Tito's Vodka has spent the last 24 hours explaining to people that it *cannot* be used as a replacement for hand sanitizer. God bless Texas.

Grain alcohol may bring back memories—or flashbacks—of college dorms. But Gilardi’s, a sleek Italian bistro in Springfield, MO, offers a house-made Limoncello with lemon zest, sugar, and the 190-proof grain alcohol Everclear. It’s served straight up in a sugar-rimmed cordial glass—hardly a means to a sloppy end.The drink is no anomaly. In the last few years, exceedingly potent alcohols have moved beyond the frat house and into the mainstream palate, thanks to the revival of pre-Prohibition cocktails and our unending thirst for the latest and greatest. “There’s this new level of connoisseurship among drinkers in search of novelty,” says Noah Rothbaum, former editor in chief of liquor.com. “It’s not about flavor; it’s about the experience.”What kind of alcohol levels are we talking about? While your everyday Absoluts and Macallans average between 80 and 100 proof, some specialty liquors come with proofs as high as 196, or 98 percent alcohol. But drinking them is not all about getting blasted: some higher-proof…