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I haven’t drunk tequila since November 16 1994 – Revolution Day in Mexico. I was a ship’s doctor and had the night off. The following morning (I can’t say more in case it incriminates me) was the first time I considered that not all alcohol was the same. But the concept that different types of alcohol have diverse or ‘special’ qualities is nothing new – indeed, many countries have beverage mythologies right at their cultural core.

France’s famous Absinthe was made from ‘grand wormwood’ or Artemisia Absinthium, with the active ingredient thujone also found in plants like sage and oregano. Thujone was thought at the time to produce hallucinations and seizures, which led to a ban in France in 1914 – but the reality is the low doses in absinthe are no more damaging than any other tipple and Absinthe is back on the shelves.

But assumption and association is hugely powerful - at 15 per cent ABV, Scotland’s Buckfast transitioned from the drink of Benedictine Monks to being the Scottish binge drinking rite of passage. With more caffeine ml for ml than energy drinks, it’s as famous for creating ‘hyper drunks’ as gin is for turning on the tears, or Scotch’s ability to bring out the argumentative and provocative in people.

Scientifically speaking, these myths have no basis in scientific fact. Alcohol is always the same no matter how you make it. From a chemist’s perspective, alcohol is a naturally occurring group of organic compounds, predominantly in the form of ethyl alcohol or ethanol, formed by fermentation or distillation of carbohydrate containing foods such as fruits, cereals and vegetables. Ethanol increases the influence of a chemical transmitter in the brain called GABA that slows or quietens down brain activity hence we call alcohol a depressant. While alcohol also has a host of other subtle effects on the brain, the active ingredient is always ethyl alcohol. So no matter how you make your alcohol, it its always ethyl alcohol that gets you drunk.

Alcohol is therefore not like cannabis, where the high is related to the precise balance of different psychoactive compounds like THC or CBD. Alcohol in fact has more in common with cocaine, MDMA or heroin, where the ‘high’ is related to how much active drug you take and how quickly it is absorbed in to your system..

While the choice of source product and the difference between fermentation and distillation determine whether you end up with beer, cider, wine or spirits the variation in beverage taste and smell is largely due to the contribution of various congeners - chemicals which include acetone, acetaldehyde, esters, fusel alcohols and aldehydes.

These congeners may be where part of the answer may lies - acetaldehyde is a breakdown product of alcohol that contributes to hangovers, and darker beverages like dark rum, red wine, scotch and brandy contain a higher percentage of congeners. Studies are inconsistent, but many report that the darker the drink, the worse the hangover.

Before we look at the possible explanations behind the notion that different sorts of alcohol may lead to a different types of drunk we need cover the basics on what determine how drunk you feel. Put simply, the more rapid the rise in your blood alcohol the more drunk you feel. Things that lead to a rapid rise in blood alcohol are drinking on an empty stomach as fatty foods slow the absorption most, so people might be better off having a kebab at the start of the evening.

The faster your drink the more drunk you feel. Bubbles in booze speed up the rate of absorption (think champagne). Generally, stronger alcoholic drinks work faster but but oddly ABVs above 50 per cent actually seem to slow the rate of absorption with most people suggesting optimal absorption occurs at about 20 per cent ABV. So what’s the possible science behind the myths?

It might be that certain drinks tend to get drunk in different ways, meaning that it’s easier to drink more alcohol in some forms than another, like tequila slammers. It might be some drinks are more likely to be drunk in certain environments or occasions, like lager at football matches or pubs. It might be some people drink certain drinks when they are feeling in particular moods: "I need a G+T to cheer me up", or bottles of Champagne at weddings. It might be that might certain drinks are more likely be drunk by certain people. It might be that some drinks are drunk with certain mixers that alter mood or behaviour like caffeine heavy energy drinks. It might be something called "effort after meaning", a way that people try to make sense of what happened after the event – "I ended up hooking up with that person because of the brandy, you know what it does to me". It can be used as an excuse that people can pull out that might avoid them admitting they just drunk too much.

If you want to help the Global Drug Survey find out whether tequila tantrums, Buckfast blackouts, snake bits bruising’s, G+T tears or champagne giggles are really the same the world over and whether different drinks affect people differently, take part in the survey....sober.