How Much Beer Does It Take To Get Drunk?

Some people get drunk by drinking only one beer.  On the other hand, some do not get drunk at all.  On average, a male with a body weight of 190 pounds gets drunk by drinking 4-5 beers in one hour.  A healthy female with a body weight of 160-170 pounds gets drunk by consuming 2-4 beers. 

It is important to remember that this article refers to commercial beer with a 5% ABV.  Nevertheless, this data gives approximate values and not exact figures. 

Factors that influence how easily you get drunk with beer

Here are some of the important factors that lead a person to get drunk easily:

1. Beer Alcohol Content (BAC): 

BAC is the most important factor for calculating how many beers you need to get drunk.  The more alcohol content you have in your beer, the fewer beers you will require to get drunk. 

Some of the breweries have higher BAC than others.  Commercial beers have 5% ABV.  Regular beers have a lower ABV, normally 4%.  But some of the breweries, for instance, Craft Beer, have more alcohol content than commercial beers. 

The alcohol content in your beer influences how many of them you require to get drunk.  The beers with more alcohol content get you drunk faster and easily. 

If you choose a less strong beer or a beer with low alcohol content, you will need more beers to get intoxicated. 

2. Weight

A person’s weight is also a factor in calculating how many beers are required to feel tipsy.  A person with a higher weight requires more beer to get drunk.  A person with a lower weight requires less beer to get drunk. 

If you have a higher weight, it will take more time and a number of beers to get you intoxicated.  On the other hand, if you have a lower weight, you will get drunk faster with a smaller number of beers. 

3. Height 

The person’s height is also important in calculating the number of beers that makes him drunk.  For instance, a taller person requires more drinks than a short person. 

It may be because of the longer circulatory system of a tall person that takes more time to build up blood alcohol content.  A short-height person has a small blood circulatory system than a tall person and hence needs less number of drinks to get drunk.

4. Empty stomach

If you are consuming beer on an empty stomach, it will get you drunk faster with fewer beers. 

It is easy for the alcohol to get absorbed in the blood if your stomach is empty.  If you want to slow the intoxication rate, you should eat and drink water along with drinking beer. 

5. Tolerance 

Exposure to alcohol or beer is also important in determining how many beers you need to get drunk. 

Some people are experienced drinkers who tend to get tipsy slower than inexperienced ones. 

If you are a regular drinker, you can withstand more beers than an occasional drinker. 

6. Gender 

Gender also plays a vital role in determining beer tolerance.  Men have more alcohol tolerance than women. 

It is again because of size and weight.  The more your body weight or muscle mass is, the more alcohol will be diluted, and you will need more beers to get you drunk. 

That’s the reason men need more beer to get drunk than women. 

7. Age 

Age is also a significant factor in determining the number of beers required to get you drunk. 

A young person has more muscle mass and more alcohol tolerance than an old person. 

With the passage of time and during old age, people start losing their muscle mass and hence become more alcohol intolerant than young people. 

Although if you are an experienced drinker with a strong physique, then age is not a factor for you. 

Other factors  

Some other factors can also lead to you getting drunk easily.

• Ethnicity 
• Medications 
• Lack of sleep 
• Mood 
• Rate of consumption 

How to not get drunk fast? 

There are some tips and precautions that you can keep in mind for not getting drunk easily and fastly. 

Drink on a full stomach

Alcohol absorbs in your blood fastly when you are drinking on an empty stomach.  Eating beforehand or while drinking beer slows down the intoxication rate. 

Drink slowly 

You may have heard about the “thumb rule.” It is about giving space to the time between drinks.  You can stay sober if you drink a beer in an hour. 

If you are given enough time to your body for metabolizing the alcohol, then you will not get drunk.  It is advised to drink slowly so you can stay sober. 

Drink plenty of water

Drinking plenty of water can drastically slow down the intoxication rate.  If you drink plenty of water before drinking beer, you are unlikely to get drunk. 

You can also stay hydrated if you drink a glass of water after every bottle of beer.  That’s an effective way of staying hydrated and slowing down the intoxication rate. 

FAQs

How long does being drunk last? 

Normally it takes 6 hours to wear off the effects of being drunk.  However, if you think you are not feeling drunk and still can blow the legal meter, then you are wrong.  You can use BAC meters to calculate how long it will take to become sober again. 

Can one beer get you drunk? 

If you are talking about regular commercial beers with an ABV of 4-5%, then it is unlikely for you to get drunk.  However, some brands have more ABV values, but you will still have to drink at least two beers with higher ABV values to get drunk.

Conclusion  

So, you have learned about how many beers would get you drunk.  Let’s have a summary of other factors involved in this.  Besides the number of drinks, there are certain factors involved in making you drunk fastly and easily.  For instance, your age, height, weight, alcohol tolerance, muscle mass, and gender.  You can follow some easy tricks to avoid being drunk; for example, drink beer on a full stomach and stay hydrated before drinking beer.