Beer potency vs temperature

Factual Questions
1

Recency a friend of mine was arguaing that in college they had proved that warm beer got you drunk faster / better than cold beer. He did admit thet they were drunk at the time but he still maintains the premise is true.

I argued that since alcohol is more volatile than water, warming will cause the beer to become less potent. He agreed but said that the other chemicals in beer also break down and influence the beer’s potency.

So, is there any potency difference between beer at 34F and beer at 68F? Assume standard air pressure (no Tibet / Underwater). Expand your argument to include other alcoholic drinks.

Brian

2

IME cold beer got me drunk quicker but I would think that its easier to drink warm beer faster and imbibe more alcohol in a shorter time with the obvious consequences.

3

Same amount of alcohol either way. It’s theoretically just barely possible that temperature might effect how fast the alcohol is absorbed, but only a tiny bit – certainly far less of an effect than whatever the alcohol is mixed with, or what’s already in your stomach.