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#377878 05/21/10 02:05 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
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elbert Offline OP
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The Red Top Crew
In 1986 when I arrived on Ambergris building my house had me visiting the hardware store frequently and scanning the shelves for hard to find supplies. I kept running across these strange little unmarked 8 oz. green bottles caped with a red plastic top. Usually they where on the paint supply shelves and I assumed they where a locally bottled paint thinner. I would also discover them in some small Mom and Pop groceries tucked away in a corner and still unmarked.
Curiosity got me asking around I discovered it was called 'Red Top' and considered Pure Grain Alcohol, a product from sugar cane made by the orange walk distilleries.
At that time I had a Mayan caretaker named Bowman Tun that would come to town with me on week ends after he got paid. Following a short disappearance he would return as drunk as I had ever seen a person. Singing and Speaking to the sky about how much he loved everything. For a mere $4.bz he had purchased one of these little green bottles and gulp it down.
I've since learned the contents of the Red Toped bottle was a distillery flop referred to as Overproof unmarketable in conventional taxable sales.
Overproof is perhaps the worst form of alcohol for you to drink.. but that doesn't stop a lot of people. This is one of the strongest drinks in existence! Wild things are bound to happen after consumption, with one of the worst hangovers imaginable coming up the day after downing half a bottle or so...

Overproof rum is supposed to be pure alcohol before opening the bottle. Some stories tell of how the last drops of water are removed in the process of bottling. However, there's no doubting that alcohol is in abundance, and overproof rum will rank among the strongest alcoholic beverages you will ever drink. Being pretty tasteless as well, it's not at all that difficult to drink. But the blast coming up after a sip or two or three is near hallucinogenic. The overproof rum was probably not meant for the human experience...
Bowman stepped out in front of a speeding truck on the Northern highway years ago and I had forgotten about Red Top until recently when I heard one of San Pedro's police officers refer to 'The Red Top Crew'.
I started looking and discovered the Red Top is now labeled by One Barrel near Belmopan and for sale in groceries around town still for a low price of 5.bz. and is the popular drink of an elite group know as The Red Top Crew.




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elbert #377887 05/21/10 03:55 PM
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And its displayed for sale with those other high alcohol content items. The Goya packs a mean kick.

ron #377888 05/21/10 04:07 PM
Joined: Sep 2006
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Yeah...the good ol red top crew....feel free to visit them on back street on almost any given day...especially the weekends.... what a waste of life.

hazzyy #377893 05/21/10 05:00 PM
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elbert Offline OP
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I see them, broken noses , slow healing sores and smelly clothes.


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elbert #377905 05/21/10 05:47 PM
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What a good story a bit sad but I enjoyed reading it.


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I remember Bowman.

elbert #527527 12/06/17 03:30 PM
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We just got back from Ambergris Caye and had an encounter with Old Master Overproof Rum aka The Red Top Troublemaker. Sure there were other shots that night but the Red Top put us over the top. Pure Jet Fuel in smell and taste. I'd love to know what the alc/vol is but the bottle does not tell. What I can tell you is it's deadly. It goes down fairly smooth but immediately you feel the burn in your throat, and it slowly proceeds to your chest. You exhale fumes that could easily be ignited should an open flame be nearby. This is followed by a whooshing head rush that envelopes your brain and tells you you're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone. Our bartender warned us that we would get f---ed up on this stuff but did we listen? No. After only a few shots (maybe 3, not sure?) of the Old Master we lost sense of time. We seemed to move into a state or wakeful unconsciousness, where the passing of time didn't properly exist and reality floated in and away. I'm not making this up. The next thing we noticed was this sense of incredible hilarity overtook us and we were bound in fits of uncontrollable laughter. Quite a good time, I tell you, but I didn't feel i was in complete control of things - not in a bad way but kind of like mushrooms. I didn't actually notice any truly hallucinatory effects in that I didn't see any apparitions, but who knows what one more shot could have done. The Old Master is a powerful master and you'd be wise to limit your intake to a shot or two and see where that goes, before topping up with more Red Top.

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elbert #527532 12/06/17 11:10 PM
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WOW!!

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Best home made swim ear. Red Top, boric acid and vinager. In the States I use Everclear, but Red Top works just fine.


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