I’m not a huge drinker. People always talk about getting different kinds of drunk on different kinds of alcohol. To your body, isn’t alcohol just alcohol? Sure, proof would matter, but does your body know the difference beyond that?
In: Biology
The biggest impact on what “type” of drunk you get is your mood, and generally speaking different types of alcohol are often consumed under different circumstances. It’s also important to remember that all of the stories you’ve heard about “different kinds of drunk” are entirely anecdotal. Sure, varying concentrations will determine *how quickly* you get drunk, along with whether or not you drink on an empty stomach, drink quickly vs. more slowly, and so on, but ultimately, a BAC of 0.2 is a BAC of 0.2, regardless of the source.
Shots and mixed drinks are typically consumed quickly in a more lively, more upbeat (think ‘party’) atmosphere, so people that get drunk in those atmospheres are typically in a mood to be wild, excitable, or spontaneous. As a result, people often describe shots as leading to a wild kind of drunk.
Wine, by comparison, is more often consumed in a relaxed setting, so it’s often described by people as being a more soothing, relaxed, or ‘calming’ drunkedness, often associated with feeling sluggish or sleepy.
Beer tends to vary, since it’s a broader drink that is consumed at both ends of the extremes I gave above. People that drink beer at sporting events or parties will describe getting wild and crazy when they get drunk, while people that drink it with a meal or while relaxing at TV will often describe it helping the relax or unwind.
TL;DR – The “kind of drunk” you get from alcohol has to do with the mood and environment in which you consume it rather than the source of the alcohol itself.
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