Different alcohols -- different mental effects?

[Ironman06]

Perhaps I'm naieve, but that's what I'm thinking must be true.

I've only had scotch once before tonight, but I always say that that one little sample of scotch went straight to my head unlike any other beverage I'd ever enjoyed.

Now, I'm certainly not an "experienced drinker" in the light that I could "really hold my liquor". I'm really more of a light weight despite my rather large size. But I enjoy wine, bourbon, vodka, brandy ... all usually in modest amounts. But tonight I broke out my Christmas present from my in-laws, a 12 year old Glenkinchie single malt from the lowlands. (a few excellent posts by some fellow B&Bers by the way, helped me to peg the lemon, and grassy flavors, thank you very much). Just as before... I think it was Glenfidditch with my good, good pal south of town... even just a tiny tiny pour... less than a dram I'm sure (however much that might be), it was certainly less than a shot, and I just added a wee bit of water... reverse osmosis filtered of course...

BLAM-O!!!

Have you ever seen the movie Push? It's not really a very good movie, so I'm not suggesting it at all... but if you HAVE seen it, remember those shaved-head asian guys ... I think their family name was Pop... and their sister always had a lollipop in her mouth... kinda weird... anyways, those two brothers whose psyhic ability was screaming you to death or something nutty like that. Well, a shaved guy with his eyes bugging-out and screaming at the top of his lungs right in your face. That's kinda what the Glenkinchie tasted like to me.

Now don't get me wrong. Yes, overall I guess I'd say I don't actually "like" the flavor. But, actually I wouldn't mind drinking it some more. It's kinda strange like that. So, maybe if the screaming guy was very well dressed and wearing a Penhaligons colonge. Unpleasant yes, but in some ways very easy to appreciate.

So anyhoo... I'm just posting to see if I'm correct... actually I think I became a little off topic. I'm suggesting that scotch goes straight to my brain and affects me much much more easily than wine, bourbon or vodka. Anyone else think that, or am I nuts?

I could easily edit this post to be more clear, but I'm tired and need to go to bed now. Most all alcohols do that to me, so that's normal. But even with just that little taste of my new scotch I get sort of "waves of clarity and fuzziness"... just like with the Ardbeg that one time with my bud.

... hmmm, that last sentence remindes me of Springs1 for some reason.

Good night borthers...

on re-reading that last paragraph, I'm trying to be more clear, but realize I'm not, so I'll probably not even post this, but I mean all alcohols make me sleepy at least initially, regardless of quantity it seems. But Scotch makes me feel loopy with just a few tastes. That's a bad spelling... taste. So weird. I have no idea how that should be spelled. Good night all.


Ahhh, I'm not getting to my point!

The question is... is Scotch like a SUPER alcohol or something?!?! Am I crazy?! I know I'm mentally compromised and I only had about 2 tblspns of it. So, ... I'm not crazy. It's powerful, powerfoul stuff.

Light.... out.

 

[airplanedoc]

Did you have a scotch or ruffees?

 

[SiBurning]

Hey, apparently it works for you.

I kind of understand in a backwards sort of way. I can drink more tequila than anything else and get drunker on it without feeling sick.

 

[mark3d]

I agree different types of alcohol give different effects. Shots of tequila is a different buzz to red wine, or a dozen beers. It's no coincidence that the British army used to give the soldiers rum - it tends to make people aggressive.

Alcohol is a depressant which explains the sleepiness.

.

 

[mdunn]

I would say that any differences in effects would be psychological, rather than physiological. Though thats a guess.

 

[SiBurning]

I would say that any differences in effects would be psychological, rather than physiological. Though thats a guess.

I think it's sugar, but I also think there's something in the agave plant. For me, it's say 5 shots of anything sweet, 6 of dry alcohol like vodka, and 7 of tequila. It might also be that I tend to add chasers with tequila or have it with food, my favorite chaser being sangrita.

 

[ek.310]

My friend used to be an ER nurse and she said it depends on

what u ate before your drink
how much did u drink
what is your age, height and BMI
Some things to consider

 

[Mycon]

For me it's red wine, and some of the high gravity beers. My brother has the same issue with the beer in that it seems to really go to our heads with a single bottle.
The red wine just knocks me cold. I am completely immune to oral sedatives (Benadryl, Valium, Ativan, Restoril, Ambien, you name it,) and yet a single glass of red wine will almost have me snoring on the table.

 

[TimmyBoston]

I hate all these urban legends. Alcohol is alcohol, the inebriation will be the same (granted you consumed the same amount under the exact same circumstances, time period, rate etc) There's no such things a whiskey-drunk, a vodka-drunk, a beer-drunk, etc.

You may feel differently the next morning depending on things like sugar content and other factors.

