A little bit of poteen is good for what ails you, but not, unfortunately, if you drink it. It is a powerful disinfectant and can be used in a poultice, but don't expect it to cure colds.
The benefits of poteen and its history formed part of an engaging lecture last night at NUI Maynooth in a Science Week Ireland event. Poteen, Potions and Poisons was presented by senior lecturer in inorganic chemistry at the university, Dr Malachy McCann.
His talk ranged from how spirit distillation came to Ireland, through the unexpected benefits of seriously toxic substances such as arsenic and cyanide.
Poteen in chemical terms is little different to whiskey, vodka and other spirits produced through distillation, Dr McCann explained before his talk. All spirits effectively started as beer through the fermentation of sugars into alcohol.
The resultant liquid has about 5 per cent alcohol and this is then repeatedly distilled to raise the percentage of alcohol.
Beer making was probably invented in Babylon 6,000 years ago, he said, and the Romans perfected spirit distillation.
"That process got to Ireland probably early in the 17th century. By 1770 there were 2,000 poteen stills working because it was legal then," he said.
These stills produced about two million gallons of the stuff until the British government moved to introduce excise duty of 10 pence a gallon in the early 1800s.
"Poteen can be made from a number of sources, including barley, potatoes and molasses. All you need is something that gives you glucose," Dr McCann said.
It has medicinal benefits, he suggested - "it is a brilliant antiseptic." In common with any spirit, poteen is also excellent as a solvent to extract useful medicinal substances from plants, such as echinaecia. "They use alcohol to extract the active ingredient."
Dr McCann, however, takes a dim view of a current favourite in the clubs, vodka and the "energy" drink Red Bull.
"The debate centres on the fact that in Red Bull you have caffeine, which is a stimulant. When you mix it with vodka you add a depressant. The stimulant can mask how intoxicated you are as fatigue usually tells the body how intoxicated you are," he said.
Both alcohol and caffeine were also diuretics, increasing the risk of dehydration, he added.
Red Bull, in a statement, said: "The excessive and irresponsible consumption of alcohol can have adverse effects on human health and behaviour." These, it said, were due to the alcohol and not the mixer, whether tonic, orange or Red Bull.
"No health authority has ever found a link between Red Bull and harmful effects," it added, saying it contained the same amount of caffeine as "one normal cup of coffee".
Dr McCann also referred to arsenic and cyanide, suggesting these highly dangerous chemicals also had another existence, for example in poultices and in certain anti-cancer treatments.
