A Comparison of Equal Alcohol Doses of Beer and Whiskey on Eleven Human Test Subjects

• Published in: Journal - Canadian Society of Forensic Science Vol. 37; no. 3; pp. 137 - 145
• Main Authors: Cowan, J.M., Dennis, M.E., Smith, L.F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 01.01.2004
• ISSN: 0008-5030; 2332-1660
• DOI: 10.1080/00085030.2004.10757571

Seven men (aged 23 to 52 years) and four women (aged 26 to 44 years) were hydrostatically weighed to determine their percentage of body fat and lean body weight. Female subjects on average had a higher percentage of body fat (23.5%, range 18.6-30.0%) than males (16.9%, range 7.5-30.2%). Subjects fasted for at least 10 hours prior to an oral dose of alcohol at 1.23 g/kg of lean body weight. Beer containing approximately 5% ethanol was consumed on day one of the experiment and 50.5% whiskey mixed with a carbonated beverage was consumed on day two of the experiment. All alcohol analyses were conducted on the Intoxilyzer 5000®. Female subjects had a slightly higher rate of elimination (0.0195 g/210 L/h, range 0.0169-0.0212) than male subjects (0.0186 g/210 L/h, range 0.0151-0.0225). While there were individual subject differences, on average, equal doses of ethanol per kg of lean body weight given in the same manner, over the same length of time, yielded statistically indistinguishable alcohol concentration results, regardless of subject gender or type of alcoholic beverage consumed.