Drinking Dish Detergent Is Not a Substitute for Fine Wine

In the quiet Valencian coastal town of Benicarló, wine-drinkers must be eyeballing their glasses with a bit of mistrust. It was there last week that a 50-year-old man—presumably not looking to die in one of the worst ways imaginable—ordered himself a glass of white wine. Instead, he was served dishwashing detergent that ultimately killed him.

The man was rushed to a local hospital where, according to the IBTimes, he suffered from burns to his windpipe, throat, and stomach. He later died.

Sources in the Guardia Civil told Spanish media that they believe the man was accidentally served from a bottle that had been tainted with detergent and then placed in cold storage. The owner of the bar was arrested and questioned, but was ultimately released as the police continue their investigation.

Still, one must imagine that the man took most of the bottle to his face before realizing what was inside. An oenophile's swirl-sift-swish approach might've alerted the drinker that his tipple was a glass of deadly chemicals instead of a fine Albariño.

Of course, customers place a lot of faith in the people serving them food and drink to not kill them while doing so. Recall the bartender who fatally served a man 56 shots of liquor was found guilty of manslaughter just last month.

Back in 2012, in perhaps the nadir of the modernist mixology movement, a woman was served a cocktail in a glass that had been rapidly chilled with liquid nitrogen. The problem: the drink still contained liquid nitrogen, and the drinker had to have her stomach removed.

Horrible incidents like these, as isolated and rare as they are, should give us all just a little bit of pause and remember that our stomachs are often entirely in someone else's hands. Sip your drink slowly, both to enjoy and to prevent the possibility of irreversible chemical burns.

In related news, a Russian man recently died after eating his tablet computer. At least that one wasn't the bartender's fault.