Wine and whiskey both contain alcohol.

But your body does not respond to them the same way.

From a health perspective, here is what actually matters🍷🥃🧵

What They’re Made From

Whiskey starts with fermented grains like corn, rye, wheat, or barley.

Different styles use different blends. Bourbon is mostly corn. Scotch is malted barley. Rye and Irish whiskey follow their own rules.

Once distilled, those differences mostly disappear.

Distillation strips away nearly everything except ethanol and water.

Red Wine starts with grapes and grapes naturally contain compounds that survive fermentation and end up in your glass. These include polyphenols, which have been studied for their ability to reduce inflammation, support blood vessels, and protect cells from oxidative stress.

Barrel Aging

Both wine and whiskey usually spend time in oak.

Whiskey can age for decades. Wine typically ages for a few years.

Barrel aging affects taste. It does not affect how your body processes the alcohol.

Sugar and Blood Sugar

Alcohol interferes with your liver’s ability to regulate blood sugar.

That is why drinking on an empty stomach can leave you shaky or foggy.

This effect is made worse when alcohol is paired with sugar.

Whiskey is often mixed with soda, syrup, or bottled cocktail blends and even unflavored whiskeys may contain added sugar or glycerin to smooth the taste. This spikes your blood sugar and crashes it fast.

To avoid the worst affects of whiskey:

- Skip flavored whiskeys and sweet mixers

- Look for "straight" or "bottled in bond" on the label

- Drink it neat or with water

Dry red wine has less than one gram of sugar per glass.

It will only produce a small rise with less of a crash.

Additives

There is no ingredients list required for wine or whiskey in the United States.

When you feel bad after drinking, that lack of transparency makes it hard to know what you are reacting to.

Wine can include Mega Purple, acidity regulators, gums, and excessive sulfites.

Whiskey can include caramel coloring, sugar, artificial flavorings, or texture enhancers like glycerol or glycol.

You cannot really avoid one single additive and ignore the rest.

These things tend to come together.

Tips to avoid them:

For wine, look for low-intervention producers. French and Italian bottles are often less manipulated and not hard to find.

For whiskey, get to know the producer if you can, but other than that, there's not much you can do.

Sourcing and Contaminants

Glyphosate has been found in many conventional wines, even some labeled organic.

Grapes are often heavily sprayed, and glyphosate is not routinely tested for.

Whiskey is distilled.

Distillation removes nearly all chemical residues, including glyphosate.

From a contamination standpoint, whiskey comes out ahead.

But it is not that hard to avoid glyphosate in wine.

My vineyard has never seen glyphosate.

The land has been farmed organically for over 100 years.

Tips:

Either verify that your producer has a similar commitment, or default to French or Italian wines where these chemicals are banned.

Whiskey gives you the downsides of alcohol, and very little else.

But at least you can drink it without a ton of sugar.

Red wine, especially low-intervention red, brings more to the table.

It retains polyphenols, organic acids, and fermentation byproducts.

It also contains quercetin, a compound that slows the breakdown of testosterone in your body.

If you are already drinking and want to choose the lesser of the evils, drink low-intervention red wine.