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First of all, I can have several drinks, and not feel like I have a buzz, then BOOM!!!
I turn into this different person that is not nice, at all. That is not fun for me, or my surroundings.
So..I just drink my beer or wine, and I`m fine.
Honestly, no, what you say makes no sense to me. The amount of alcohol is roughly the same in each drink... in a beer, in a glass of wine, or in a shot or cocktail. The same number of drinks in any form will get you equally drunk.
What might possibly be going on is that it takes you longer to drink a beer than it does to drink a mixed drink, so you knock back "several" cocktails quickly, and your blood alcohol count takes a little while to catch up if you are drinking quickly. If you read the other threads here on this topic you'll find that common strategies for dealing with this include drinking a full glass of water between each alcoholic drink, which not only helps you avoid hangovers, but also slows you down.
Here's a good blood alcohol calculator, which can help you figure out for your weight and gender roughly what your blood alcohol level will be after a given number of drinks within a specific time period.
actually it does make sense, I have know a lot of people who can handle beer and wine, but never drink hard liquor even though the actually alcohol amounts to about the same thing. I don't know why, this is the case, but it is. It also goes for hangovers; hard liquor sometimes gives people worse hangovers than beer or wine. I have heard it has to do with the amount of sugar. That is why people who drink mixed drinks with water seem to have less hangovers. I have no idea if there is any truth to this or not. I do know some people can not drink red wine, but can white. I am the opposite, white wine will give me a headache quicker than red will.
I will add, there really is no way to judge, based on most studies what is too much or why some people react differently when consuming different drinks.
My tolerance for straight hard liquor is very low. I don't drink much but stick to beer, wine, cider or mixed drinks. Drinking a lot of water definitely helps, though, as well as eating while drinking, although I sometimes find drinking when I'm full makes me feel nauseous, as well as having all that liquid in my belly.
Honestly, no, what you say makes no sense to me. The amount of alcohol is roughly the same in each drink... in a beer, in a glass of wine, or in a shot or cocktail. The same number of drinks in any form will get you equally drunk.
What might possibly be going on is that it takes you longer to drink a beer than it does to drink a mixed drink, so you knock back "several" cocktails quickly, and your blood alcohol count takes a little while to catch up if you are drinking quickly. If you read the other threads here on this topic you'll find that common strategies for dealing with this include drinking a full glass of water between each alcoholic drink, which not only helps you avoid hangovers, but also slows you down.
Here's a good blood alcohol calculator, which can help you figure out for your weight and gender roughly what your blood alcohol level will be after a given number of drinks within a specific time period.
I don't think the OP asked about alcohol levels as much as why one alcohol reacts one way on her/him and another kind another way. I also wonder, checking the calculator you posted, what size drinks they are talking about? Most of us know, a shot is 1.5 oz to most people, but a glass of wine can be anywhere from 5 oz to 8 and still be considered a glass of wine. This is exactly why I don't put too much faith in any of these charts. They can be a general guideline, but do not tell the entire story so should not be taken as undisputable fact!!!
It has more to do with the fact that despite the fact they're all alcoholic beverages the chemical makeup is different in each. Vodka for instance is produced differently and with different ingredients than beer or wine, not to mention from manufacturer to manufacturer who utilize varying methods of distillation and ingredients. Beer and Wine production is pretty straightforward and both are arguably food items as they are simply organic fermented derivatives of fruit and grain, where sugar is converted to alcohol. Hard liquor distillation is a synthetic process (does not occur naturally) and in my opinion is why the human body is less able to deal with processing it.
I don't think the OP asked about alcohol levels as much as why one alcohol reacts one way on her/him and another kind another way.
I know, but that's a popular myth that gets a lot of agreement, even though there's a ton of evidence that it just isn't true. And as a former bartender I know better, and that's why I answered the way I did.
Alcohol is alcohol. And the degree of intoxication experienced physiologically is essentially a factor of how much alcohol is in the bloodstream, while the amount of intoxication experienced psychologically is far more complex and subjective, involving social factors, expectations, beliefs, etc. Tell teenagers the punch bowl has been spiked and they'll act drunk. Add red dye to white wine and people who "only get drunk on red" will act and feel drunk when they drink it.
And most dangerously, people who don't believe they're drunk will try to keep drinking, and then go out and drive a car, even when they are obviously wasted and people around them are trying hard to stop them.
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I also wonder, checking the calculator you posted, what size drinks they are talking about? Most of us know, a shot is 1.5 oz to most people, but a glass of wine can be anywhere from 5 oz to 8 and still be considered a glass of wine.
