You know your throat burns when you taste anything with alcohol in it. If you drink a shot of everclear or something of that sort, in the extreme, you can feel as if you mouth has been scalded. Or maybe you can feel that your eyes have started watering with your nose runny. Before you know it your fellow drinkers will start laughing at you for showing these symptoms.

VR1 receptor
There is though a very good reason that alcohol burns so much and surprisingly it has nothing to do with its temperature. The reason why that shot of tequila feels hot is because it’s irritating a sort of heat receptor in your mouth and throat called VR1. Tasting something with a high temperature triggers this receptor that sends a message to your nerves that something hot has been detected. This message gets sent along to your brain and so you the sensation of burning or probably pain.

Reacting with Receptors
There is a kind of alcohol named Ethanol that is relatively safe to drink and it binds to those same receptors. Capsaicin is something that is used in spicy food and this helps to bring out the spice, making your mouth feel like it’s on fire. But these receptors mentioned above are activated directly by capsaicin helping you to taste the chilly more whereas ethanol makes the receptors more sensitive.
Temperature
At 42 degrees Celsius, your VR1 receptors normally get activated, so anything warmer than this temperature feels hot. On the other hand ethanol lowers that threshold to just 34 degrees. Your body temperature is around 37 degrees; so basically your normal body temperature is burning you. So next time after taking a shot if your eyes start watering, you will know that it’s not your eyes that’s hot, it’s you.

Transcripted By Benazir Elahee Munni