On Comparative Alcohol Tolerance

No discussion of racial physiology remains purely academic once alcohol is introduced. Dwarves metabolise ethanol efficiently but not magically, and their tolerance is generally greater than that of Humans of equivalent body mass, though body mass itself explains part of the difference. Aesir can consume quantities that appear alarming simply because there is substantially more Aesir into which the alcohol may distribute.

Elves are more peculiar. Their metabolism clears ethanol slowly, but their nervous systems appear less sensitive to several of its early intoxicating effects, so an Elf may appear perfectly composed while accumulating a blood concentration which would render a Human visibly drunk. The eventual decline, when it arrives, can be abrupt.

This has produced the widespread belief that “Elves cannot hold their liquor,” which is almost exactly backward. They hold it extremely well. They simply hold it for much longer than is advisable.