Of Vodka & Death

I was at the last class of the wine tasting last night only we weren't doing wines but spirits. We had to sniff ten different spirits from the glass and guess what they were. I got 4 out of 10 - and that was with a bit of help from my classmate.
What I did learn last night was that home made vodka in Russia kills or poisons around 3,500 people annually. Apparently, the way to tell whether the vodka came from a distillery or someone's bathtub is to light it. A blue flame indicates a pure vodka. A yellow suggest that you should use the rest to help start a fire or run the generator outside for a while.
I was once invited to try a vodka in Poland which claimed to be 97% proof. I was warned if I didn't get my breathing right as I took it down it might kill me. I politely declined a zipped a bottle of an awful beer instead.