Why Does Port Pack Such A Punch?

A theory:

One possible answer lies in a drink’s “congeners.” These molecules originate either in the plants used to make the booze, or as a byproduct of the fermentation process, and give a wine, beer, or spirit its distinctive taste. Congeners, rather than ethanol itself, are often blamed for the length and severity of hangovers – high-congener alcohols such as bourbon make you feel much worse the morning after compared with vodka, which has virtually none.

In 2009, José Andrade at the University of Porto in Portugal got some mice tanked up on red wine. He showed that congeners in it – antioxidant polyphenols, to be precise – help to counteract the damage ethanol does to the brain’s hippocampus. The red wine left the mice with a better sense of direction than those fed the same concentration of ethanol in water.

But there was bad news for fans of Andrade’s local tipple. Port, which has an ethanol content of about 20 per cent, seems to be almost as potent as a solution of ethanol of the same strength when it comes to frazzling your hippocampus – a fact that Andrade puts down to the higher concentration of sugar in the drink. If you are a port drinker, best to always take a taxi home.