It takes 30 minutes for alcohol to take affect. It may take an hour for a drink to be metabolized, but it takes around thirty minutes to experience the effects of alcohol. This is a wonderful way to measure your own pace. Drinking more than one drink every 30 minutes indicates that you are probably drinking too much and too quickly. The old adage "drunk as a skier" comes from the fact that people who drink heavily can get very intoxicated very quickly. The body doesn't have time to properly process all of the alcohol consumed in one session. So instead of getting drunk slowly, like someone who drinks moderately, they get drunk fast. This can lead to accidents due to impaired motor skills or even illness if the person consumes enough alcohol to cause damage to the stomach or pancreas. Drinking too fast can also lead to discomfort. If you drink rapidly you won't have time to feel happy or relaxed. At the end of a long night out, some people find relief in vomiting. This is because they did not eat before they drank and the alcohol has caused their stomach to cramp up. Vomiting will help them feel better even though it isn't actually curing them of their problem drinking. Some people say that you can get drunk faster if you drink more frequently or in larger quantities. But this isn't true. You will always get drunk as quickly whether you drink once or six times per day or a bottle or two over the course of a night.