When drinking which is TRUE?
Beer to whisky mighty risky, whiskey to beer, never fear.
OR
You can drink up but you can’t drink down.
I get different responses even from bartenders, and not wanting to test these theories personally I bow to your expertise.
What’llitbe?
Never noticed any problems going in either direction. Interleaving the drinking of WINE with either has led to unfortunate stomach syndrome, though.
If you horrid disgusting things with your whiskey like…oh, I don’t know, maybe MIXING it with something ::shudder:: your mileage may vary, especially if the something is kinda sweet. My suspicion is that sugar does not play nicely with alcohol.
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Careful Hunter, some of us enjoy a mixer.
I myself have been known to add water to my Jameson’s on occasion, and on wild nights might even consume a scotch and soda. (Note: that may be the only way to enjoy a blended scotch, anyone adulterating the Aberlour should be driven out onto the moors.)
For the OP: Mixing grape and grain can be chancey. The key to successful and enjoyable indulging is moderation. And I wouldn’t have listened to any old farts either when I was in school…
Depends on your constitution I suppose. The convention here (Scotland) amongst older people is a half and a half, half pint of whisky and a half, ie a shot, of whisky. Arg, it’s chicken and egg all over again 
We always said:
“Beer before liquor, never sicker.
Liquor before beer, never fear.”
I think the explanation is this: When you start drinking, you generally still have a modicum of sense and know at what rate you can safely imbibe alcohol. But once you’re drunk, all of that good judgement goes out the window. Consider these two scenarios:
You begin the night by drinking beer. You have a bunch, get good and loaded, and then switch to shots of hard liquor. In your inebriated, super-macho state, you start quickly slamming shots like there’s no tomorrow and then wind up getting ill.
You begin by drinking shots. You have a bunch, get good and loaded, and then switch to drinking beer. Now, most people can’t consume beer as rapidly as they can hard liquor, so the chances that you’re going to push yourself past the threshold of illness is much lower than it is with shots.
In short, once you’re drunk, don’t drink hard liquor.
As far as making you ill at the time, there’s probably not much difference. However your hangover will probably be worse the next morning just due to mixing of drinks (i.e. different drinks as opposed to sticking with G&Ts all evening), no matter what the order is. It’s not the alcohol so much as it is the stuff it’s mixed with (can’t quite recall the term–cogeners?) that give you that hung over feeling.