Does anyone else get a burning throat from alcohol?
Alcohol is an irritant, and you happen to be overly sensitive to it. It usually has to be about 7%abv and higher before you can smell and/or taste the alcohol (feel the sweet burn). Alcohol causes the burn because it absorbs water, and over a certain percentage, it will try to absorb the water out of your cells. The process is called osmosis, and the burn is simply the alcohol trying to dry out your moist mouth/throat cells. This is why as the %alcohol goes up in a beverage, it tends to burn even more. Drinks like everclear that are almost 95% pure alcohol, can actually cause the cells to rupture because of the extreme osmotic pressure. As for your case with wine, the burning can also be from the high acid content as well. This is not an allergy, you’re just sensitive.
