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The bottles of Grand Marnier are a bit fancy but distinctive.

Grand Marnier liqueur – cognac & orange liqueur from Paris – taken in a sip about the volume of half the first joint of my little finger can be nice. That’s a stupid statement! To be communicative it is necessary to state exactly the size. I just retrieved my wife’s set of measuring spoons. And began a little experiment drinking exact amounts out of those spoons.

1/8 tsp/0.63ml is too small. I can get the taste, but not the pleasure.

1/4 tsp/1.25ml is also too small. It also gives the taste, but there is too little of it to do the various sloshing games I usually play with it in my mouth to give the pleasure I am used to getting when I sip this Grand Marnier.

1 tsp/5ml was just okay, but it too was just a bit small for the pleasure I get from my usual sip. I skipped over the 1/2 tsp/2.5 ml because I was tired of being teased by those too small sips.

1/2 Tbsp/7.5 ml was just about right for a single sip. But the experience of sipping it from a half-sphere shaped stainless steel measuring spoon didn’t give me the same pleasurable feel as tipping the bottle to my lips and slowly sucking in just the right amount.

I have now consumed more of this liqueur than I usually take in at a single event, so my experiment must stop here. I can actually feel a little warm glow in my cheeks and I generally don’t like drinking any alcohol enough to feel a glow, and avoid drinking enough to start to feel … at this point I went to a google search to find a sequence of words that would flow smoothly from the first feel of alcohol to waking up the next day with no memory of drinking the night before.

The stages listed began with a single drink which was defined as:

“In the United States, one “standard” drink (or one alcoholic drink equivalent) contains roughly 14 grams of pure alcohol, which is found in 12 ounces of regular beer, which is usually about 5% alcohol; 5 ounces of wine, which is typically about 12% alcohol.”

The Grand Marnier is labeled as having 40% alc/vol. Therefore, my 1/2 Tbsp/7.5 ml had about (7.5ml x .4 = 3ml alcohol). My 14 grams approximately equals 1/4.66 of the smallest amount they measure as one drink.

The list I first sought is: sobriety, euphoria, excitement, confusion, stupor, coma, death.

My alcohol drinking habits are thus about one-fifth of the smallest amount they even measured as sober drinking. Although, most Sundays I do drink most of a regular beer at lunch.