fusel oil
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
The word "fusel" comes from German Fusel, which is used to refer to low-quality alcoholic beverages in general, especially to inferior wines and spirits distilled with inadequate equipment.
Noun
fusel oil (plural fusel oils)
- A mixture of several higher-order alcohols (alcohols with more than two carbon atoms) formed as byproduct in the normal fermentation process. An excessive concentration, as in low-quality moonshine, causes unpleasant taste.
- 1959, Ian Fleming, chapter 11, in Goldfinger:
- As for drinking, I am something of a chemist and I have yet to find a liquor that is free from traces of a number of poisons, some of them deadly, such as fusel oil, acetic acid, ethylacetate, acetaldehyde and furfurol.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 849:
- many simply blamed […] the Doosra's known enthusiasms for opium, ganja, and any number of local fusel oils, singly or combined, named and nameless.
Synonyms
- fusel alcohol
- potato oil
Translations
byproduct of alcoholic fermentation
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