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If I drink a bottle of wine, generally 75cl @ 13.5%, why do I feel more pissed than when I drink 3 x 50cl bottles of beer @, say, 4.5%?

I'm drinking twice the amount of beer alcohol, by volume, than the wine.

Not sure you've totally nailed the maths there (perhaps unsurprisingly given the topic) twice the volume at one third of the alcohol concentration is not twice the amount of alcohol, it's twice the amount of liquid.

I think you need a few more bottles of beer.

Fuck knows Rory

But surely, 3 bottles of 50cl  beer is the same amount of alcohol % - 3 x  4.5% is 13.5% - but is also twice the volume.

Whatever, don't bring the Xmas sherry into it

This would be true if the wine was 13.5 units and the beer 4.5 units, but percentages don't work like that (as the percentage shown is a % of the volume, which is a different total in your two examples).

"Units" of alcohol are much given for exactly this reason as it makes it much easier to compare for those who can't do percentages (either before or after the bottle of wine)

Your 3 bottles of beer comes in at 6.75cl of alcohol whereas your bottle of wine contains 10.125cl.

50*3=150
150*4.5/100=6.75

75*13.5/100=10.125

So, the short answer is - keep drinking wine

 It's a mystery to me why if I drink 5 pints of 4% ale, the effect seems greater than 5 pints of 4% lager.

mushrooms Reg, mushrooms!

Carbonation, perhaps?

The same happens to me.

All things being equal, I experience far more repercussions with ale/beer than lager.

My brother in law has been given a bottle of homemade vodka from a client of his. He's had a sniff and seems OK and we intend to consume it mixed with fresh orange juice and peach schnapps.

God knows what the alcohol % of that will be. Could be paint stripper.

As a "treat" from some US airmen at Greenham common who frequented our local in the 80's they used to bring something on a Friday night simply called 151. That was its proof. They also used it so they said, as emergency helicopter fuel. Boy did it taste like it.

Did they mix it with the 'fence tampons' left by those delightful protesters of the fairer sex?

Who knows. I'd drink anything back then!

And you thought it was a bloody Mary

I work in the Drinks Industry.

3 x 50cl beer at 4.5% = 6.75cl pure alcohol
1 x 75cl of 13.5% = 10.125 cl of pure alcohol

Which sounds like nearly twice as much, but there's more to it that that.

Inebriation is related to the build up of alcohol in the system.
So if you drink the amounts above over the same period, the difference magnifies.

A study was carried out on Stella V Fosters to understand why Stella (5.3%) made people so much more pissed than Fosters (4%), when it only had 32% more alcohol content.

An average man at average weight can drink one pint of alcohol at 2.5% abv every hour and never get drunk, because the body can process the alcohol at the same rate that it is taken in - so no build up in the system.

Therefore the inebriation potential of Stella (assuming one pint every half hour) is 5.3-2.5 = 2.8
The inebriation potential of Fosters is 4.0-2.5 = 1.5

Therefore the effect of Stella V Fosters is 2.8/1.5 = 1.9 times not the 1.3 times you get from the abv's alone..

Therefore you would feel more pissed on the wine than you might even expect

Well answered, cheers.

Alcohol is also an irritant to the gut entry so higher proof liquids are actually essentially refused entry at first, before eventually pressuring the entry open.  So lower proof gradually builds the alcohol in the blood stream while higher proof causes a longer time to feeling drunk but it happens rapidly once you hit that point.  Therefore it is much more noticeable and harder to control.

Good post.

You can never get distilled (and drinkable!) alcohol greater than 96% abv e.g Polish spirit.

Fermented alcohol, like wine, wont get above approx 14%. The alcohol will kill the yeast at that level. The old myths about grannys elderflower wine stronger than brandy, are unfortunately myths.

Sounds like Bacardi 151 = which is 151 proof - 75.5%. I've drank 75% Absinthe, and I like Bacardi, so I'm sure it's a delight.

They used to sell some shit in town called Overproof which was 60% I believe and it tasted like Tequila mixed with Captain morgans and sick. It used to be a battle to hold even a single shot down.

It wasn't Bacardi for sure. It probably was just fuel to see if the stupid locals would drink it.

Wray and Nephews rum I reckon Barry

Percentages? That's for nerds.

Just pour me beer...  :pint:

The legendary 151. Comes with a fire proof warning and special pouring part so you don't spill it.

Just googled it and you're right. Even seeing the picture makes me feel sick.

The classic shot to stitch someone up  :)

Fuck

Just bumped this as I was in a cocktail bar at the weekend that served the Wray and Nephews rum Simon Pieman mentioned earlier.

They has these cards on the table talking about it like some nectar of the gods and it convinced me I was wrong so I should try it again. I wasn't. Fuck it's vile.

(http://i.imgur.com/ZnKBdWh.jpg)

Although some Navy lad we were with liked it and also bought a shot of something called Old J Tiki Fire. It's 75.5% and is actually kind of palatable.

http://www.drinksupermarket.com/admiral-vernons-old-j-tiki-fire-rum-70cl

I am game!

In St Lucia earlier this year I had a rum punch with 80% rum which was the vilest thing I have ever tasted. It tasted like rocket fuel and basically sent me to sleep for the rest of the afternoon!

So, the opposite of rocket fuel.

Haha, yes totally.

I used to make rocket fuel