Here’s the good news: hard liquor is the Terminator of the beverage world. It doesn’t care if you leave it in a hot car in July, or if your freezer breaks for a week. Pure ethanol won’t spoil the way milk does, because alcohol is a natural preservative—it literally kills germs for a living. But your whiskey, vodka, or tequila can change in taste, especially if exposed to extreme temperature swings for years.
The actual temperature where things get dicey? Above 100°F (38°C) for prolonged periods. Think of it like this: if your liquor cabinet turns into a sauna, the alcohol molecules start partying too hard and evaporate faster. The bottle might not “go bad” in a dangerous way, but it’ll taste flat or cardboardy, like a couch that’s been fumigated.
