Do Different Types of Liquor/Alcohol Really Have Different Effects? If so, why? If not, why do people claim they do?

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I’ve seen people claim that getting drunk off of X causes them to party, while getting drunk off of Y causes them to sleep, and getting drunk off of Z causes them to be more depressed, but X causes them to be more happy, etc.

Is this actually true? If so,

– I presume it’s dependent on the person, so what physical or mental differences in a person make them more or less likely?

– What about the alcohols could affect this?

– How does what you mix it with take a role? (Like do Citrus mix-ins have a different effect than caffeine mix-ins, etc).

If it’s not true:

– Why do people claim that it’s true so fervently?

Edit: So the consensus seems to be “The difference comes from the atmosphere and emotions you have going in. The alcohol itself likely has little difference. However, some alcohol has more or less histamines, melatonin, or are often paired with things with more sugar or caffeine, or contain more or less fluids to hydrate, so these all may play roles”.

In: Chemistry

28 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

I’m not aware of any proof that various sprits effect mood differently. The beliefs persist because drinkers share stories, most people don’t have the same level of experience with all spirits, and sometimes primarily consume specific spirits in certain situations. I’ve known a people who don’t drink tequila because they feel it makes them wild or get headaches. But these are people who typically only drink tequila as shots or when they’re out with friends who want to get wild.

I can’t say that most mixers have much effect outside of those like energy drinks.

Some wines can affect how you feel however. Red wines tend to have more histamines than white wines, which affects some people negatively. There’s also some recent research that suggest wines from grapes in sunnier regions have a lot of quercetin, which can cause headaches more readily than those that don’t.

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