Alcool a Bruler

[Canardly]

Carrefour currently selling this at 1.8 E a litre. Compare this with the 11 E I had to pay for 470 camping gaz cylinder.

[Kim]

Carrefour currently selling this at 1.8 E a litre. Compare this with the 11 E I had to pay for 470 camping gaz cyclinder.

I cunningly filled the remaining space in my pannier with a litre bottle on the way back from Dunkirk last September.  Not only is it cheap, but it tastes better than British meths.

[Canardly]

Unfortunately not allowed to carry this on Eurostar. Presumably due to tunnel issues.

[Polar Bear]

Great value, especially when compared to meths which is about £3.50 for half a litre in Wilkos!

I couldn't pronounce it to save my life whilst in France last year and it took ages to get understood.       

[hellymedic]

BREW-YAY I think....

[ElyDave]

Unfortunately not allowed to carry this on Eurostar. Presumably due to tunnel issues.

Don't tell them

[mrcharly-YHT]

Great value, especially when compared to meths which is about £3.50 for half a litre in Wilkos!

I couldn't pronounce it to save my life whilst in France last year and it took ages to get understood.      

That firedragon stove thingy I posted about? They also have a gel that can supposedly can be used in Trangias, it is sold in 250ml and 1l bottles. At current pricing it works out at £2.73 for 350ml.

Makes the price for meths an absolute ripoff, since the firedragon stuff is alcohol with additives, and should be more expensive than meths.

[T42]

I was told countless years ago that the French govt. started subsidizing maize production in the 50s, so the farmers produced far more than was needed. The govt. then bought up the excess and turned it into ethanol, a portion of which was rendered unpalatable and sold as alcool à brûler. The farmers being French, they got stroppy every time the govt. wanted to remove the subsidy, so we still have lots of cheap alcool à brûler to put into rum bottles and flog to tourists in Calais.

Dunno if that's the truth or not but it's as good an explanation as any.  One thing is certain: come summer the roads on the Plaine d'Alsace turn into shallow canyons with walls of maize either side and the horizon limited by the next bend. Full of bugs, too.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Unfortunately not allowed to carry this on Eurostar. Presumably due to tunnel issues.

Don't tell them

It was pointed out to me elsewhere that it's strictly speaking against regulations to carry gas cylinders on British trains; one of those rules that is extremely unlikely to ever be enforced. I would imagine the same applies even more so (ie might be enforced) to Eurostar. So that only leaves solid fuel as being possibly Tunnel-compatible.

[The French Tandem]

Not only is it cheap, but it tastes better than British meths.

It tastes better? Do you really drink that stuff?

Dunno if that's the truth or not but it's as good an explanation as any.  One thing is certain: come summer the roads on the Plaine d'Alsace turn into shallow canyons with walls of maize either side and the horizon limited by the next bend. Full of bugs, too.

In my imagination, Alsace was entirely covered with vines. I'm seriously disappointed 

[T42]

The maize is down in the flat, boring bits that are no good for vines.  If you want plonk you'll have to climb a bit.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Not only is it cheap, but it tastes better than British meths.

It tastes better? Do you really drink that stuff?

Kim is teetotal so she has to make do with these inferior substitutes. 

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Unfortunately not allowed to carry this on Eurostar. Presumably due to tunnel issues.

Don't tell them

It was pointed out to me elsewhere that it's strictly speaking against regulations to carry gas cylinders on British trains; one of those rules that is extremely unlikely to ever be enforced. I would imagine the same applies even more so (ie might be enforced) to Eurostar. So that only leaves solid fuel as being possibly Tunnel-compatible.

Using the channel tunnel quite a lot with a van, I'm careful about what I carry.  During a fuel strike a few years back I had a regulation can of spare diesel which they made me empty into the tank. They don't seem bothered about little camping gas canisters. Last year they put the van through a giant x-ray machine which took quite a while.  Mrs A's son had a cherished camping knife taken off him on Eurostar (yes, he was going camping!).

[Brucey]

cheap AaB in France? Ah, 'twas ever thus; it was about 9F/bottle (one or two litres, I can't remember) back in the early '80s IIRC so it hasn't really gone up that much in the meantime!

  I always imagined it was a by-product of the enormous quantity of undrinkable wine that is still produced (at vast subsidised cost) in France, but I have no evidence to back this up. The Maize thing sounds at least as likely.

This page
http://www.distill.com/specs/EU2.html
says that it should only be produced by carbonisation of wood.

Needless to say, this stuff is incredibly poisonous, so don't drink it!

