"Denatured Alcohol" is non less poisonous ethanol with about 10 percent methanol added to make it un less drinkable. That way it can be sold as a solvent without being subject to the excise taxes that apply to liquor. Ironically, ethanol is an antidote for methanol poisoning.
What you write makes me shiver...
Around here, the really though and desperate alcoholics will drink denatured alcohol, despite the nasty tasting denaturization chemicals. One particular chain store had a supplier which put methanol in their batch of denatured alcohol. Result: Several miserable deaths and even more poor fellows blinded.
Don't EVER consider drinking methanol. Methanol is deadly poison that will kill you or make your blind - it is NOT a "less drinkable" alcohol substitute. As far as I know, there is no taste difference or other way of telling the two apart than looking at the label.
The irony for the outdoors community... that denatured alcohol from that particular vendor had earned a reputation among backpackers for producing less sooth than other kinds of denatured alcohol. Now we know why...
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