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
Most alcohol that goes through your body is ethanol. However, in different beverages, you get minor components called fusel alcohols, which belong to a larger class of chemicals called congeners. These types of alcohols aren’t ethanol, but include alcohols like 2-methyl-2-butanol (2M2B, quite psychoactive, or other amyl alcohols), isopropyl alcohol, or 2-phenylethanol.
These alcohols do exert some effect, and may contribute to slight variations in how you feel with different alcoholic beverages. For example, you might’ve heard that some people tend to get more aggressive on darker beverages such as dark rum or whiskey. This is one explanation.
For instance, isopropyl alcohol is psychoactive in its own right. It has sedative effects of its own, is roughly twice as toxic as ethanol IIRC, and tends to only affect the GABA receptors rather than a myriad of receptors like ethanol does. In addition, its metabolite acetone is also psychoactive.
Edit: [Here’s a nice source](https://m.psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Comparison_of_psychoactive_alcohols_in_alcoholic_drinks) that runs through the most common fusel alcohols.
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