It has one major advantage over meths though; whilst toxic, it doesn't taste that bad, which means you can leave your stove burner inside your pans without slight leakage making your food taste like crap...

cheers

[Ripio]

This page
http://www.distill.com/specs/EU2.html
says that it should only be produced by carbonisation of wood.

I think that is out of date, and the EU has standardised the formulation

"The European Union agreed in February 2013 to the mutual procedures for the complete denaturing of alcohol:[9]

Per hectolitre (100 L) of absolute ethanol: 3 litres of isopropyl alcohol, 3 litres of methyl ethyl ketone and 1 gram denatonium benzoate."

[mzjo]

I have always understood that it was distilled from the wine lake. It smells and burns just like my in-law's eau de vie. I haven't tasted it but Kim could be right on that. Might be quite handy for preserving cherries in alcohol, although we have never tried this due to the gnôle lake.

When I have used it in burners and camping stoves I have always found that it burns less clean and with a lot more soot than "proper" meths and it doesn't smell as good either. (Does real meths still exist - the coloured stuff).

Don't need how to say 'alcool à brûler", just look for it on the shelves in your "grande surface". It usually lurks in the "produits ménagers" (make sure you don't buy alcool ménagère by mistake).

[Ham]

Always there by my side.....

[Brucey]

This page
http://www.distill.com/specs/EU2.html
says that it should only be produced by carbonisation of wood.

I think that is out of date, and the EU has standardised the formulation

"The European Union agreed in February 2013 to the mutual procedures for the complete denaturing of alcohol:[9]

Per hectolitre (100 L) of absolute ethanol: 3 litres of isopropyl alcohol, 3 litres of methyl ethyl ketone and 1 gram denatonium benzoate."

could be, but that doesn't mean that the stuff you buy in a French supermarket conforms to that spec.  Pre-existing national standards are often still permitted and even if they were not it wouldn't necessarily stop the French from doing their own thing; for many years they have cheerfully paid more in fines for flouting various EU regs than any other country, rather than upset the domestic applecart.

BTW re-reading the link above it may be that the denaturant only is made by carbonisation of wood, and the alcohol itself comes from elsewhere (eg the wine lake....)

cheers

[ElyDave]

Unfortunately not allowed to carry this on Eurostar. Presumably due to tunnel issues.

Don't tell them

It was pointed out to me elsewhere that it's strictly speaking against regulations to carry gas cylinders on British trains; one of those rules that is extremely unlikely to ever be enforced. I would imagine the same applies even more so (ie might be enforced) to Eurostar. So that only leaves solid fuel as being possibly Tunnel-compatible.

Using the channel tunnel quite a lot with a van, I'm careful about what I carry.  During a fuel strike a few years back I had a regulation can of spare diesel which they made me empty into the tank. They don't seem bothered about little camping gas canisters. Last year they put the van through a giant x-ray machine which took quite a while.  Mrs A's son had a cherished camping knife taken off him on Eurostar (yes, he was going camping!).

I imagine the same would apply to ferries, and capture every caravan and HV as well, I can't seriously imagine they would all be searched.

When we moved back from Germany in '85 my parents smuggled a bottle of blacurrant liquer that was in excess of the limits decanted into a squash bottle and buried in the depths of the caravan.  The customs took one look inside and decided not to bother.

As for your son, hard luck, it seems to depend on who looks at it as much as what it is. I lost a swiss army knife at Stavanger because of the saw.

[The French Tandem]

I imagine the same would apply to ferries, and capture every caravan and HV as well, I can't seriously imagine they would all be searched.

A fire in the tunnel might have immediate and deadly effects due to the people breathing toxic fumes. A fire on a ferry, althought not a desirable thing, would not be as dangerous as in the tunnel. I have never been bothered on a ferry, even on the day I was traveling alone in a big white van. The officer who searched my van gave up quickly after he found cans of beans, cakes, ans sausages tightly packed between woodworking machines. I suppose he knew that drug smugglers never eat beans and sausages.

[Canardly]

BREW-YAY I think....

Bit more Brew lee thinks. Neat little web site

https://www.howtopronounce.com/french/bruler/

[The French Tandem]

Brew Lay is a bit closer, but I think the sound of "u"  in "brûler" doesn't exist in english.

[hellymedic]

Aaah... the 'y' in the phonetic alphabet... spelt with a 'y' in Danish or ü in German, I presume...

[T42]

Shape your mouth to say eee and try to say ooo.

[The French Tandem]

Aaah... the 'y' in the phonetic alphabet... spelt with a 'y' in Danish or ü in German, I presume...

Spot on for the german ü. I will not comment on the danish language...