...Cons...

1) If you don't like cinnamon or cinnamon-flavoured drinks, you're almost certainly going to hate After Shock, which is Cinnamon with a big "C"

2) If you don't like your alcohol to give you a head rush and leave you with steam escaping from your ears (metaphorically) then, again, this is not a drink for you.

3) Cost, especially in nightclubs is astronomical. But then, so is the cost of all alcohol in nightclubs. The difference here is that After Shock tends to be consumed so much more quickly than spirits like whisky and vodka, because the strong cinnamon taste hides the alcohol taste that can make it hard to down these other quick fixes. So you can easily spend £20 or more just on your own aftershock before starting to have problems opening (or indeed finding) your wallet. And that's OUTSIDE London.

4) Leightweights beware - After Shock has a stomach-tingling 40% acohol content. (This is also a pro..)

5) It makes you fat. Considering a standard shot of spirits can contain between 90 and 160 calories, a shot of After Shock doesn't come cheap on the calorie counter. Unfortunately, I haven't managed to find a listing of the exact number of calories per shot, but as a very sugary spirit, we can assume After Shock comes pretty high up the scale. How many pints of beer (at around 200 calories depending on the brand) could you drink in an evening? How many After Shocks could you down before you realise you can't stand up? The answer to question one is "lots". The answer to question two is "lots more", especially after a large dinner.

6) With beer, extreme alcohol consumption sort of creeps up on you over a few hours(unless you're the sort of person who downs eight pints in a row); with After Shock, when you've downed eight little luminous green shot glasses of it consectuively and then sat back to wait for the big one, it's more like, to
quote my recently-departed favourite author, having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick.

7) If you throw up soon after drinking it, you'll notice that it burns and tingles on the way up as well as on the way down.

If you haven't been put off yet, and I do hope you haven't, here are the

...Pros...

1) It tastes nice (so long as you like cinnamon) and leaves a nice tingly feeling in your mouth afterwards. A bit like Listerine, only with less of the TCP aftertaste.

2) Snogging people who've just downed a shot is much nicer than, say, snogging people who've just smoked a cigarette, so it's a good pulling tactic (until shot 6 when you start hugging all your friends and shot 9 when you begin dribbing). Apparently it can also be used as a sex aid. I haven't tried this, and I wouldn't advocate it unless you are very, very daring.

3) It's a very versatile drink which can be "optimised" when the occasion calls for it. That is, you could drink a shot, or you could go for the full shock. There are a number of variations on this theme. One well-documented way to optimise your experience is to swill the spirit around in your cheeks for around half a minute before swallowing. Others advocate sticking your fingers in your mouth after swallowing, as if to whistle, and breathing in slowly. An alternative is to crouch on the floor breathing in and out quickly for 30 seconds, before standing up abruptly and immediately downing the shot of After Shock. All of these work (though the latter should be avoided by people with a weak heart) and can be combined, mix and match, to maximum effect.

4) It comes in funky little luminous green plastic shot glasses when bought from certain pubs, which have a great kitsch value.

5) Still on the subject of style, the bottle is rather cool, and makes a trendy addition to any well-stocked drinks
cabinet, shelf, table or student lounge floor.

6) Although a bottle, or indeed a shot, is a tad expensive, it does tend to last as people don't manage to drink an awful lot before falling over. It probably therefore works out cheaper than most other alcoholic drinks, where people will drink as much as is available.

7) And, last but not least, it can get you very, very, very drunk. Should that be a con? No, I think not.