Different intoxications from different beers

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by JayORear, Aug 26, 2014.

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  1. Vogt52

    Vogt52 Initiate (0) May 25, 2014 Maryland

    I've never noticed a difference with beers except PBR in which I beat my wife hahaha obviously kidding. With liquor on the other hand, I have noticed a difference. Whiskey makes me rowdy as hell.
     
  2. flyone

    flyone Zealot (527) Jan 5, 2008 California

    No
    nope. Dirt dog from CA.
     
  3. Ericness

    Ericness Zealot (646) Nov 21, 2012 Massachusetts

    I haven't really noticed any differences between beer styles. Between different types of alcohol yes (i.e. scotch drunk is very different than rum or vodka drunk) but beer usually takes me to varying degrees of the same place depending on the amount consumed.
     
  4. keithmurray

    keithmurray Pooh-Bah (2,967) Oct 7, 2009 Connecticut
    Pooh-Bah

    Thought Dirt Mcgirt was lowered into the dirt so to speak, no?
     
  5. flyone

    flyone Zealot (527) Jan 5, 2008 California

    Long live big baby Jesus, Dirt McGirt and Osiris.
    Wu Tang for life/for the children
     
  6. NCMonte

    NCMonte Initiate (0) Jan 28, 2014 North Carolina

    Yea, but that 92% won't give you a hang over or give you a buzz.
     
  7. DIM

    DIM Grand Pooh-Bah (4,788) Sep 28, 2006 Pennsylvania
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Is it entirely implausible that the intoxicating potential of hops is not fully understood? I have absolutely no science to back that up, only my own observations that having a single hoppy beer like hoptimun or dirtwolf makes me feel a bit euphoric and can have me feeling slightly foggy for a day or so, while a stronger stout or barlrywine has no such affect.

    Of course ethanol is ethanol, but is that the only factor at work? Plenty of hop varieties used today are relatively new, maybe they do affect people differently.
     
    #47 DIM, Aug 26, 2014
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2014
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  8. Providence

    Providence Pooh-Bah (2,652) Feb 24, 2010 Rhode Island
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I don't believe different intoxications from different alcohols is possible. If the same person, in three different sessions, drank two beers over the course of an hour, two glasses of wine over the course of an hour and a double shot of bourbon over the course of an hour all after having consumed the same amount of calories, drank the same amount of water, slept the same amount of hours the previous night and experienced the same amount of stress during the course of the day, s/he would report the same feelings of intoxication all three times.

    If people have credible research that suggests otherwise, I'd be interested to see it.
     
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  9. flyone

    flyone Zealot (527) Jan 5, 2008 California

    Very
    Very odd as there is usually a massive hop load in b-wine.
    Diversify your hops
     
  10. malvrich

    malvrich Initiate (0) Feb 17, 2014 North Carolina

    Could this be something involving congeners as in why many people prefer "97 times distilled" vodkas over bourbon/rum/brandy? The vodka is much "cleaner" than the dark liquors and so people claim (substantiated?) that it makes for a better experience both while drinking and the morning after.
     
  11. REDSOXIPAGUY

    REDSOXIPAGUY Zealot (724) Sep 16, 2013 Ohio
    Trader

    Gin makes me an angry angry man. No idea why. I can drink one or two and be okay but more then that, i become the hulk. Tequila and I don't find each other very often after our rendezvous in Cancun. That being said, some ipas will give me a nice buzz for sure. The one that I have really noticed is crusher. I had a bottle of Oracle and felt fine after it. The one crusher I have had gave me a big time buzz. God bless thick 9.6% dipas.
     
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  12. NCMonte

    NCMonte Initiate (0) Jan 28, 2014 North Carolina

    So you guys are saying, if you walk through a Hops field and eat hops grain you'll feel different than when you walk through a Rye field and eat Rye grain?
     
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  13. kdb150

    kdb150 Initiate (0) Mar 8, 2012 Pennsylvania

    It's mostly in your mind, but part of it may also be in speed of consumption as well as choice of food.

    There are a lot of factors that contribute to how alcohol makes one feel. Blood sugar, electrolyte levels and balance, level of physical exhaustion, level of hunger, amount of food in your stomach, illness, disease, and your emotional state are but some of the factors that can affect the way you feel from drinking alcohol. Controlling for all or even most of these factors in determining whether certain alcohol affects you differently is pretty much impossible, and it's likely that they've all been rather different in various sessions with the beers you mention.

