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Mean Drunk, Sad Drunk, Goofy Drunk

Sir Robin Goodfellow

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I had a discussion with someone about the old theory that different types of alcoholic beverages cause different behaviours in the same individual. He said the he believed that it was plausible that getting drunk on whisky could make someone become a mean drunk, while that same person, had they become intoxicated on beer, would be a mellow drunk. He said that gin made him act more foolishly than beer.

I told him that it was only an anecdote, and I felt that alcohol was alcohol, and your brain didn't care where it came from.

What say you all?
 
I believe the woman you are with has more to do with temperament while drinking anything alcoholic.

I've also become aware that a woman bartender will use the 'you're cut off card' more often than a man bartender.

Maybe she/they drink whiskey? She should acquire a taste for scotch.

Maybe we should be glad no bourbon is involved.
 
One of my co-workers was a bartender for years and declares that when they sold a lot of whisky, they had more violent incidents. I believe that this is along the same lines as doctors who swear that a full moon means a busy ER. Confirmation bias, I think.
 
You may well be right that it is confirmation bias: all I know is that I am much more aggressive when I drink whisky than when I drink other spirits and I did not start with that expectation. If it is an illusion/delusion/bias that is fine: I will still watch it though :)
 
As someone who used to do a LOT of drinking (I still drink, just not with the goal of getting drunk anymore), I'd say it's more to do with the volume of liquid you need to consume and thus how much you can drink how fast. Some people do behave differently depending on how drunk they are.
Other than that, alcohol is alcohol.
 
JWideman said:
As someone who used to do a LOT of drinking (I still drink, just not with the goal of getting drunk anymore), I'd say it's more to do with the volume of liquid you need to consume and thus how much you can drink how fast. Some people do behave differently depending on how drunk they are.
Other than that, alcohol is alcohol.
Click to expand...

I think this is it in a nutshell. It might have to do with the underlying personalities of the folks and how they choose to drink too. If you go to the bar to drink beer, you're probably aware that it'll take a lot longer to get you drunk than if you drink whiskey. To me at least, drinking whiskey implies being in a hurry to get drunk rather than being there to spend an afternoon socializing.

A
 
Sir Robin Goodfellow said:
I had a discussion with someone about the old theory that different types of alcoholic beverages cause different behaviours in the same individual. He said the he believed that it was plausible that getting drunk on whisky could make someone become a mean drunk, while that same person, had they become intoxicated on beer, would be a mellow drunk. He said that gin made him act more foolishly than beer.

I told him that it was only an anecdote, and I felt that alcohol was alcohol, and your brain didn't care where it came from.

What say you all?
Click to expand...
Once any nutrients or chemicals are past the gut, they behave like the nutrients or chemicals they are. When these things are absorbed, they are absorbed in pretty basic molecular forms.

The only difference might be speed with which one consumes alcohol. So if you drink beer or whisky at an equally 'slow' pace, you may get drunker faster consuming the whisky. Mean drunks in my experience tend to be jolly until they reach a certain level of intoxication, and then the switch flips.
 
I think it might vary according to your mood and the speed you drink too. Whisky is stronger than beer, so I tend to drink it a lot slower, meaning I will not get drunk as fast. Also, on the (rare) occasions that I drink champagne or other bubblies, I get a different drunkenness than when I'm in a bar drinking beer (after beer, after beer etc.). This might have to do with the occasions when I drink champagne, or some other factors.
 
I have been the subject of a blinded experiment - unfortunately with only n=1 - so difficult to draw any firm conclusions. I had told my sister many times that gin makes me really depressed and she was always sceptical about it, so once when I was visiting her at university and we were drinking rather too much, she slipped some gin into my Blastaway (castaway and diamond white together in a pint glass - my only excuse is that we were students at the time...). The result of the experiment was that I ended up in the toilets of the bar we were at sobbing very loudly and telling everyone that everyone hates me, I've got no friends etc. She didn't tell me about the gin until the following day. I have been drunk to the same extent with her plenty of times, and never been like that unless I have been drinking gin.
 
Maybe juniper makes you cry? did you try it with bessen genever or any of the others?
 
Well it would be hard to get drunk on bessen unless you have sweet tooth: but I reckon you could hide it in diamond white just the same: and if you can drink that you can drink anything ;)
 
Having worked in the licenced trade for a number of years, I think the idea that some types of alcoholic drink are more likely to cause certain types of behaviour is just another urban myth. Unless someone can point to some definitive studies on this, I'm not going to accept it.

There may be toxic compounds that affect some people more than others, but as alcohol is a disinhibitor, any latent tendencies in the individual are more likely to appear. If they are violent, pretty much any alcohol I've found will bring out that aspect.

Personally, when I get drunk, I fall asleep and have my eyebrows shaved.
 
As a lifelong regular drinker (cough cough) I would say I've definitely noticed a difference between getting drunk slowly, when you can feel it happening and make an effort to maintain control, and getting drunk quickly, where you suddenly find yourself drunk. I think of it as having a policeman in your brain, waiting around the corner ready to make arrests. If you get drunk to fast, e.g. with whiskey, the policeman is often nowhere to be found, so it would not surprise me at all if there are more fights and such where whiskey is involved.
 
I think it depends more on the personality of the drinker than the drink.

No matter what alchoholic beverage I drink I always become an overly talkative, goofy drunk.

.........Which is probably my default personality.
 
Sir Robin Goodfellow said:
I had a discussion with someone about the old theory that different types of alcoholic beverages cause different behaviours in the same individual. He said the he believed that it was plausible that getting drunk on whisky could make someone become a mean drunk, while that same person, had they become intoxicated on beer, would be a mellow drunk. He said that gin made him act more foolishly than beer.

I told him that it was only an anecdote, and I felt that alcohol was alcohol, and your brain didn't care where it came from.

What say you all?
Click to expand...
Your right. It may be that drinks with higher alcohol may bring out a personality problem sooner say weaker concoctions but if you drink enough of anything and if you have a problem it will eventually come out. Drinking two beers may not bring the meanness out that say five beers would. Me I talk and clown too much when I'm in my cuips/
 
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