My South African Friends

You have to admire the ingenuity and inventiveness with regard to concocting a recipe for a brew that will get you seriously rat-arsed, but putting battery acid into the mix to give it a boost is taking it just that little bit too far. Absynthe Yes, battery acid No


Linky

JOHANNESBURG

Home-brewed beer claims sixth life


Thu, 02 Nov 2006


A potent alcoholic home-brew that claimed a sixth life in Kwazulu-Natal on Wednesday night will be tested for poison, police said.


Captain Gerald Mfeka said on Thursday the sixth victim died in Port Shepstone provincial hospital. A man died on Sunday and four others on Monday after drinking the mixture in Magod village in Madlala.


The victims, three men and three women, lived and worked together on a farm near Magod and were aged between 31 and 46.


Mfeka said police were considering the possibility of poisoning.


"It's not confirmed — we are still investigating."


Post-mortem results were expected later on Thursday and a container that held the concoction has been sent to forensics.


An inquest investigation could become a murder inquiry if poison was found.


Mfeka said the brew, known as isiqatha, was common in rural areas. He could not confirm its ingredients but said things such as brown bread, brown sugar, battery acid and yeast were often used in brewing it.


Sapa

The hangover is a killer by all acccounts


Boom Boom