Beer vs. Liquor: What Is the Difference?

Whether you are trying to gain some knowledge or planning to stock your house with alcoholic beverages, it always makes sense to find out more about such drinks. Irrespective of whether you find it in beer or liquor, alcohol is always the same.

All types of alcoholic drinks contain ethanol, which is a recreational drug. However, you will find the percentage of alcohol more in liquors than in beers. Usually, liquors have around 40% alcohol, whereas beers are much lighter and contain approximately 4% to 6% alcohol.

Impact on Your Health

Consumption of alcohol in any form can lead to various types of health problems. Such health concerns are not limited to aged people only. It may also happen with youngsters and mid-aged healthy individuals.

Beer

Although beer is a light alcoholic drink with alcohol content usually ranging from 4% to 6%, excessive beverage consumption may also lead to various health issues. Since beer is served cold, having too many cans of chilled beer may lead to throat infections. Too much beer consumption may also lead to dehydration, headache, alcohol poisoning, and physical injuries.

Liquor

Moderate alcohol consumption does not cause much harm to your health. However, too much of anything is wrong. Liquors have around 40% of alcohol content. If you have too much liquor, it may cause various types of health ailments. Apart from short-term health complications, such as alcohol poisoning, the urge to do violence, getting injured, or performing dangerous sexual acts, there are several long-term health risks.

• Heart disease, digestive problems, high blood pressure, and stroke.
• Different forms of cancer include throat, breast, liver, mouth, colon, and voice box.
• Weakening your natural immunity.
• Causing memory problems, including dementia.
• Excessive dependence on alcohol.
• Various types of social issues.

Which One Gets You Drunk Faster?

It is no longer a secret that excessive intake of alcohol causes you to get drunk faster. Since liquors contain more alcohol compared to beer, you will get drunk more quickly if you consume liquor. There are various categories of liquor in the market. These include brandy, gin, whiskey, vodka, rum, and tequila, to name a few. All of these contain around 40% alcohol. Thus, drinking any liquor will get you drunk faster than beer.

Which One Has More Calories For Weight Loss?

If you are planning to get back in shape and lose excess body weight, you should never drink alcohol in any form. It is no longer a secret that alcohols contain excessive calories that can make you gain weight. However, if you compare beer’s calorie content with other liquor forms, you will find beer more favorable. For example, each 100gm of beer contains 43 calories, whereas each 100gm of liquor contains 250 calories.

This means that if you are working out to shed excess body weight but also love to drink alcohol, you can have some beer occasionally. Due to the low-calorie content of beer, it will not affect your weight loss routine much. However, if you have liquor, you will gain all the weight you may have lost by now.

Which One Is Better For Your Stomach?

Alcohol, in general, is never good for your stomach. Consumption of alcohol can lead to an increase in acid in your stomach. This may lead to an irritation of the inner lining of your stomach. Even if you have a beer, it still contains some amount of alcohol. Too much beer will cause stomach problems, such as ulcers, gastritis, and heartburn or reflux.

Whether you suffer from gastritis, ulcers, or reflux, these stomach ailments cause severe pain and suffering. Excessive gastritis causes loss of appetite, vomiting, and tummy ache. However, an ulcer may cause extreme pain in the tummy region and sweating. On the other hand, reflux is the result of excess acid reaching your esophagus. This may cause a burning sensation in your throat and chest.

Which One Has The Worst Hangover?

Drinking too much alcohol will eventually lead to hangovers. Severe hangovers can spoil your entire day and make you feel sick throughout the following day. If you drink often, you must have heard that you should drink alcohol in a specific order. Thus, people started a short rhyme to remember this order, “Beer before liquor, never been sicker; Liquor before beer, you’re in the clear.”

There is a popular theory behind this rhyme. The idea is based upon the concept that the high alcohol content in liquor can spike the blood alcohol level within minutes compared to beer. Thus, if you finish your party with beer, it can reduce your elevated blood alcohol level, which may lead to a hangover.

Factors That Can Affect Your Possibility of a Hangover

Apart from the alcohol drinking order, many other factors can determine your chances of suffering from a hangover.

• Amount of Alcohol Consumed

The possibility of a hangover largely depends on how much alcohol you consume. High levels of alcohol consumption can lead to high blood alcohol levels. At the same time, high blood alcohol levels are more likely to cause a hangover than low blood alcohol levels.

• Alcohol Consumption After or Before Food

You are more likely to suffer from a hangover if you consume alcohol on an empty stomach instead of drinking after eating something solid. This is because if you drink alcohol on an empty stomach, it will enable alcohol to move faster from your stomach to your intestines. As a result, it gets absorbed into your bloodstream from your intestines and spikes your blood alcohol levels.

• Drinking Frequency

Some tests suggest that heavy drinkers easily reach high blood alcohol concentrations. This may lead to hangovers. There is also some evidence that repeated drinkers tend to increase the severity of their hangovers.

Conclusion

Although beer and liquor contain alcohol, these are two different drink categories with different tastes. Occasionally enjoying a moderate amount of liquor or beer with friends is acceptable. However, going overboard may make things risky for your general health.

Frequently consuming too much alcohol may lead to dementia, heart ailments, and specific types of cancer. Additionally, if you are trying to lose body weight, you should stop having liquor since it contains a high level of calories. However, occasional beer consumption is possible since it contains a low percentage of calories.