How are average-sized and above-average-sized people sometimes able to develop huge tolerances to alcohol and not immediately die?

Question

I’m sure we’ve all heard and read endless anecdotes about the guy who got pulled over and blew a .46, or someone that can drink entire bottle of vodka. Or Ric Flair, for example, who told a story in a documentary about a time when he drank a six-pack of beer before arriving at an airport, drank 10 double tequila, cranberry and sodas before the flight at the airport bar, had eight bloody Mary’s on the flight, and drank another six-pack of beer upon landing. Like, how does that not kill someone?

In: 876

Answer 1

There’s a vein that sends blood from the stomach to the liver. So high tolerance people who’ve drank for a long, long time have livers that are very good at processing alcohol and most of the alcohol they drink never reaches their blood stream (their liver processes it first).