'Beer after wine and you'll feel fine; wine after beer and you'll feel queer.' Is this adage correct? | Notes and Queries (2024)

'Beer after wine and you'll feel fine; wine after beer and you'll feel queer.' Is this adage correct?

• MY OWN observations provide some examples which support the adage, and others which do not. In any case, drunkards are hardly best-placed to supply sound empirical data. But let us assume that there is some truth in it. A simple cultural explanation presents itself, provided that we assume that no serious imbiber would wilfully set out to mix drinks in this way; the beer drinker will only resort to wine when the beer has run out, and vice versa. Because of the dehydrating effect of alcohol, the more beer you drink, the thirstier you get, so that by the time the beer has all gone, you'll be knocking back the plonk as if it were water. The higher alcohol content of wine, which you are too drunk to take into account, will see to it that you soon feel as queer as a nine-bob note. The thwarted wine-lover, by contrast, when forced to resort to beer, may be assumed to continue, through force of habit, to sip daintily at his or her drink (this behaviour no doubt reinforced by the tendency for beer to taste unpleasant to those not acclimatised); thus only an additional pint or so will have been downed by the time the party breaks up, and no significant ill effects will ensue. This explanation, however, is heavily culture-dependent, and receives no support from the fact that the French have their own version of the saying, to which none of the above seems to apply: 'Blanc sur rouge, rien ne bouge; rouge sur blanc, tout fout le camp.' (White on red won't go to your head; red on white and you're out for the night.)

  Nigel Hubbell, Openshaw, Manchester.

• THE GERMANS also disagree: 'Bier auf Wein das lass sein; Wein auf Bier das rat' ich Dir' (roughly translated: 'Don't touch beer after wine; but wine after beer is fine'). There is an Anglo-German difference on another bit of folklore, too. In English we say: 'The oak before the ash and we'll surely have a splash; the ash before the oak and we'll surely have a soak.' But not in Germany: 'Grunt die Eiche vor der Esche, gibt's das Jahr 'ne grosse Wasche; grunt die Esche vor der Eiche, gibt's das Jahr 'ne grosse Bleiche' (roughly: 'Oak before the ash and we'll be washed; ash before the oak and we'll be bleached').

  Lore Bond, Witney, Oxon.

• I HAVE always known the adage in a contrary form: 'Beer on wine not so fine; wine on beer, never fear.' Beer, being closer to water in its constitution and containing less alcohol, more gently triggers the digestive processes to break down the alcohol than the consumption of wine on a fluid-empty stomach. If wine then follows, it will be to some extent diluted by the beer that has already 'lined the stomach'.

  Gary Hunt, Ashford, Middx.

• This socalled saying comes from the early day's. The poor drank beer and the ritch drank wine,so if you first drank beer and later wine you were doing good in life (from poor to rich), but the otherway was ofcourse not so good.The funny thing is that the saying in dutch is the other way around.

  Michael Troll, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

  See Also

  German Drinking Song "Ein Prosit" | Tischreservierung Oktoberfest5 ways of saying that demonstrate the importance of Beer in Germany - Berlino Schule500 Years of the Reinheitsgebot, the German Beer Purity LawVarious Ways Nations Say 'Cheers!' Before Drinking

• Drink beer first and you are used to drinking large volumes at a time, then glug the wine like it was beer (alcohol having impaired your judgement) and you will be the worse for wear the next morning. Sip wine and then drink beer and you will tend to drink it slower, hence less drunk and less hungover. Simple, try it if you want and get someone sober to watch they way you drink

  geoff S, Toronto, Canada

• Wine after beer have no fear, beer after wine, ain't so fine. That's how I heard it, I think. Unless it's reversed, haha. That's why never the twain shall meet, unless I eat a lotta meat, lol. Oh well, it's the holidays, so make that a double!

  Keith Dunwoody, Atlanta, United States

• Beer before wine makes you feel fine. Wine before beer never have fear. Drink whatever the hell you want to, but either way you will have to deal with it tomorrow. Drinking wine while you rhyme works every time. Word!

  Joy Grozzydanich, Olgehampton, Germany

• I've just had 4 cans of ale and I feel sick after a glass of wine.

  Pete, Willenhal, West Midlands , UK

• drink both with alternative sups, then there's nee problem!

  andy blair, newcastle tyne and wear

  See Also

  It’s Zicke Zacke Hoi Hoi Hoi…..ok? — Land of Sky Beer Waters

• After having read all the logical statements above it seems to me that the proposition by Geoff from Toronto is proven by Pete from Willenham.The saying "wine before beer have no fear" is now part of my long-term memory. After all, logic says that stepping down to a drink with less alcohol, something like water, is a better thing.But if you're looking at how sick you're going to get you'd have to throw food in there as a variable.

  Gardner Monk, Vancouver, Canada

• It comes down to absorption! Drink a shot of spirit, especially on an empty stomach, and your stomach sphincter will pinch down tighter than a possum's pinky. This restricts the flow of alcohol to the large intestines where it is absorbed into the blood stream. Same is true of wine, but to a lesser extent. Glug some amber nectar on top of this and you have a pleasant flow of warmth over the next couple of hours. Try it the other way around and the mix of beer and wine gets straight to the brain box with no throttle. Result... great for half a mo' then fall over. If this is what you want. Then top marks :-)

  Chris, Melbourne Australia

• No you silly people, who keep saying "Beer after wine, ain't so fine"! You're getting confused with this: "Beer on whiskey, very risky. Whiskey on beer, never fear."

  Joe, London UK

• I am sticking with the Germans: beer before wine makes you feel fine, wine before beer, you'd better steer clear. It works; not only am I German, but I have tried it !!! tastes better that way around too. IZ

  izzy, bellingham wa us

• In Belgium I have heard this: Bier na wijn geeft venijn. Wijn na bier geeft veel plezier. (Beer after wine gives a hangover, wine after beer gives lots of jolliness.)

  YN, Coventry UK

• I have, without a doubt, found that the saying is supposed to be in this order..."Beer BEFORE wine and you'll be fine, Wine BEFORE beer and you'll feel queer!" Like the "I'm gonna die!" kind of queer. Last weekend I drank white wine for a while and then a buddy brought some beers over and we drank by the fire for a while. The amount of each that I consumed was so far below anything that would have caused me trouble that I didnt think twice about it. I woke up at 4 am and started violently puking and did not see the end of it for 12 hours! At one point I literally told my wife, "I feel like I'm going to die!" as I lay there shivering in a pool of sweat. There is no doubt, I GUARANTEE, you should NEVER DRINK BEER AFTER WINE.

  Luke, Barrie Canada

• I say, just drink whatever you want in moderation and enjoy it.

  Denise, cl*theroe, UK

• I have a more preferred saying regarding wine and beer. Stick with beer, wines f*ckin rank!!!

  Bob, Dundee Scotland

• Beer before wine, all is fine. Wine before before beer, oh dear.I have to say it's not so much the types of liquor but the volume.That said never smoke weed and drink wine. So very sick. And honestly didn't learn the first time, or the third. Cheers!

  Lucy Smith, Brooklyn, US