It tastes like cinnamon. And not altogether dissimilar to the sort of confection they sell by the quarter in old-fashioned sweetshops, along with the barley sugar and the colt's foot and the sarsparilla. Yet it is as strong as whisky, and, at £25 a bottle, will make a hefty dent in your pocket money. After Shock is a 40% proof available in cinnamon or peppermint flavours. It comes in a four-square frosted bottle with its name emblazoned across it, comic-book style. And it will get you drunk. Fast.
Some bars refuse to sell it. Others ration the number of shots each customer may down. It's a Friday-night-and-let's-get-drunk sort of drink, rather than a smoochy glass of red, or a quiet pint at the local. As such, it has, not surprisingly, become something of a craze with younger drinkers, who have a vast amount of falling over, snogging and throwing up to do before their curfew time. With its kiddie-pleasing flavour, After Shock is fast becoming the Sunny Delight of the spirits world.
It is believed that Angela Watts, 16, was drinking After Shock last Saturday night. She went out with her boyfriend and some friends, drinking cocktails at a restaurant, and then continuing drinking at a house party. Her boyfriend's mother woke at 3am to hear Angela being sick. The mother put her back to bed in a spare room, but the next morning, Angela would not wake up. She died in hospital, of presumed alcohol poisoning.
The story of her untimely death is the second story of a lethal dose of alcohol in the past week. George Butterworth died, aged 36, after a late-night drinking game at Slaithwaite working men's club. During the game, he downed eight pints and eight double Pernods in 20 minutes. Afterwards the club president, David Thornton, said: "Mr Butterworth seemed to know what he was doing. He looked like he was having a good time."
People who drink a vast quantity, over a short period of time, usually know what they are doing. They are getting drunk as quickly as they can. What they are probably not aware of, however, is that a lethal dose can be suprisingly low. Experts say stories about famous boozers downing umpteen bottles of spirits on a night out - and surviving - don't reflect the real dangers. We know long-term alcohol abuse leads to liver damage and all sorts of health nastiness. But do you know how many pints will kill you? Or how many glasses of wine?
Alcohol affects different people in different ways. A 20 stone man of 6ft 3in is less likely to collapse under the weight of six vodka and Red Bulls than a seven stone woman of 5ft 5in. Similarly, how you react to alcohol depends greatly upon whether you have eaten recently, whether the alcohol is consumed with that meal, whether you are used to drinking substantial amounts, and also how fit you are. If the strongest thing you have touched all day was that grande skinny latte this morning, and then you wallop down six pints of Stella, don't be surprised to find yourself vomiting in the high street by closing time.
So taking all the whys and wherefores into account, what is a lethal dose? Dr Guy Ratcliffe, executive director of the Medical Council on Alcoholism, says that after a dose of about 500mgs of alcohol, "you are at risk of not surviving". (To put that into perspective, if your blood alcohol level is at 80mgs and you attempt to drive, you lose your licence. A bottle of spirits, or about 15 pints, contains approximately 500mgs.)
"If you consume 600mgs, death is pretty well nigh certain," Ratcliffe adds. "The effects of alcohol are largely on the nervous system: you will experience a loss of self-control, you will start to stagger, your speech will be slurred, you may experience some difficulty remembering things. You will become oblivious to your surroundings, you may feel sleepy and eventually you may fall into a comatose state." Apparently, this is due to "depression of the higher centres of the brain, which controls respiratory function and triggers the heart to beat".
After a bottle and a half of gin, you are almost certain to be in a comatose position, and in need of intensive care and respiratory support while your body metabolises the alcohol.
Strangely, anyone who does survive such a "major alcohol insult" is unlikely to experience any long-term effects. It is while under the influence that they are most at risk. And one of the big risks, of course, is that feeling very drunk makes you feel sick; but anyone in a semi-comatose state is also in danger of choking on his or her own vomit.
But being sick aside, what exactly is it about a huge dose of alcohol that can kill you? It's quite simple. As Dr Martin Plant, director of the alcohol and health research centre in Edinburgh, puts it: "In large quantities, alcohol is simply a poison."