You hear stories about guys going absolutely nuts when they drink bourbon or tequila or whatever and its' nonsense. It's either placebo effect, what they ate that day, or the mood they were in before or during their time drinking or something as simple as when they drink tequila, they only take shots or they drink twice as much as with anything else.

Another popular variation is that if they drink beer, they don't as mean as with hard liquor, well with beer you tend to drink it slower so you don't get as drunk. Very simple explanation.

 

[Mycon]

The metabolism of the ethanol could possibly be affected by factors such as the carrier fluid or carbonation interfering with the enzymatic action in the stomach lining. This could actually change how much alcohol gets into the blood stream and how quickly. Since different people have different tolerance levels, this could produce a variety of reactions.
Certain intended impurities such as the type of cask used to age the alcohol could also possibly leave trace elements that could change the effects for different people.

 

[Ironman06]

Good morning gentlemen.

Great night last night. I'm glad I posted as there were many interesting comments made.

Off hand, I would dismiss any psychological effect because I'm pretty tuned into that sort of problem being one trained in the arts of double blind studies and placebos and such... I would also think that I would have initially agreed with TimmyBoston that this idea would be urban legend... but actually, I've never even heard this idea before I hypothosized it myself with that very first taste of scotch (after many many other types before). Perhaps as a light drinker I would be more sensitive compared to those more experienced. A similar idea would be that it's an urban legend that anyone could be sensitive to certain shave soaps... that's certainly not true as many of us know. I myself cannot stand certain soap/cream products due to the burning (thankfully Proraso isn't one of them).

Mycon had some interesting ideas I hadn't considered yet too. In fact, on the idea about it being at least somewhat dependant on recent dietary intake... I just remembered that 4 hours previously I DID have a margarita with dinner (nachos). That completely slipped my mind last night, and certainly SHOULD have been considered in my reasoning. It wasn't a super-sized one, nor was it particulalry good... but I digress.

I think I'll continue working with a couple of new hypotheses; 1) certain types of alcohols being different (sorry TimmyB, but alcohols are certainly NOT all equal... chemically many long carbon chains can become alcohols with the simple addition of the hydroxy), while I'm not schooled enough on knowing the metabolic process of alcohols to know if the derivitives would be different and/or be processed differently, I am likely to believe that some types may be digested or absorbed more quickly than others due to the root grain utilized or carrier/flavoring agents. 2) Perhaps certain folks have sensitivities that others don't have... like shaving soaps, allergieis or medications (benadryl being a great example).

One last comment, I recall someone mentioning effects the next day being different... I myself have never really noticied feeling any different the next day. I never drink enough to be affected the next morning. Always feel great... although my back has been a little sore from all the snow shoveling.

Thanks for all the great comments. Really appreciated. Maybe I'll think up some modest experiement. It will be a tough topic to enumerate and even more difficult to account for potential confounders and bias (previous diet, in-going mental attitudes). Although I could just eat the same dinner at the same time and drink at the same time, always on the same night of the week, without unusual activities (friends visiting or whatever)... those are pretty good controls. Also have to do it pretty quickly unless I desensitize myself to scotch perhaps. Sounds like it's a bit of an aquired taste, but I think I'm well on my way. I've enjoyed a sm scotch before, and my taste for wine, vodka and bourbon have moderately matured already.

 

[Mycon]

Try drinking scotch and soda for a little bit until you get used to it. It may be something of blasphemy amongst scotch drinkers, but if properly mixed it is quite a treat.

I do agree about the psychological effects issue. The only thing I could imagine doing something like that would be really impure Moonshine. Lord knows what could be lurking in that stuff.
And I should clarify, when I said that high-grav beer really goes to my head, I meant that they usually give me and my brother a headache.

 

[Master-Classter]

I've thought about this one before and have also heard anecdotal evidence about the different effects of different alcohols.

The only thing I can think of that might make a difference is all the "other" stuff in the liquor besides the actual alcohol itself, and for the most part there's actually quite a lot of it. If you're drinking something that's not triple distilled, and is cut around 50% with grain alcohol (ie the 'low' end of many types of booze), and/or has been aged for a number of years in wood, I can see how there might be hundreds of various substances any of which could throw off your system in a weird way. Especially if you might actually have some sort of "reaction" like an allergy or something to one of the congeners (I think that's the right term).

On a personal note, I have found some effects to differ but I'd probably attribute it a little bit to placebo as well as what I'm drinking it with. Ie a stomach full of tonic with my gin probably makes me feel different to salt, lime, and tequila.

