The popular saying suggests a specific sequence for consuming alcoholic drinks: “Beer before wine and you’ll feel fine; wine before beer and you’ll feel queer.” This age-old adage implies that the order in which you consume beverages like beer and wine determines the severity of the next day’s hangover. Intoxication and hangovers are complex physiological processes. To understand this belief, we must look beyond folk wisdom to the actual mechanisms by which the body processes alcohol.
Debunking the Drink Order Myth
Scientific consensus indicates that the order in which you drink beer and wine has no significant bearing on the severity of a hangover. A study specifically testing this popular adage found no measurable difference in hangover scores between groups that drank beer then wine, and those that drank wine then beer. The human body metabolizes the ethanol content of any alcoholic beverage regardless of the sequence in which the drinks are consumed.
The liver processes alcohol, or ethanol, at a relatively constant rate. This rate is not influenced by whether the ethanol came from a lighter or darker beverage first. Researchers concluded that the real predictors of a severe hangover were how drunk a person felt and whether they vomited during the drinking session. The myth likely persists because people associate feeling unwell with the last drink they had, rather than the cumulative effect of the entire evening’s consumption.
The Role of Congeners in Severity
While the order of drinks does not matter, the specific chemical makeup of the beverage plays a significant role in hangover intensity. Congeners are chemical byproducts of the fermentation process, including substances like methanol, acetone, and fusel alcohols. These compounds contribute to the distinctive flavor and aroma of alcoholic drinks, but they are also mildly toxic and can aggravate hangover symptoms such as headaches, nausea, and inflammation.
Darker beverages generally contain a higher concentration of congeners than lighter ones. For example, red wine, which is fermented with the grape skins, typically has a higher congener content than white wine, and both tend to have more congeners than light lager beer. Consuming a large quantity of a high-congener drink increases the toxic load, making the next day’s symptoms worse irrespective of what was consumed earlier.
How Carbonation Affects Absorption Speed
Carbonation, the presence of dissolved carbon dioxide gas, does not affect the eventual total level of alcohol in your system, but it significantly alters how quickly you reach peak intoxication. Beverages like beer and sparkling wine contain carbonation, which speeds up gastric emptying. This means the contents of the stomach, including the alcohol, are pushed into the small intestine faster.
The small intestine is the primary site for alcohol absorption into the bloodstream. A faster absorption rate leads to a quicker and higher spike in Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC). If a person drinks a flat beverage like still wine first and then switches to a carbonated drink like beer, the carbonation can accelerate the absorption of all remaining alcohol in the stomach. This sudden, rapid increase in BAC can lead to abrupt and intense intoxication, which is often mistakenly blamed on the change in drink type.
The True Determinant: Total Alcohol Load
The single most important factor in determining intoxication and hangover severity is the total amount of pure ethanol consumed, also known as the total alcohol load. The severity of a hangover is directly correlated with the peak Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) reached during the drinking session. Simply put, the more alcohol you consume, the more severe the resulting physiological effects will be.
Switching between beer and wine often contributes to a higher total intake because it becomes harder to accurately track the different alcohol by volume (ABV) levels of varying drinks. A standard glass of wine contains significantly more alcohol than a standard beer, and people frequently lose count when transitioning between serving sizes. The misconception that the order matters distracts from the true cause: consuming too much ethanol for the body to process comfortably. Managing the total volume and pace of consumption remains the only reliable way to mitigate a hangover.