This to do with strength, sugar, ease of asorbtion and additional drugs plus the Psychological effects of marketting.

For example certain high strength fizzy (easy to absorb) sweet (high energy ) alcopops laced with caffine and taurine send me into immediate party animal mode with an unquenciable desire to:

a) Drink more of the wretched stuff.

b) Do an amazing Karioki rendition of California dreaming.

c) dance and do embarressing dad stuff.

d) wonder what on earth Taurine is and if really does come from bull semen.

e) Challenge other party animals to a drinking competition....see (a)

Alcoholic beverages, particularly those produced by fermentation, contain not one alcohol but a range of alcohols in varying quantities dependent on such variables as the yeast type in use, the types of sugars available to the yeast, and the temperature, speed and duration of fermentation. This area clearly needs some research, but it is reasonable to hypothesise that certain alcohols - if present in a particular beverage - will be more toxic than others for a particular individual.

It is possible that the mood and the context these people are in dictates what beverage they choose in the first place, and that this has considerable influence on their mood once they have become drunk.

The state that you get into after drinking is highly affected by psychology.  If you expect to be falling over drunk you will get that way, if you are depressed and expect to get worse you will.  Sometimes we associate different drinks with different effects because that happened once, so tequila has a particular effect because you first drank it in a certain place with certain friends.  Interestingly there was a study that showed that a proportion of the degree of drunkenness is also affected by expectation so telling people a drink is strong will cause them to act drunker than if you tell them it is a weak drink that tastes strong.

Unfortunately, there is no straightforward evidence to support this claim, nor is there any evidence against it.

Whether you're drinking wine, beer or spirits, the alcohol in your drink will be ethanol, which affects several neurotransmitters involved in determining mood. For example, alcohol inhibits glutamate receptors, which has the effect of relaxing muscles; it stimulates receptors that respond to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), reducing anxiety; and it increases the release of dopamine, a hormone associated with excitement.

Mood and behaviour depend also on the degree of intoxication, which can be quantified by measuring the volume of alcohol in a given volume of blood, better known as the blood alcohol concentration. BAC depends not just on the amount of alcohol ingested but also on gender, weight and body fat.

When BAC is low (up to 0.06 per cent), the effects usually manifest themselves as euphoria, talkativeness and increased self-confidence. With BAC between 0.06 and 0.2 per cent, you will experience excitement and disinhibition, and then mood swings, particularly involving anger, boisterousness or sadness. The next stage, with BAC over 0.21 per cent, brings general inertia and a reduced response to stimuli. If you carry on drinking you will end up in a coma (BAC above 0.35 per cent) or even in the mortuary (above 0.50 per cent).

The context in which alcohol is consumed also plays a role. We tend to drink particular alcoholic beverages in particular situations: fine wine is usually savoured over a nice meal, for example, and hence is likely to put you in a mellow mood, while numerous shots of vodka may be consumed at a party on an empty stomach and will make you feel drunk much quicker.

Some people suggest that the mood you end up in when you drink depends on the mood you are in when you start, and that people tend to choose specific drinks for specific moods.

Joanna Jastrzebska, North Shields, Tyne and Wear, UK