How come different alcohols are made differently but give the same effect?

Question

like vodka compared to beer, they are made differently but all have alcohol in it and makes us drunk. What is alcohol and how does it produce this effect?

Answer 1

it a natural substance.read this.

http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0310171/...

Answer 2

All alcohol is made the same way.  Yeast eats sugar to produce alcohol and CO2.  The different drinks depend on where the sugars come from.  The alcohol in beer comes from the sugar in the grain, the alcohol in wine comes from the sugar in the grapes.  Hard liquor like whiskey or vodka has an additional step where the alcohol is evaporated then re-concentrated to make it more pure.

I don't remember the specific chemical composition of alcohol, but  it is a small organic chemical that contains hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen.  Its effect comes from the way it interacts with our brain, and we stay intoxicated until our liver filters the alcohol out of our bloodstream.

edit: farid s, as a brewer I can tell you that that web site is entirely inaccurate regarding how beer is made.  There are too many problems with the process to list.

Answer 3

I think you're misusing the term "alcohol."  Vodka and beer are *not* different types of Alcohol.  They are different alcoholic drinks.  They both use the same alcohol -- Ethanol.  Ethanol is the only safe alcohol to drink, and even then you can find exceptions about how "safe" it is, but for our purposes, moderate consumption of Ethanol is not life threatening in the sense that taking a couple shots of rubbing alcohol would be.

So, all alcoholic drinks can make us drunk because they all are mixtures of 3 basic ingredients: water, sugar, ethanol.  Water and sugar sure don't make you drunk... must be that ethanol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_b...

Answer 4

The fermentation produces alcohol, the different ingredients used are what produces the flavour and colour.