# differences between types of alcohol **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 17, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906 "2006-02-17T02:47:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cjibb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@cjibb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjibb)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/1 "2006-02-17T02:47:09Z")
I’ve really only been a beer drinker so I know what beer intoxication feels like. Is there a difference in the buzz a person can get between beer, whiskey, vodka, wine, etc? I’ve had shots here and there but not often enough to notice any difference. I’ve heard people state that certain types of alcohol, such as whiskey, makes them meaner. Other drinks might make them happier or more sociable. I’m certainly not about to perform some kind of experiment myself, so I was wondering whether there’s any truth to this, or is alcohol just alcohol? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/2 "2006-02-17T02:57:10Z")
I think a lot of it comes down to atmosphere and speed of delivery. I feel differently when I have a few beers at the pub than I do having a glass or two of wine with friends at home. Alcohol is alcohol when it comes to getting you drunk. The rest is psychological. This, of course, doesn’t cover allergic reactions or tolerances that individuals have developed over the years, nor does it address the amount of alcohol per hour consumed. These are all factors that would affect the perception of the drinker. That said, tequila makes me crazy! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/3 "2006-02-17T03:35:03Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The rest is psychological. Ah, placebo! Rum and red wine have a better chance of giving me a hangover than vodka or whiskey, but it’s not “never” whith any particular one. [hijack] What type of alcohol is in nyQuil? [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/4 "2006-02-17T03:49:18Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That said, tequila makes me crazy! 😃 I am allergic to tequila; every time I drink it, I break out in handcuffs. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/5 "2006-02-17T04:33:31Z")
Alcohol is alcohol, but there is more than alcohol in what you drink. Beer is spiced with hops, which can have a soporific effect. Red wine is notorious for congeners (impurities produced in fermentation and aging) that can cause headaches in many people. Other congeners in drinks such as wine, whiskey or tequila may worsen the severity of hangovers. Vodka is popular with many people because the relative lack of chemicals besides alcohol and water result in less severe hangovers. For some reason, brandy, of all things, seems to make me giddy. But I suspect that’s a combination of coincidence and [confirmation bias](http://skepdic.com/confirmbias.html), the source of many alcohol urban legends. ---
**Author:** ![Br\_er\_Lapin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Br\_er\_Lapin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Br_er_Lapin)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/6 "2006-02-17T04:44:09Z")
Liquor sometimes gives me an uncomfortable and slightly painful feeling in my chest/shoulder/back region that beer never causes, though I’ve yet to encounter anyone who experiences the same thing. I’ve noticed that it happens particularly with sugary and fruity types (like blackberry schnapps or coconut rum), which is sad because I loves me my girly drinks. ---
**Author:** ![Br\_er\_Lapin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Br\_er\_Lapin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Br_er_Lapin)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/7 "2006-02-17T05:03:16Z")
And to avoid looking silly, I’d like to mention that the feeling I’m talking about is not similar to heartburn. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/8 "2006-02-17T05:07:29Z")
There are also a number of alcoholic drinks, such as absinthe, that have other chemicals that will change the nature of the intoxication. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/9 "2006-02-17T05:09:56Z")
I sometimes get some pain across my shoulder blades when I drink a beer at home, when I am out I never notice this. its weird. personally I dont think the Alcohol has much difference if any between booze/beer/wine but think about the ways you drink them, beer and wine are usually pretty slow drinks you take some time with, hard stuff comes with a million different mixers containing various other stuff like sugar, caffine, whatever. and hard stuff tends to go down faster, when I am drinking booze its usually with the intent of getting at elast buzzed, beer on the other hand is more casual hang out stuff. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/10 "2006-02-17T14:08:19Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > [hijack] What type of alcohol is in nyQuil? [/hijack] The same type that’s in everything else: ethanol. (By everything else I mean everything else we drink. Obviously thinks like rubbing alcohol and so forth aren’t always ethanol.) ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/11 "2006-02-17T15:48:01Z")
> [@Alan Smithee](#): > > Alcohol is alcohol, Ah So. Using “alcohol” as a term to represent all alcoholic drinks my be commonplace BUT there is drinking, ethyl, alcohol and there are many other “alcohols” which it would take our resident chemists to delineate. e.g. Methyl aclohol is one of the principan denaturants in “Denaturated Alcohol” used as a cleaning agent, thinner for shellac, fuel for keeping food hot at the table, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/12 "2006-02-17T15:50:34Z")
Tequila makes me burp. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/13 "2006-02-17T16:22:50Z")
I am a beer drinker. Due to some stomach problems I was told to give up things fizzy and so I attempted to learn to drink other types of booze. I found that for me there was definitely a different type of buzz on different types of drinks. I do not enjoy the buzz I get on hard liquor. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/14 "2006-02-17T19:27:45Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > Ah So. > Using “alcohol” as a term to represent all alcoholic drinks my be commonplace BUT there is drinking, ethyl, alcohol and there are many other “alcohols” which it would take our resident chemists to delineate. > > e.g. Methyl aclohol is one of the principan denaturants in “Denaturated Alcohol” used as a cleaning agent, thinner for shellac, fuel for keeping food hot at the table, etc. I do, in fact, know this. (Well, not all the uses of methanol, but the existance of alcohols besides ethanol.) Fusel alcohols are among the congeners in whiskey and other drinks that probably contribute to hangovers, so I can’t even claim I meant beverage alcohol is beverage alcohol. What I should have known is that such imprecision wouldn’t fly around here. (The point remains, of course, that the primary alcohol in all alcoholic beverages–and the only significant intoxicant–is ethanol, which is the same no matter what.) ---
**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/15 "2006-02-17T19:41:36Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > I am allergic to tequila; every time I drink it, I break out in handcuffs. Tequila makes my shirt fall off. Everytime. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/16 "2006-02-17T20:14:04Z")
> [@Alan Smithee](#): > > Alcohol is alcohol, but there is more than alcohol in what you drink. Beer is spiced with hops, which can have a soporific effect. Red wine is notorious for congeners (impurities produced in fermentation and aging) that can cause headaches in many people. Other congeners in drinks such as wine, whiskey or tequila may worsen the severity of hangovers. Vodka is popular with many people because the relative lack of chemicals besides alcohol and water result in less severe hangovers. > > For some reason, brandy, of all things, seems to make me giddy. But I suspect that’s a combination of coincidence and [confirmation bias](http://skepdic.com/confirmbias.html), the source of many alcohol urban legends. Thanks, Alan. I always thought there was a name for this (Confirmation bias) and now I know what it is. You fight ignorance good! ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/differences-between-types-of-alcohol/344906/17 "2006-02-17T21:13:24Z")
Thanks. I only fight ignorance good because my ignorance has been fought (even gooder) by others. I learned of the term and the website by reading this message board.