Do you feel relaxed when you enjoy a glass of red wine at the end of a long day? Do you notice a confidence boost after having a vodka martini or two during a night out on the town? Or perhaps, you become more aggressive after drinking a shot of your favourite whisky?

According to a new survey out of the U.K., different types of alcohol can elicit different emotional responses in drinkers.

Researchers from Public Health Wales NHS Trust in Cardiff, Wales used data gathered from the Global Drug Survey (GDS), the world’s largest online survey of legal and illicit drug and alcohol use among adults. The survey collected anonymous responses from 29,836 adults ranging in age from 18 to 34 who reported drinking different types of alcohol in the last 12 months.

The online survey was conducted from November 2015 to January 2016 and included respondents from 21 countries.

Participants were asked to select how they felt after drinking four different types of alcohol – spirits, beer, red or white wine. The emotions included in the survey were energized, relaxed, sexy, confident, tired, aggressive, ill, restless and tearful.

Respondents were also asked to provide their gender and how they felt drinking in different settings, such as when they were at home or out.

“Understanding why people choose particular drink types and whether different drinks elicit different emotions may help inform more effective public health interventions,” the authors wrote in the survey published in the British Medical Journal on Tuesday.

According to the findings, people who drank spirits such as rum, whisky, or gin provoked more negative emotions, particularly aggression, than other types of beverages. Nearly 30 per cent of those surveyed said drinking spirits made them feel aggressive compared to only 2 per cent when drinking red wine.

“For centuries, the history of rum, gin, vodka and other spirits has been laced with violence,” co-author Mark Bellis wrote. “This global study suggests even today consuming spirits is more likely to result in feelings of aggression than other drinks.”

Drinking spirits also had the highest percentage of restlessness (27 per cent) and tearfulness (22 per cent) compared with beer and wine.

Positive emotional responses

However, spirits also elicited more positive emotions in some categories, which prompted researchers to conclude that they provoke the greatest emotional changes of all types.

More than half of respondents associated spirits with feeling energized and confident and 42 per cent of drinkers associated them with feeling sexy.

In contrast, only 7 per cent felt energized after drinking red wine, 15 per cent for white wine and 24 per cent for beer.

As for feeling sexy, beer was least likely to be associated with this emotion. Only 18 per cent of respondents said beer had this effect on them.

Slightly more than half of survey participants associated drinking red wine with feeling relaxed, followed by beer, white wine and spirits. That relaxation appeared to go hand in hand with feelings of tiredness, with 60 per cent of respondents linking red wine to feeling tired compared to only 15 per cent for spirits.

Demographic groups

The survey also looked at how responses differed based on country of origin, educational attainment, age, gender and level of alcohol dependency. The researchers found that younger drinkers (aged 18 to 24) were the most likely to associate any type of alcohol with confidence, sexiness and energy.

Women reported feeling all emotions, except for aggression, for all of the different types of alcohol more frequently than men.

In terms of alcohol dependency, the survey found that dependent drinkers were more likely to associate all the different types of alcohol with positive emotions compared to those with a lower risk for dependency. Men with an alcohol dependency were also six times more likely to associate feelings of aggression with all of the types of alcohol compared to low-risk drinkers.

The researchers stressed that no “firm conclusions” can be drawn about cause and effect because the survey was only observational. They also contend that other factors such as when and where alcohol is consumed, the quantity, and advertising may also impact how drinkers respond to different types of beverages.

In conclusion, the survey’s authors suggest that understanding emotions associated with different types of alcohol is important for public health policymakers. Approximately 3.3 million deaths and 5.1 per cent of global diseases and injuries were attributable to alcohol consumption in 2014, according to the survey.

“Alcohol already plays a large part in violence in many countries, but the concept that consumption of different alcohol products may be more likely to result in violence is rarely reflected in public health responses,” the study said. “Results from these analyses can be used by public health bodies to better understand alcohol consumption behaviour and to inform strategies and interventions to promote changes in consumption, particularly among heavier drinkers.”