New Study Finds Consumers Associate Whiskey, Tequila, and Wine With Distinct Moods

Consumers associate different types of alcohol with distinct buzzwords, according to a new study out of the University of Evansville in Indiana. Most respondents linked “party” to tequila; “sophisticated,” “chill,” and “intellectual” to wine; and “masculine” to whiskey. The findings confirm that the longstanding connections between alcohol types and mindsets are learned behavior, not feelings based on their physiological effects.

“These findings show that alcohol can function as a ‘symbolic cue,’” writes Logan Pant, the study’s author and an assistant professor of marketing, in The Conversation. “In other words, the mindsets people associate with different drinks appear to originate from learned associations rather than from intoxication itself.”

It’s a commonly held belief that different alcohols yield different feelings of intoxication, but that theory has been debunked. Rather than drink alcohol, the study, titled “It’s 5:00 somewhere: exploring consumer drinking mindsets,” asked participants to complete an open-ended survey and a word association task.

With those results, the researchers discovered links between the moods evoked by different types of alcohol. The exact age range of the participants in the study, first published in the journal “Young Consumers,” is unclear, but the listed focus is on younger drinkers.

Beer was also included in the survey, and most respondents connected it with “chill” and “party,” though its word associations were not as strong as the other alcohols’. The relationships found — tequila to party, wine to sophisticated, and whiskey to masculine — can help inform policymakers and marketers, the study’s abstract says.

Learning what moods various spirits induce can help clarify questions like why younger consumers are drinking less and in what scenarios people choose to drink a certain liquor, Pant says.

“Understanding these psychological cues may help explain how alcohol-related social norms and expectations develop and influence drinking decisions,” he explains.

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