    What this boils down to is you've probably had one or two memorable experiences that now you've extrapolated into something that happens all the time. It has now become self-perpetuating - you believe that Beer A affects you one way and Beer B another, so when you drink them, they tend to conform to your pre-conceived notion about how they will affect you. Your mind basically chucks all the other factors out the window and tells you how it is. It's one of the mind's many talents.
     
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  14. Roguer

    Roguer Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,811) Mar 25, 2013 Connecticut
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader


    Alcohol, maybe. Pothead, never tried it. :slight_smile:

    Jay, with the beers you're using, I don't know of any difference the alcohol could cause. Similar ABV, and both ethanol. Between different types of beer and liquor? Sure. There can be traces of methanol, which will definitely have a significant effect on your body, but you aren't expecting that from a commercial brewery (it's much more of a concern with underground, or bootlegged, vodka, for example).

    And if one were a 15% beer and the other a 5% beer? Sure. One is providing a much higher diuretic effect for the same amount of liquid.

    However, that doesn't mean that it's entirely subjective, either. I may not have much in the way of academics to prove this point, but there is sufficient anecdotal evidence to suggest that different substances affect people differently. Think: normal vs gluten sensitive vs Celiac's disease. I have a friend who cannot eat cheese, bread, or drink beer. The most likely culprit? Yeast.

    I personally cannot stomach much dairy; perhaps it's casein, or lactose, or something else. A full glass of milk makes me ill. And beer? I can get significant nausea hangovers (no headache) without getting drunk, or even buzzed, and regardless of my water consumption. Sometimes, beer just makes me feel shitty. Wine and liquor do not have this effect, leading me to believe that it is likely a component common to beer (or at least present in some).

    Which brings me back to the beers at hand. Heady is bottle (can) conditioned, if I recall correctly, meaning that there is live yeast. Is that the case with Enjoy By? (Enjoy By looks filtered, but I'm not 100%.) Is that related? Is it all in your head?

    I've seen enough to suggest that there certainly could be a component of a specific beer - mineral content in the water, grains used, yeast strains, et al - which could lead one to feel ill the next day (akin to a hangover, but not necessarily based on dehydration or alcohol toxicity), whereas another beer (or alcoholic substance) might not have that same effect. I cannot think of a mechanism that would lead to one getting more or less drunk, though, if you're talking purely intoxication. How you feel while buzzed or drunk? Sure. Whether or not you feel buzzed or drunk? You've got me.

    Cheers, man; seems like a good time for a beer now! :slight_smile:
     
  15. elkabong

    elkabong Initiate (0) Apr 1, 2014 Wisconsin

    needs more Jeff Vanvonderen
     
  16. markdrinksbeer

    markdrinksbeer Initiate (0) Nov 14, 2013 Massachusetts

    That wasn't my point.
     
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  17. Starkbier

    Starkbier Initiate (0) Sep 19, 2002 Maryland

    While ethanol and its effects are similar in one 5% beer to another, there can be other spillover products from fermentation that can greatly effect your processing and overall results. Fusel/higher alcohols in particular can cause differences.
     
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  18. pjvie

    pjvie Initiate (0) May 30, 2014 Oregon

    My uncle who is an avid wine collector once told me that the hangover from red wine is worse than other alcoholic drinks because of all the the antioxidants or something. Not sure if this is true, but who knows.

    These things make sense to me. Yes ethanol is ethanol, but there are other chemical compounds that affect the body in other ways, not just ethanol. There may be something to this, but it still blows my mind that you can have 4, 16oz drinks at 8% an not feel anything unless this is over quite a few hours. I don't think anything I've said could explain something that significant.

    Someone more knowledgeable, please feel free to redact this post if anything I said was unknowingly bullshit
     
  19. ncstateplaya

    ncstateplaya Maven (1,269) Nov 8, 2008 North Carolina

    Just to throw something else out there...when I drink lots of different styles in one "outing"...I feel like shit. But I can stick with IPAs all night and although I am wasted, I wake up in the morning bright eyed and bushy tailed.
     
  20. Flashy

    Flashy Pooh-Bah (1,767) Oct 22, 2003 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah

    My buddies always called draft Hacker Pschorr "liquid LSD".
     
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