The craft beer boom made mind-bogglingly strong beers more popular, but many beer drinkers are now seeking out lighter brews that deliver great taste without any of the slowdown. Not only does drinking lower alcohol beer help you avoid hangovers, its long-term benefts are even more profound, as it can help you stay fitter and promote your mental health.
But let's be honest: most beer drinkers like to feel the buzz of an alcoholic beverage or two, not to mention the flavour that comes from it. So can you get drunk from drinking lower alcohol beers or does it simply trigger a placebo effect?
There is a huge range of factors which will influence how much alcohol you need to consume to get drunk, so it's not possible to give an exact answer here. That said, there are some general rules that can help you figure out how much beer it'll take you to start feeling tipsy.
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WHAT DO WE MEAN BY 'BEING DRUNK?'
Before finding out if you can get drunk from drinking low alcohol beer, it's first helpful to think about exactly what we mean by being ‘drunk’. Anyone who's ever had one too many will know the sensation well, yet there are lots of different levels of drunkenness - and a huge range of factors that affect it.
Alcohol tolerance and effects can vary widely from person to person and occasion to occasion. Factors which affect inebriation include:
- Sex
- Weight
- Body fat percentage
- Mood
- Level of hydration
- Time since you last ate
- Composition and size of last meal
- Volume and strength of the alcohol
- Speed at which you drink
- Tolerance
- Certain medications
Defining exactly what quantity of alcohol will get you drunk is difficult and it can vary significantly from one person to another.
Felix James shares stories from a Small Beer pub crawl
Stepping away from the science for a second, Felix James, Co-Founder of Small Beer, regales a story from a night out with the Small Beer team.
"We once took the team on a memorable pub crawl that involved visiting 10 London pubs that were serving Small Beer on draught. It was fantastic to visit some of the city's best pubs, have lots of fun with the team, and then wake up with a clear head the next morning, remembering what a great evening it had been.
"Now that it's been over five years since we brewed our first Small Beer Lager, it can be far too easy to take for granted how liberating it is to wake up early the next morning without feeling sluggish or like you missed out on any of the fun."
WHAT IS BLOOD ALCOHOL CONTENT AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
To find out if you can get drunk on low alcohol beer, it's useful to have a scientific measure of what drunkenness means. Blood Alcohol Content or BAC is the most commonly used metric used to gauge a person’s level of squiffiness. In scientific terms, BAC measures the amount of alcohol present in your bloodstream. If a breathalyser test reveals that a person has a BAC of 0.04%, this means there is 40mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
According to the University of Notre Dame, when your BAC reaches 0.04%, you are likely to feel more relaxed, your inhibitions will be lower and may experience a sensation of warmth and happiness. On the flipside, your judgement and memory may also be slightly impaired.
However, you can still legally drive a car in most parts of the UK, so long as your BAC is below 0.08% or 80mg/100ml. Most other countries in Europe (including Scotland) are stricter when it comes to driving after drinking alcohol, as the legal alcohol limit is set at 0.05% or 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
Scientists may disagree on how to accurately estimate BAC, but one factor in any equation is the volume of alcohol that a person consumes. Alcohol by volume or ABV is the metric used to calculate the volume of alcohol contained in a drink. If you drink a pint of beer that is 4% alcohol by volume, you are consuming 23ml of pure alcohol - as 23 is 4% of 568ml.
To put it simply, a drink with a higher ABV is more likely to raise your BAC and leave you feeling worse for wear. Search online for a ‘BAC chart’ and you will find many estimations of how alcohol consumption is likely to affect your BAC based on your weight or sex. We must stress that estimating your BAC in such an unscientific way can be extremely dangerous, particularly if you are weighing up whether or not to drive.
CAN YOU GET DRUNK ON NON-ALCOHOLIC BEER?
A beer can still be marketed as "alcohol free" if it contains up to 0.5% ABV, but it's practically impossible for an adult to become intoxicated from drinking an alcohol free beer.
We know this to be true as in 2012 scientists at a German university had the great idea to stage a ‘drinking experiment,’ which involved letting a few dozen students loose on a few non-alcoholic beers with a 0.4% ABV. Despite guzzling 1.5 litres in under an hour - which is just over 2.5 pints - the student closest to intoxication had a BAC of less than 0.01%.
As this experiment proves, the amount of alcohol contained in a non-alcoholic drink is so low that it’s simply not possible to consume enough liquid to the point where you feel intoxicated or that your BAC is affected.
What’s the difference? Low-alcohol vs no-alcohol beers
CAN YOU GET DRUNK FROM DRINKING 2% BEER?
Lower strength beer styles with an ABV of around 2.5% - like small beer and table beer - contain around half the amount of alcohol than most ‘full strength’ beer styles, but they can still raise the alcohol concentration in your blood to the point where you notice it.
A lower strength beer will certainly induce a feeling of relaxation. You'll notice the feeling of having enjoyed a pint or two, but the lower level of alcohol means that it’s difficult to reach a point where you suffer from the consequences of being inebriated. In addition, the lower alcohol level also means you’re process the alcohol and hydrating as you drink, so the chance of a hangover is low to non-existent.
At Small Beer, we don't think you need to live life at the extremes - or be forced to choose between complete sobriety and having to drink more than you need. We brew all of our low alcohol beers below 2.8% ABV, which means that you can still get a light buzz without regretting it the next day.