Any drink containing alcohol, often used for its intoxicating effects. Ethanol (ethyl alcohol), a colorless liquid (C2H5OH) is the basis of all common intoxicants. Foods rich in sugars, such as grapes, produce this alcohol as a natural product of decay, called fermentation.
Wines, ciders, and sherry contain alcohol produced by direct fermentation with yeasts of the sugar in the fruit forming the basis of the drink;
Malt liquors are beers, ales, and stouts, in which the starch of the grain is converted to sugar by malting, and the sugar then fermented into alcohol by yeasts. Fermented drinks contain less than 20% alcohol.
spirits are distilled from malted liquors or wines, and can contain up to 55% alcohol. Examples include whiskey, rum, and brandy.
When consumed, alcohol is rapidly absorbed from the stomach and upper intestine and affects nearly every tissue, particularly the central nervous system. Tests have shown that the feeling of elation usually associated with drinking alcoholic liquors is caused by the loss of inhibitions through removal of the restraining influences of the higher cerebral centers. It also results in dilatation of the blood vessels, including those of the skin. The resulting loss of heat from the skin causes the body to cool, although the drinker feels warm. A concentration of 0.15% alcohol in the blood causes mild intoxication; 0.3% definite drunkenness and partial loss of consciousness; 0.6% endangers life. In 1990 it was found that women produce a lower level than men of the enzyme in the stomach that breaks down alcohol. Alcohol is more rapidly absorbed at higher altitudes, as in, for example, the slightly reduced pressure of an aircraft cabin.