Use Everclear.
add some to Pepsi when done.
The Everclear that you can buy here in California is not the same as it is everywhere else, it is 120 proof because it is illegal to sell anything that is more than 60% alcohol by volume. I found that out a few years ago when trying to make my own lemocello, because the recipie called for starting off with Everclear since you end up diluting it.
Business and Professions Code section 23403 provides as follows:
“No retail licensee, except a pharmacy or drug store registered with the California State Board of pharmacy, shall sell or possess on his licensed premises any undenatured alcohol of any proof or compound thereof which is an alcoholic beverage as defined in Section 23004 containing more than 60 percent of alcohol by volume. Undenatured alcohol shall be sold at retail only upon the prescription or order of the holder of a physician’s and surgeon’s certificate or a dentist’s or veterinarian’s license. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
That law however has an exemption for drug stores IF you have a prescription from a doctor, dentist or veterinarian. So cozy up to that vet down the street... I did and she gave me a prescription for a gallon to "clean my horse's hooves" (I don't actually have a horse any more)...
Up until 2018 they did not count
denatured alcohol in this because it was made unfit to drink (which is what denatured means) and this law has to do with the drinking stuff. What changed was that the California Air Resources Board added their own prohibition on denatured alcohol because it is a VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) that contributes to air pollution.
