Why You Get Drunk From 5% Beer Much Faster Than From 4% Beer
If you look at the percentage of alcohol in beer, it doesn’t seem like they’re all that different. After all, 5% lager is only 1% more alcohol than a supposedly lighter beer, right? While true, Draft Magazine explains how ABV actually works.
As you might expect, this has to do with the way our body processes alcohol. Our body can continuously process a certain amount of alcohol, this is called alcohol units . We process about one unit of alcohol per hour. So with that, you can see why percentages aren’t a good indicator of how intoxicated you are:
I did the math for you: A 12-ounce beer with a 4% ABV contains about 1.4 units of alcohol. Let’s say you only drink one beer per hour – probably not, but for the sake of simplicity, let’s say you do. In this case, your body processes 1.0 units and leaves 0.4 to start postponing that gentle buzz. Drink another beer the next hour, your body will process another unit and the excess reaches 0.8 and it builds up from there. In the next hour, you will exceed 1.2 units. This is an elegant (if simplified) way of measuring intoxication.
Now a 12-ounce beer with a 5% ABV contains about 1.8 units. Remains 0.8 after the hour your body does what it does. After another beer and another hour, you are at 1.6. In the next hour, you have 2.4 – that’s double your alcohol, and it just keeps building up.
So, if you’ve ever wondered why you can crush 10 Coors lights on a barbecue, but a couple of microbreweries will destroy you, that’s it. Check out Draft Magazine for more information on all math.
Why you still get drunk with “session” beer | Journal project