Do Cocktails make you drunk? Not anymore than other boozy drinks. But you already know you can get drunk on any sort of alcoholic drink from beer to whiskey. It’s all the same to your body.
Delicious cocktails and mixed drinks of all kinds have booze. So….
How Many Shots to get Drunk?
Whether cocktail do make you drunk depends on several things… Just one shot can get you drunk. Most cocktails contain at least one 1 1/2 oz. shot. Thats a little more than many people can digest in an hour.
Many cocktail recipes also add more alcohol to complete a cocktail recipe. Some up to 3 oz. That’s a walloper.
Here are some factors that impact how you react to a cocktail.
- How many ounces of alcohol is in your cocktail?
- Is it a fizzy cocktail?
- Does it have a high sugar content?
- Do you have an empty stomach ?
- How experienced a drinker you are. (is your body used to digesting alcohol?)
- How large you are makes a difference too. This includes bone density and overall weight.
- Men can drink more than women and not get drunk.
Let’s run down each of these a quick minute so you can figure out how cocktails can make you drunk.
The amount of alcohol in a particular cocktail runs around 1 1/2 to 3 oz. of alcohol depending on the recipe and type of drinks you enjoy.
For a full run down of which mixed drinks contain what amount of booze, read this article by Experienced bartenders that give you a rundown of particular cocktails and how much alcohol they contain.
It makes a handy guide to learn your drinks power ahead of reading a cocktail menu.
If you make your cocktails at home, like we do, you can fudge any recipe to make it more or less powerful. Up to you!
At the outset, remember, alcohol can be a fun social smoother …or a devastating, horrific, life changing ingredient in your cocktail party life.
Healthline has a good article here on how alcohol affects your body. It’s worth reading before you set out on a tear.
That said,
How Many Cocktails Get you Drunk?
‘That Depends’. So annoying that we can’t give you a direct answer.
You’re a unique person with your own body and experiences with drinking cocktails.
You may know a lot about cocktail drinking and think it’s silly that someone can get drunk, at least tipsy, on one. Just ONE cocktail.
However, If a person doesn’t drink cocktails very often, they will feel even one light cocktail. If a cocktail has a heavy hitting 3 oz. of booze, a lightweight will be feeling it a LOT. Especially a small woman. If she has an empty stomach. Boy Howdy, she will be buzzed.
Regular drinkers can withstand more than one cocktail in an evening before feeling more than a slight buzz.
Remember Your blood alcohol count wins the day at a traffic stop. No matter how buzzed you feel. Learn your limits when driving.
For a pleasant experience drinking cocktails with your friends, or alone, stick to one yummy cocktail an hour.
To keep your head clear for the night; Drink just one or two cocktails during the entire evening.
If you are a light weight and REALLY don’t wan’t to get buzzed…
TIP: Sip a Sweet cocktail with a low alcohol content and no fizz. This is the best way to enjoy your Cocktail without getting drunk.
Here’s How to get drunk fast:
Do you want to get drunk fast? Have your designated driver lined up and want to get roaring drunk in a hurry? Here’s what you do.
TIP: To get drunk fast drinking cocktails, you need to drink several cocktails an hour with fizzy, low sugar, high octane ingredients. Boom.
Here’s why:
- Did you know? Sugar Content and Fizz affect how fast a Cocktail Can make you Drunk: Two fascinating studies show that Carbonation helps absorb alcohol faster into your blood stream. And low sugar cocktails also are capable of getting you drunk faster than cocktails high in sugar.
- Are you hungry? To get drunk faster lay off the appetizers. Food mixes in with alcohol and blunts the impact.
- Finally, .drink fast. More than one heavy hitting cocktail an hour will definitely sneak up on you. The body cannot absorb all that alcohol in an hour so you will be feeling all those drinks hit you at once. Do the math. Several oz. of booze hitting the blood stream at once will overwhelm your body’s ability to digest it. Boom.
- If your drinking goal for the night is to really crush yourself… drink three cocktails or more in an hour. They add up.
- Your blood alcohol level will peak from each drink about 45 to 90 minutes after intake. So if you drink several cocktails really fast you will start to see with very blurry vision within the hour.
About this time, if you have partied hard and fast with a few of our wicked cocktail recipes…you may spend the rest of your evening with your head in the toilet.
Or other unpleasant things like hangovers, car wrecks and social problems happen. Do cocktails make you drunk? Not unless you want them to. You are in control of this.
How Long Does Alcohol Stay in Your Blood?
It takes roughly an hour to completely digest 1 1/2 ounces of 40 to 80% liquor. Most cocktails contain at least this much liquor and often more.
But also take into account your body weight, size and sex. It all plays in to how long it takes to digest a cocktail.
Do you drink often? Do you rarely drink? Are you mixing in other drugs? Your general mood good? It all plays in to how well you handle alcohol.
And how fast the booze digests and leaves your bloodstream.
How does BAC Work:
Whether or not Cocktails make you drunk is determined legally by Blood alcohol content.
Blood alcohol Content determines your level of drunkenness. Blood alcohol is determined by how much alcohol is free floating undigested in your blood stream.
The thing is, your liver can break down only so much alcohol in a given time. When you overwhelm your system, you are going to feel it.
Here’s a Handy Blood Alcohol Calculator. Plug in your stats and see how well you can tolerate the amount of alcohol you plan to imbibe.
Women get Drunk Easier Than Men: Why?
Reasons Women get Drunk Easier Than Men:
It’s not fair but it is real. Women get drunk easier than men. Here’s why
- Men have more water in their bodies all the time than women. So alcohol dilutes more in men.
- Women have a lower amount of dehydrogenase. This is an enzyme in the liver that helps break down alcohol. So they are slower to digest booze than men.
- Hormonal fluctuations in women affect how they digest alcohol. Period cycles and birth control pills change the estrogen levels in women. This impacts alcohol digestion. Who knew?
- Finally, women are also more likely to pay with long term liver, pancreas and high blood pressure than men with long term over drinking.
Now you know. Alcohol digestion is different for everyone. But universally women need to be more careful than men when drinking.
So: Do Cocktails Make You Drunk?
Mix your cocktails to best suit your tastes and your circumstances. If you don’t enjoy getting drunk but you love cocktails, be judicious.
Cocktails are delicious. Cocktail parties, wedding and other events are a really fun way to socialize with cocktails. Now you know the factors that impact your ability to handle your drinks.
You know how long it takes to digest a cocktail and what your blood alcohol means. And why it is important to know.
You’ve learned some tips on how to get smashed, or float through an evening of cocktail sipping with hardly a buzz.
Cocktails only make you drunk if you let them. Drink accordingly.