If you look at the bottom of the BAC charts the Standard Drinks used in the calculator are listed: 1.5 oz. 40% (80 proof) liquor, 12 oz. of 5% beer, or 5 oz of 12% wine. Each of these contains the same .6 oz of alcohol.
Of course if you use different glass sizes, or different strength beverages, adjustments must be made to the calculations, but this is designed to to be a very simple and easy to use approximation of the way most people think of drinks, and this is how Servers and Bartenders are taught to think about servings vs intoxication.
For example, a pint (16 oz) glass of beer = 1.3 Standard Drinks. So three pints = 5 Standard Drinks.
An 8 oz. glass of 12% wine = 1.3 Standard Drinks, and three 8 oz. glasses = 5 Standard Drinks. That's a whole bottle, btw.
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This is exactly why I don't put too much faith in any of these charts. They can be a general guideline, but do not tell the entire story so should not be taken as undisputable fact!!!
No, the charts aren't the whole story, but they are quite informative and extensively validated over years of research worldwide. There's no such thing as "good alcohol" and "bad alcohol" when it comes to the effect on Blood Alcohol Content. There's just alcohol. Alcohol = alcohol.
Yes, you do need to calibrate your own experience about how your body reacts to specific BAC levels. For example let's say you are a woman, and weigh 135 pounds, then drinking 3 Standard Drinks over 2 hours time will give you a BAC of about .067... whether those drinks are wine, beer, or liquor.
And though that BAC is below current legal thresholds for Driving While Intoxicated, the average person will be somewhat impaired, and should probably not be driving.
On the other hand, a few people have non-standard responses and might feel completely wasted at that BAC, while others might not feel much at all. But once you know your own responses to various BAC levels, then you can be responsible about your drinking, and then dialling in different combinations of time and number of drinks will give fairly reliable projections to help you plan well.
The idea is to enjoy yourself, without having or causing any problems.
I think you can drink any alcoholic beverage with moderation. 5 glasses of wine = 3 bottle of beers = 2 shots of tequila
Something like that, although there's a different effect on every person based on what kind of drink he's drinking. Right now, I'm staying away from a certain brand of beer because of its unbearable hang over effect after with a tinge of amnesia.
5 glasses of wine = 3 bottle of beers = 2 shots of tequila
No, this is is what I call the mythology at work, and it is absolutely untrue.
5 glasses of wine (5 oz. ea, 12% alcohol) = 3.0 oz. ethanol
3 bottles of beer (12 oz. ea, 5% alcohol) = 1.8 oz. ethanol
2 shots of tequila (1.5 oz. ea, 40% alcohol = 1.2 oz. ethanol
And ethanol is what intoxicates you. The amount of ethanol in your blood is what determines your BAC (Blood Alcohol Content), not what the source of the ethanol was.
There are three variables that fool people about the comparative "effects" of various kinds of drinks... Time, Volume, and Percentage.
Time, because people typically take longer to drink a beer than to drink a shot, so drinking beer spaces the alcohol intake out over a longer time versus drinking shots. And since the body metabolizes alcohol at a fairly fixed rate, spreading a given amount of intake over a longer period of time will yield a lower BAC, and a lower effect. The traditional workingman's order of a shot and a beer turned this equation around to deliver a quick jolt of alcohol from downing the shot, then maintaining the "buzz" for a while by slowly drinking the beer. And wine is in between.
Volume, because glass sizes, and therefore serving sizes can vary, obviously. Standard barware is designed to deliver standard sized drinks, so a beer glass is 12 oz., a table wine glass is 5 oz., and a shot glass is 1.5 oz. A rocks glass might be 6 oz, because when filled with ice it makes a shot look like a bigger drink. A traditional martini glass is wide and shallow for the same reason, to make a small drink look bigger. Big balloon glasses are a traditional way to enjoy the aroma of a fine old cognac or a rare wine, but they can be deceptive, and invite overpouring. If you pour 8 oz of wine you'll get only 3 glasses per bottle, whereas the standard 5 oz pour yields 5 glasses per bottle. A couple who share a bottle of wine equally will each consume about 2 1/2 Standard Drinks.
Here's a link to an educational website for students at Northeastern University that is based on facts about alcohol, to counter the mythology. Take a look at the graphic at the bottom, showing on a standard disposable Red Solo Cup how much of each common type of booze it takes to constitute one Standard Drink:
There are ridges on these cups. The second line from the top is the standard 12 oz. serving of beer. The second line from the bottom is the standard serving of wine, and the bottom line is the one for liquor. And as they point out, if you fill this cup with malt liquor that's 2 Standard Drinks, and if you fill it with wine that's 4.
