Look for yourself.÷š Many government agencies, state driver×?Ts manuals, and consumer groups all tell the same thing ×?’ a standard drink of either beer, wine or spirits has the same amount of alcohol.÷š This is clearly indicated in the New York State driver×?Ts manual:

Different types of drinks do not affect you differently. It is the amount of alcohol you consume, not whether it is in beer, wine or wine cooler, or liquor, that raises your BAC and lowers your driving ability. These drinks contain about the same amount of alcohol - 1÷? ounces of liquor, 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, and 12 ounces of wine cooler. None is “safer to drink” than the others. Whether through brewing, fermenting, or distilling, this alcohol will have the same chemical characteristics even though the taste is different.

There is something else that people will agree on.÷š A breathalyzer can×?Tt tell what kind of beverage alcohol a person drinks.÷š If one person drank a beer, glass of wine or shot of spirits ×?’ an equivalent amount of alcohol ×?’ and blew into a breathalyzer, the only information that could be discerned is the amount of alcohol in that person×?Ts system.

The tax rate on distilled spirits is almost three times the rate on table wine and over two times the rate on beer.÷š So, why is it that equivalent amounts of alcohol in different forms are not taxed at the same rate?÷š The discrepancy in the relative tax rates of these products just furthers the misperception that spirits are hard liquor and that beer is the drink of moderation.÷š In the breathalyzer tube, it is all the same ×?’ alcohol.
Don×?Tt be fooled.÷š Spirits aren×?Tt harder than beer or wine, just more concentrated, and a standard serving of each contains the same amount of alcohol.÷š There is moderate behavior not a beverage of moderation.÷š Maybe if the respective taxes were more in line, the equivalent nature of these products would be clearer.