wine making from European wine makers and we, like them, have endeavored to improve upon their work.  The bottom line is that ALL wine contains sulfites.  Our bodies even produce sulfites on a daily basis.  If you eat shellfish, guacamole, sushi, pizza, or cheese, then you’re consuming more sulfites than are found in most wines.

So, unless you are actually allergic to sulfites, you probably don’t have to worry about them being in your wine.  Why European wines don’t cause headache/hangovers is an easy question to answer.  Most Americans visiting Europe do so on vacation.  This equates to a more relaxed atmosphere free of the daily stresses of their normal lives.  Consuming wine under these conditions as opposed to drinking under the stress of kids, pets, and the daily grind probably makes all the difference in the world.  Just a theory, but you are welcome to put it to the test the next time you’re in Europe.  When you’re back at home, try consuming those wines again.  The results of your experiment should be interesting.

The last urban legend I’d like to tackle this week is the use of copper pennies to defeat the breathalyzer test.  I’ve heard this one a million times and I know that it doesn’t work, but there are so many out there who believe that it will get them out of a DUI.  The rumor is that the high copper content of pennies helps negate the results of a breathalyzer test.  Two things make this urban legend false.  The first is that since 1982, pennies have been made of 97.5% zinc with only a coating of copper.  The second is that no matter how many coins you put in your mouth, it will not hinder the chemical reaction that the breathalyzer is designed to measure: the reaction between the amount of alcohol on the breath and the contents of the magic vial inside the breathalyzer device.  Stuffing too many pennies in your mouth may keep you from being able to use the breathalyzer properly, but eventually, the police officer is going to make you spit them out.  Before you ask, burping doesn’t hinder the test either.  You can burp to your heart’s content, but it will not help.  Neither will Certs, Tic Tacs, ice, mustard, celery, peanut butter, raw potatoes, salted peanuts, Diet Coke, or candy made from ginger.

So, there you have it — a few urban legends debunked.  This  post was not an attempt to make fun of anyone.  It was meant to get at the truth about some of the more common urban myths related to alcohol.  I hope that you’ll walk away feeling more enlightened about the ways of the world.  I also hope that you’ll pass this information along to those who aren’t as enlightened as we are.