 

[Legion]

I'll tell you, I used to work in a bar (in country Queensland... Shiver... ) and different alcohol DOES effect people differently. The main offender, IMHO, is rum. Guys who had been drinking all night on beer, scotch, whatever, would turn into nasty, agro a#*holes with the addition of two drops of rum. I don't know what it is about that stuff. Maybe it's only the Australian varieties (You know who you are, Mr Bundy) but it has the capacity to turn people MEAN!

 

[thunderball]

I hate all these urban legends. Alcohol is alcohol, the inebriation will be the same (granted you consumed the same amount under the exact same circumstances, time period, rate etc) There's no such things a whiskey-drunk, a vodka-drunk, a beer-drunk, etc.

You may feel differently the next morning depending on things like sugar content and other factors.

You hear stories about guys going absolutely nuts when they drink bourbon or tequila or whatever and its' nonsense. It's either placebo effect, what they ate that day, or the mood they were in before or during their time drinking or something as simple as when they drink tequila, they only take shots or they drink twice as much as with anything else.

Another popular variation is that if they drink beer, they don't as mean as with hard liquor, well with beer you tend to drink it slower so you don't get as drunk. Very simple explanation.

You sure about all this? I swear that the buzz I get from tequila or mezcal is quite different from that I would get off, say, beer or wine....I have however been known to fall prey to placebo effects on occasion!

 

[galopede]

It's no coincidence that the British army used to give the soldiers rum - it tends to make people aggressive.

It was the Royal Navy with the rum ration, not the Army! These days they give the Army Stella Artois lager, makes them far more agressive than rum ever could.

Gareth

 

[urr-lord]

not all varieties of drink have the same effects on people.years ago there was a study on tequila vs other liquors.apparently tequila causes a ph balance shift as compared to the other drink in the study.which in some people will cause a little bit of a personality shift.which accounts for tequilas rep as a "mean" drink.
i'm sure the sugars and various impurities left from the various brewing processes have effects also.

 

[castlecraver]

I honestly think it's a placebo effect as well. I'll sound like I'm parroting Tim here, but we've both known our way around liquors and if anything in my own experience can speak to this question, I'd say that it has more to do with what people are predisposed to assume about certain spirits.

The fact of the matter is that ethanol is ethanol. Several scotches and bourbons have higher than the "standard" 80 proof, and indeed such spirits (as opposed to highly-filtered, multiple distilled vodka, for example) have higher concentration of congeners, however these compounds are generally thought to contribute more to hangover symptoms than drunkenness.

However, "urban legends" still abound about tequila's effect on certain items of clothing, etc. It's strong, not very tasty (at least the "shooter" brands), and typically drunk very fast in these situations, which tends to be the case with spirits that one doesn't really like the taste of. There's also the question of whether you had a full or empty stomach, your own metabolism (which can vary throughout the day, and may be impacted by your usual eating schedule and/or exercise), and your past history with said spirit. My stomach had a very rough relationship with gin for at least a year following a... um... overindulgence incident involving an abundance of gin drinks.*

There's really no scientific basis for the idea that different spirits have significantly different drunkening effects. It's probably all in your head. Not that you need to be concerned -- it sounds like you know your limits, and I'd suspect the more accustomed you get to scotch the less profound you'll find the effects of one drink.


*Always drink responsibly.

 

[bigred90gt]

I hate all these urban legends. Alcohol is alcohol, the inebriation will be the same (granted you consumed the same amount under the exact same circumstances, time period, rate etc) There's no such things a whiskey-drunk, a vodka-drunk, a beer-drunk, etc.

You may feel differently the next morning depending on things like sugar content and other factors.

You hear stories about guys going absolutely nuts when they drink bourbon or tequila or whatever and its' nonsense. It's either placebo effect, what they ate that day, or the mood they were in before or during their time drinking or something as simple as when they drink tequila, they only take shots or they drink twice as much as with anything else.

Another popular variation is that if they drink beer, they don't as mean as with hard liquor, well with beer you tend to drink it slower so you don't get as drunk. Very simple explanation.

I'm not sure I buy into that. I have personal experience with a guy I used to run around with. He could drink a case of beer, and be the happiest drunk you ever met. Get him started drinking whiskey, of any kind, and you never wanted to kill someone so bad. He would routinely start fights when he was drinking whiskey. He tried to fight me one night on a whiskey night. The next time I saw him, he had been drinking beer all day, and was quite the opposite, and was very apologetic for his behavior. He eventually quit drinking whiskey.

My uncle is apparently the same way with Scotch.

I've never been that way though. I am the same no matter what I'm drinking.

 

[TexAg '01]

My personal experience is that I am a mean drunk with whiskey, at least when it comes to relationship drama. I think it is actually that I am not as patient as I am sober. Some thing that I would put up with from a girlfriend I find myself unable to do with whiskey. So, to save feelings, I just drink whiskey solo or only with my buddies.