Ratting on the Angels’ Share of booze?

Had Bihar’s police heard of a phenomenon called “Angels’ Share” in the world of whisky, they may not have blamed the disappearance of nine lakh litres of seized alcohol on rats. One analysis claims that calculated at the rate of 2% per year, about 150 million bottles’ worth of Scotch whisky “disappears” from casks annually, which the fey Scots attribute to angels rather than evaporation.

Since angels are not restricted to Scotland and other “spiritually” saturated regions, and are probably not opposed to quaffing Indian liquor, they could well be blamed for decimating impounded liquor from police malkhanas too. As there are no reports of increased instances of drunkenness among rats — at least of the genus Rattus rattus, not Homo sapiens — rodents appear to be unjustly accused of swilling the spirits.

More so because omnivorous rats are not naturally known to prefer liquor or any other libation if food is available. Of course, a line of laboratory rats has been bred to prefer liquor over all other food and drink, to facilitate research into the role genetics and lifestyle play in alcoholism. But there is no evidence to suggest they have been let loose in Bihar. Earlier this year, rats were also accused by Nagpur’s railway police of consuming 25 kg of seized marijuana and 25 bottles of liquor. In both cases, the angels’ angle must be investigated.