Percentage, because there are different strengths of alcoholic beverage, and it can be challenging to compare them without a little math... or a reference card. The beer Standard Drink, for example, is based on beer that is 5% ABV (Alcohol By Volume). But if you have a beer with 4% ABV, then 5 of them will equal the volume of 4 standard beers. On the other hand a malt liquor with 10% ABV has twice as much ethanol in it, so 2 of them will equal 4 standard beers. And only slightly more than 1 oz of 100 proof (50% ABV) liquor equals 1 standard drink, while a full shot of 1.5 oz = about 1 1/4 drinks.
And these are all factors to take into account when using a BAC calculator. Use a Breathalyzer a time or two to verify the calculations and you'll have a new appreciation for the facts.
No, this is is what I call the mythology at work, and it is absolutely untrue.
5 glasses of wine (5 oz. ea, 12% alcohol) = 3.0 oz. ethanol
3 bottles of beer (12 oz. ea, 5% alcohol) = 1.8 oz. ethanol
2 shots of tequila (1.5 oz. ea, 40% alcohol = 1.2 oz. ethanol
And ethanol is what intoxicates you. The amount of ethanol in your blood is what determines your BAC (Blood Alcohol Content), not what the source of the ethanol was.
There are three variables that fool people about the comparative "effects" of various kinds of drinks... Time, Volume, and Percentage.
Time, because people typically take longer to drink a beer than to drink a shot, so drinking beer spaces the alcohol intake out over a longer time versus drinking shots. And since the body metabolizes alcohol at a fairly fixed rate, spreading a given amount of intake over a longer period of time will yield a lower BAC, and a lower effect. The traditional workingman's order of a shot and a beer turned this equation around to deliver a quick jolt of alcohol from downing the shot, then maintaining the "buzz" for a while by slowly drinking the beer. And wine is in between.
Volume, because glass sizes, and therefore serving sizes can vary, obviously. Standard barware is designed to deliver standard sized drinks, so a beer glass is 12 oz., a table wine glass is 5 oz., and a shot glass is 1.5 oz. A rocks glass might be 6 oz, because when filled with ice it makes a shot look like a bigger drink. A traditional martini glass is wide and shallow for the same reason, to make a small drink look bigger. Big balloon glasses are a traditional way to enjoy the aroma of a fine old cognac or a rare wine, but they can be deceptive, and invite overpouring. If you pour 8 oz of wine you'll get only 3 glasses per bottle, whereas the standard 5 oz pour yields 5 glasses per bottle. A couple who share a bottle of wine equally will each consume about 2 1/2 Standard Drinks.
Here's a link to an educational website for students at Northeastern University that is based on facts about alcohol, to counter the mythology. Take a look at the graphic at the bottom, showing on a standard disposable Red Solo Cup how much of each common type of booze it takes to constitute one Standard Drink:
There are ridges on these cups. The second line from the top is the standard 12 oz. serving of beer. The second line from the bottom is the standard serving of wine, and the bottom line is the one for liquor. And as they point out, if you fill this cup with malt liquor that's 2 Standard Drinks, and if you fill it with wine that's 4.
Percentage, because there are different strengths of alcoholic beverage, and it can be challenging to compare them without a little math... or a reference card. The beer Standard Drink, for example, is based on beer that is 5% ABV (Alcohol By Volume). But if you have a beer with 4% ABV, then 5 of them will equal the volume of 4 standard beers. On the other hand a malt liquor with 10% ABV has twice as much ethanol in it, so 2 of them will equal 4 standard beers. And only slightly more than 1 oz of 100 proof (50% ABV) liquor equals 1 standard drink, while a full shot of 1.5 oz = about 1 1/4 drinks.
And these are all factors to take into account when using a BAC calculator. Use a Breathalyzer a time or two to verify the calculations and you'll have a new appreciation for the facts.
Good luck, and drive safe!
you are totally missing the point: no one is talking about drinking and driving here. We all know it is a dumb and dangerous thing to drink and drive, though I do think that chart you referred to is a little off The point that is trying to be defined or made here is: does some types of alcohol react differently for some people? And most of us, from experience I will add, say yes. we are not talking about alcohol level in our systems and safety of driving, we are talking about how we react. Would I have 4 or 5 glasses of wine in an hour or two and drive, heck no? Would I have 3 martinis in an hour or two and drive, heck no, but I will say, I feel very different when I drink wine than when I consume hard liquor and most people are this way. Again, it doesn't have to do with how drunk we might be, but how it affects our mood. That was the Ops question.
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