[Avodah] Selling whiskey/bourbon

[Zev Sero]

rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com wrote:
> Now - bottled wine is pre-diluted.

Not true.

> And afaik the few tippos mayyim added to the wine
> would not create hametz in the case of matzah ashira

It certainly would.

> - though AIUI that IS the cheshash of Ashkenazim.

You understand incorrectly.  The cheshash that water added to wine will
turn flour into chametz instantly is not an Ashkenazi one; it's explicit
halacha.  Matza ashira must be made with mei peros to which not a drop
of water has been added.  One theory on why Ashkenazim don't eat matza
ashira on Pesach is that we're afraid that despite all our care water
may have found its way into the mei peiros.  Sefardim are not worried
about this; they acknowledge that *if* water were present it would make
chametz, but they're confident that with proper care one can keep water
out.  (And to go back to our earlier discussion, according to this
theory there is no reason to distinguish Pesach from Erev Pesach.
There's an issur de'oraisa to each chametz on Erev Pesach after noon,
so if we're worried about egg matzah having become chametz on Pesach
then we must have the same worry on Erev Pesach as well.   Those who
permit it on EP but not on Pesach itself have a different theory for
why we don't eat it on Pesach, one that doesn't apply to EP.)



> YaSh is AISI the same now as wine used to be IE W/O water it's
> unpalatable. Forget about Passover! Drinking 190 proof grain alcohol
> straight would require no brachah!

There are people who drink zex-un-naintziger, and survive.  R Meir
Itkin AH used to claim that it was the 4% water that would eventually
kill him; he lived to 96.   He definitely said a bracha on it.


> IMHO the dilution to make a beverage palatable is NOT a taaroves at all
> as per the posqim I've listed
> 
> Diluting it more, might be different of course.

So where do you draw the line?  As I pointed out, some people do drink
nearly pure alcohol.  More relevant is that 50% vodka is sold on the
open market, and presumably there are people who drink it neat.  So is
the extra 10% "extra"?


-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher