WOW! NYS APPROVES 192 PROOF SPIRYTUS VODKA FOR SALE!

This buzz for you.
The State Liquor Authority recently approved the sale of 192-proof booze - meaning the potent potables are 96% alcohol.

Some shop owners and imbibers are raising a glass to the hooch, believed to be the strongest ever available in the state, particularly folks in Polish and Russian communities who've had to travel to New Jersey for the stiff brew.

"It's incredibly sharp. It takes your breath away," said Levi Pekar, 22, a Brooklyn student who has sampled the swill. "It's like getting punched in the solar plexus."

William Crowley of the State Liquor Authority said the four new labels - including Spirytus Rektyfikowany and Baks Spirytus - were approved in the past few months after a review by the SLA found that they were not "false, misleading or deceptive to consumers."

"We have laws against our licensees selling to people who are intoxicated, but there's no law that even speaks to the alcohol content of a label we could approve," Crowley said.

Eli Eber of Eber's Liquor and Wine in Brooklyn said he sells eight to 12 bottles a week of the harsh stuff. A 750-milliliter bottle (between 25 and 26 ounces) goes for $22.

"The pilots in Siberia used to drink it," he said. "Some people say they like to take it with orange juice; that way, they don't feel the sting."

Daring drinkers who have tried the booze swear by it, saying it has a long history overseas and is so pure that it actually wards off hangovers.

"Nine out of ten people won't touch it," said Aaron Raskin, 52, a Brooklyn shopkeeper. "You have to drink it fast."

Some people find it hard to swallow.

"This sounds like it has tremendous potential for doing a lot of harm to people," said state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Queens). "It sounds like moonshine."

The approvals came several years after the state turned down the grain alcohol Everclear. The SLA spiked it because makers acknowledged it couldn't be consumed without a mixer, Crowley said.