Many people associate Penn State with parties. Being as we’re a very large public school, it’s almost natural for parties to follow with a large student body. Many rumors go around that different types of alcohol can get you different types of drunk. For instance, many girls claim that tequila makes them fiery and ready to fight. But can there really be different types of drunk between tequila and vodka? Let’s find out!
First off, as can be seen by the diagrammed drinks below, there is a “standard drink.” A standard drink contains 0.6 fluid ounces or 14 grams of “pure” alcohol. If each beverage contains 0.6 ounces of alcohol, then a shot of vodka and a beer have the same amount of alcohol in them. The difference in them is the rapidity of consumption. Beers are typically drank more slowly than a shot, and thus shots can get people drunker more quickly. So that is one possible explanation. If you are consuming the alcohol more quickly, there can be different effects on your body. If it’s not the rapidity of consumption however, then what else could it be?
Some believe that the “chaser” that is combined with the drink can affect the consumer in different ways. “If you’re combing gin with tonic, or vodka with something super-caffeinated like Red Bull, who’s to say the drunk you’re experiencing is due to the alcohol, and not because of what you’re drinking with it?” If a person always combines a certain alcohol with a certain chaser, they could associate the effects of the chaser to the alcohol itself. Caffeine especially has different effects on a person based on their body, so combining Red Bull with alcohol can be very dangerous cause you to think that a certain beverage causes you to act crazy, when really it’s just the caffeine you combined with it.
Another topic that must be taken into consideration is congeners. “Congeners are byproducts of the fermentation and distillation process, and include chemicals like acetone, acetaldehyde, and esters – not to mention forms of alcohol other than ethanol.” So, different drinks are distilled differently to produce different flavors. The byproduct of the ingredients in the drinks may affect a person differently.
Finally, the consumer himself may have a difference on how they feel drunk. If a person believes that tequila is going to make them go crazy, then they’re going to act crazy. If a person believes that whiskey makes them sad, they will act sad. A person can also somewhat psychologically control how drunk they feel. If a person believes they will not get drunk off what they are drinking, they will act less drunk and vice versa. So it could also be up to psychology.
What needs to be done to really conclude if tequila really makes people crazy is observational testing. There would have to be a placebo group thinking that they’re being given tequila, to see if it really is just psychological. However, ethics have to be taken into consideration as well. Is it really safe to give people mass amounts of alcohol? Probably not. There would also have to be a lot of close medical watching to make sure that no one is being physically harmed from the tests. All in all, it may be difficult to test the effect of different alcoholic beverages. Just try to drink responsibly I suppose :).
Works cited:
http://io9.com/do-different-kinds-of-alcohol-get-you-different-kinds-o-482710477
Ugh! This post made me want to keep reading. What i got out of this, is that it is not about that alcohol and how react, its about our psychological feelings? I can see where that makes sense, because if a person is sad and they try to drink it off, in the end, they’re just still sad. Or if a person drinks at a fun party, they are going to be in a good mood because of the atmosphere and that their mindset was to have a good time. That makes a lot of sense and would solve a lot of peoples problems.. Don’t just drink responsibly, don’t drink if you are sad because alcohol is already a depressant. This post says that congeners alter behavior, and it was also a great read. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/09/does-tequila-make-us-crazy/309058/
Interesting topic but very subjective. We must take into account that people may react to things differently depending on their height and weight and even their genetic make up. To me it seems as though this is more of an observational study over an experimental study for you have to check behaviors and reactions to the different types of alcohol. If we were to make this experimental it would certainty be a lot of work and time put into the experiment . We would have to make sure they receive the same amount of alcohol percentages (their body weight and heights), they were in the same environment drunk, entered the environment in the same mood, were the same age, and many other things. To me this may never be an experimental experiment because of all of the other third variables that are creeping into the equation. It is too hard to pin point. While you shine tequila in a negative light saying it makes some “crazy” lets look at this blog that brings a counter argument that says it has some positives http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewbender/2013/05/03/five-ways-tequila-is-good-for-you/
Great post! I found it extremely interesting because I always hear the saying “Tequila makes me crazy.” It is an extremely hard study to conduct an experiment on. Would it be an observational study because the scientists are just monitoring what happens to the participants in the study? Or would it be experimental because the scientists would be controlling who received the alcohol and who did not. If there were two groups and one was not receiving the Tequila would they receive a placebo or another type of alcohol? The best results would come from a double blinded study but it makes it difficult when they participant is consuming something that has a distinct taste. Also how exactly do we measure “craziness?” Many third variables would play into the study such as how much alcohol a person consumes or a regular basis, height and weight, what they ate that day, and many more. If the study was a large randomized study we should be able to get rid of these third confound variables. I also think that there is a psychological aspect that plays into it as well. And lastly as you mentioned, would it even be ethical to conduct a study/experiment on this topic?
I like this post because it’s definitely relevant. My friends always talk about the best chasers, and I always wondered if there is such a thing as a best chaser because everyone’s body and brain reactions are different. Like you said, I think it will be hard to conclude a specific alcohol’s effect. For the info to be reliable, they would definitely have to observe a VERY wide range of people to make sure they’re covering all the different variables that could affect the individual’s drunk behavior.
I like this post because it’s definitely relevant. My friends always talk about the best chasers, and I always wondered if there is such a thing as a best chaser because everyone’s body and brain reactions are different. Like you said, I think it will be hard to conclude a specific alcohol’s effect. For the info to be reliable, they would definitely have to observe a VERY wide range of people to make sure they’re covering all the different variables that could effect drunk behavior.
I like this post because it’s definitely relevant. My friends always talk about the best chasers, and I always wondered if there is such a thing as a best chaser because everyone’s body and brain reactions are different. Like you said, I think it will be hard to conclude a specific alcohol’s effect. F