Alcohol dehydrogenase

Once ethanol enters your bloodstream, ethanol is ethanol.

Your liver starts breaking it down using an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase, or ADH.

ADH converts ethanol into acetaldehyde, and acetaldehyde is highly toxic, so your body quickly uses another enzyme, primarily ALDH two, to convert that acetaldehyde into acetate, which is much easier for the body to handle.

But there is a limit to how quickly this system can work.

And that brings us to the real reason three shots can feel dramatically different from three beers.