Why does beer seem to get me drunk quicker than vodka. I can drink about 6 glasses of vodka & 7-up before I get really buzzed but it only takes 3 beers before I feel buzzed.
How much vodka per glass? How much 7-UP?
Do you drink them at the same speed?
Can I buy you a beer or three? 
Happens to me too. I generally drink vodka drinks, and haven’t been really drunk for years. Then Saturday I went to a bar and drank beer for the first time in a while, and I got absolutely BLIND. I don’t think I had many more beers than I normally have vodka drinks.
Same here–I can drink more liquor than beer (measuring it alcohol wise). With me, I think it has something to do with the “bloatation” factor of drinking a lot of beer.
Guinness draft (the kind that comes in a can) in a glass, with a jigger of vodka. Takes about four of’em.
Seriously, though, if you’re drinking a regular drink (i.e., not a double) you’re getting one ounce of vodka, say 80 proof, so you’re getting 0.4 oz. of alcohol per drink. Beer varies a lot in alcoholic content, but let’s say you’re drinking a beer that is 6% alcohol. Each beer is giving you .72 oz of booze, almost twice that of the vodka drink.
let me see here…
1 beer… i’m ok
1 vodka… still sober
2 beers … i’m cool
2 vodkas … i’m still ok
3 vdikas or was it 4 or 5?
hey! everytthing is swirllly, w/ a half way emplty bottle
heysexy lady… . hows about youu come over here?
gimmie another 5th of vodka. thats right
wasn’t I susppoesed to be doin’ somethinng?
No, officer, I don’t know where that smell is coming from?
my conclusion. Who cares! they both work their way to unconsciousness. zzzzzzzz…
Regarding beer vs vodka: Beer will buzz you up faster than vodka or any straight liquor because of the carbonation. Alcohol enters the bloodstream through the stomach lining, not the digestive tract (that’s why you should always eat something first). The carbonation sends beer through the stomach lining much faster than anything else.
Trust me, I’ve been there.
Haven’t we all, Nicky, haven’t we all?
And that’s why I prefer beer… its effects are more “Real Time” than liquor. You’ll consume several vodka drinks before the first couple start to really kick in–and by then it might be too late to moderate consumption (or, more likely, too late to care…)
Which is the reason why, in Russia, one of Vodka’s nicknames is “The Guillotine.”
(Source is a book by a New York Times correspondant who spent a few decades in Moscow…“The Russians.” It’s been years since I read it)
I’ve had the same experience, but I also think that some bartenders don’t put in the full ounce they’re supposed to. My mixed drinks frequently seem weak. Rum seems to give me a buzz faster than vodka, but you can’t be sure of the effects when you’re not sure how much liquor you’re getting. (I started a thread on this issue and a poster who’s a bartender confirmed that some bartenders weaken the drinks.)
This question is somewhat related in a roundabout way. Why do people say you “get drunk” faster if you drink beer through a straw? I’ve tried it, but I usually forget to note the effects. This is probably a testament to the statements validity.
When I make my own mixed drink it’s usually about half and half. When the bartender makes it he usually makes them pretty strong. I’d say about 2-3 shots in an 8 oz cup. I just thought it was strange that I drank 3 beers last Saturday and had the same buzz I would have gotten from about 6 mixed drinks.
Beatle, Sycorax, give me a list of the bars you hang out in so I can avoid them.
A standard measure of booze into a highball-type drink (Scotch and soda, gin and tonic, etc.) should be a Jigger…meaning an ounce and a half. If the barkeep likes your legs, or the tip you gave him for the first drink, that could go up to two ounces or more.
An mere ounce of liquor in an eight-ounce highball glass (even including ice) would yield a slightly-flavored fizzy water.
Uke
Something I forgot to note: Beatle, you’ve got to stop trying to do math after drinking beer. To wit: An 80 proof vodka is 40% alcohol, or .40 oz. A beer with 6% alcohol is only 12 proof, or .06% oz. Where you came up with .72 I don’t know
Ike - Thanks for the info - I thought a jigger was an ounce; as for where I get these watered down drinks, no particular place. It’s been my experience at a variety of places. I do a lot of travelling in the south, and I’ve had the same experiences there. Every now and then I get a strong drink, but I can’t find a pattern. Thought for awhile that women bartenders did stronger drinks, but I was in an Ocean City bar a few weeks ago. I’d been having more sucess with rum drinks, so I ordered a bushwacker from a woman bartender - it was weak. In the thread I started on this topic, someone suggested that bartenders figure a woman won’t notice a weak drink, so maybe that’s a factor. It’s very annoying - I feel like I have to drink 2 beers to get a buzz (I’m a small woman so it doesn’t take much), and beer bloats me. I’d much rather have a mixed drink, but I can have two mixed drinks and still not get a buzz.
Uke,
Yeah, I spaced on the jigger, make that 0.6 oz booze for the mixed drink (I rarely see a barkeeper do anything but pour straight in to the glass).
I’m sticking with 0.72 oz for the beer, based on a typical 12 ounce beer. If it’s one of the heartier brews in a 16 oz pub glass or a 20 oz british pint, you’re all the merrier - you do the math.
Beatle, it doesn’t matter how much beer you have, I thought we were talking about the proof/alcohol content of a particular beverage. Proof is alcohol content per volume, numerically twice the alcohol content, i.e., 40% alcohol=80 proof. 6% alcohol=12 proof. In order to get .72, you’d have to be drinking 144 proof beer!
Nick, when you pour 1 ounce of 80 proof liquor in a 12 oz. drink you end up with a 12 oz. drink with .40 oz. of alcohol. If you fill a 12 oz. glass with 6% beer, you end up with a .72 oz. of alcohol.