title_body: Mixing very strong alcohol for cocktails
upvoted_answer: A rule of thumb, one shot of high proof is like two shots of an average liquor. It'll still be stronger but, you can wing recipes by halving the alcohol.
  
  When working with high proofs the trick is achieving proper dilution. Somewhere in the range of 20 percent ABV is a noble choice for a finished cocktail. Often you may want more than 20 percent (even up to 40 percent which is like taking straight shots, easy does it) rarely you'll want less. For a bottle sitting at 96 percent, a 1:4 ratio (booze:mixer) should put you around 19 percent while 3:7 will up you to 28 percent.
  
  Since you don't have to add much spirit to your drink, you can add it to things without changing their mouth texture or flavor too much so, they're good for keeping thick or rich fluids just the way you like them. In my experience, these high proofs don't have much flavor to start with but they do have more bite or burn than say, a good vodka. I would keep the vodka for lighter flavors like lemonade but, this might work just fine for orange juice. I think something like this would make a good candidate for a boozy shake, if that's the route you go I recommend pulling that ABV down past that 20 percent, closer to 12 or 15 percent (where most wine sits at) because milkshakes are big... nobody wants a tiny milkshake.
  
  Fair warning, if your mixer is a liqueur.... if it has alcohol in it, the math below won't work. Don't mix 141 or 160 or 192 proof alcohol with nothing but Bailey's and then wonder why you blacked out, you have to add more non-alcoholic liquid to offset the extra alcohol....
  
  Now for the math. I got those ratios up there by taking the ABV and multiplying it by decimals. So... a bottle with 96 percent ABV, if you multiply 96 by 0.5 you get 48, your new ABV. That 0.5 represents how much of your original alcohol is added to the mix. 0.5 is half alcohol and half mixer. 0.2 is 2 parts alcohol to 8 parts mixer. 0.3 is 3 parts alcohol to 7 parts mixer... notice how the ratios always add up to ten. You can do this with any ABV. If I wanted to mix with a 40 percent ABV just start playing with numbers. 40 ABV x .7 = 28 ABV in a 7 part alcohol to 3 part mixer ratio.